Matt Ruff's Blog, page 5

Ask me anything on Reddit

My Reddit AMA is now live. You can post questions here throughout the day.

Tomorrow, ask me anything on Reddit

Tomorrow, starting at noon Eastern/9 AM Pacific, I’ll be answering questions on the r/books subreddit. If there’s anything you want to ask about my novels, my writing process, or pretty much anything else, please stop by.

You can also check out my previous Reddit AMA sessions from 2020 and 2017.

Tomorrow night (4/18) at Powell’s City of Books

Just a reminder that tomorrow night I’ll be at Powell’s City of Books in Portland, OR, reading from The Destroyer of Worlds, taking questions, and signing books. The event starts at 7 PM. Hope to see some of you there!

And coming up next: on Wednesday, April 26 I’ll be doing an Ask Me Anything session on Reddit. Then, on May 4 at 6:30 PM, I’ll be at Brick and Mortar Books in Redmond, WA for “Word Craft with Alexandra Oliva,” a discussion about writing (RSVP here).

Ask me anything on April 26

FYI: On Wednesday, April 26, I’ll be hanging out on the r/books subreddit, doing an Ask Me Anything session. The event will begin at noon Eastern/9AM Pacific and continue throughout the day. This will be my third Reddit AMA—see my previous appearances here and here—and it’s always a fun time.

And as mentioned yesterday, if you have a question you’d like to hear addressed on the Destroyer of Worlds podcast, you can leave it in comments here on the blog or post it using the Ask the Author feature over on my Goodreads profile page.

Powell’s reminder + one more call for reader questions

This is an early reminder that I’ll be returning to Portland, OR, next Tuesday, April 18, for my Powell’s City of Books event that was originally scheduled for February 22. Hopefully there’ll be less snow this time.

Also, I’m still collecting reader questions for the final episode of the Destroyer of Worlds podcast. Feel free to leave them in comments here or over at Goodreads using the Ask the Author feature of my profile page.

Lone Women is on sale today

My friend Victor LaValle (The Ballad of Black Tom) has a new novel out today.

In the opening pages of Lone Women, Adelaide Henry burns down her California home with the bodies of her parents inside it and sets out for Montana. But her plan to start a new life as a homesteader is hampered by the literal baggage she brings with her: a steamer trunk containing a monster that can never be abandoned or set free.

Although this is a horror novel whose supernatural elements are part of the fun, the best part of Lone Women, for me, is the portrait it paints of Adelaide and the community of other women she finds out on the plains. Definitely recommended.

(The New York Times, which calls the book “almost impossible to put down,” has its say here.)

At Pulpfiction Books tomorrow night (3/24)

I am on my way to Canada, where tomorrow night at 7 PM I will be appearing at the Main Street branch of Pulpfiction Books in Vancouver, BC. Hope to see some of you there!

88 x 3

Today is the third anniversary of the publication of .

Thanks to COVID, March 2020 was a lousy time to be bringing out a new novel, though I was certainly luckier than other authors in the same situation. Because of the book’s futuristic theme, we’d arranged a lot of online promotion, including a and an interview in virtual reality, so when my real-world book tour got eaten by the plague, I had a back-up plan and all the hardware I need to start Zooming. The Lovecraft Country TV series also helped cushion the blow—I knew my wife and I would be OK financially regardless of what happened with the new novel.

Still, I’ve always felt that 88 Names got short-changed by the bad timing. So if you’re looking for a Friday read—something lighter in tone than The Destroyer of Worlds, but still topical and thoughtful—please consider checking it out. The Big Idea essay I wrote for John Scalzi’s Whatever blog will give you a good sense of what the story is about and whether it’s for you.

Got any questions for the podcast?

Episode 3 of the Destroyer of Worlds podcast dropped this morning. I think it’s a particularly good one: we talk about the Lovecraft Country HBO series and contrast it with the novel, which gives me an opportunity to talk in-depth about storytelling choices, so if you’re at all interested in my thoughts on that, I’d recommend checking it out.

As we mention at the end of the podcast, our next and final episode will be devoted to listener questions. Please feel free to add yours in the comments below. While our main focus will be on Lovecraft Country and The Destroyer of Worlds, I’m happy to answer queries about my other books, my writing process, or pretty much anything else. My wife, Lisa, may join us for a bonus round, so if you’ve got any questions about research, feel free to add those as well.

Catching up

In case you missed it, we dropped a new episode of The Destroyer of Worlds podcast on Tuesday.

I’ve also added a couple new events to my schedule. On April 18, I’ll be going back to Portland for my rescheduled appearance at Powell’s City of Books. And on May 4, I’ll be at Brick and Mortar Books in Redmond, WA. But my next in-person event will be just two weeks from now, on March 24 at 7:15 PM, when I read and answer questions at Pulpfiction Books in Vancouver, BC.

Last week’s reading at Third Place Books in Lake Forest Park was great, with a big, friendly crowd. On Saturday, my wife and I headed to Bellevue for the Literary Lions Gala, where Isabel Wilkerson was the keynote speaker; I also got to say hi to Nancy Pearl, who I hadn’t seen since before the pandemic.

Sunday was a busy day at Emerald City Comic Con, where I had back-to-back panels and signing sessions from 11 AM to 4 PM. This, too, was a first since the pandemic, and it was both wonderful and disorienting to be around so many people in such a big space.

A packed room at the “Writing Systems of Magic” panel

While I was busy making new friends at my signing station, Lisa made the rounds, checking out the tables where the real celebrities were selling autographs and photos. I had my own brush with stardom when James Marsters finished his own signing session and walked past me on the way back to his suite.

Though I enjoyed the people, I was less impressed with the venue. Seattle’s new convention center seems poorly laid out, and there’s not enough seating in the public areas. Folks were sitting on the floor everywhere, which is fine when you’re twenty but not so fun when you’re pushing sixty. I also couldn’t help noticing that they decorated the fifth-floor ceiling with these rows of wooden spikes, which is just what you want hanging over your head in an earthquake zone.

We made it out alive, this time. Then on Tuesday I had a Zoom session with a writing class at Rutgers University. It was a nice group of students and I really enjoyed talking to them, but what I will remember most is being “Zoom bombed” for the first time in my life—I was in the middle of answering a question when the screen suddenly filled up with a video of two horses fucking. My host for the event was embarrassed, but I thought it was hilarious, not to mention efficient: back in my day when you wanted to pull that prank, you needed to get two actual horses and coax them up on stage before security stopped you. Living in the future never ceases to amaze me.

Last but not least: just this morning, Bookreporter dropped this review of The Destroyer of Worlds, calling it “[an] enthralling sequel” and “a wonder to behold.” A great note to end the week on.