signed copies

Signed books for the holidays, 2022 edition

This is your annual reminder that signed copies of my novels make excellent holiday gifts. (N.B., though The Destroyer of Worlds won’t be published until February, it’s available for preorder right now.)

You can get signed and custom inscribed copies of any of my novels from Secret Garden Bookshop in Seattle (206-789-5006 / bookshop@secretgardenbooks.com). Tell them what you want and they’ll order it, get me to sign it, and ship it anywhere in the world, usually within a few days.

On sale today

The trade paperback edition of 88 Names goes on sale today! You can pick up a copy at your favorite indie bookstore or order online, here:

Bookshop.org • AmazonB&NBook DepositoryPowell’s

If you’d like a signed copy, Secret Garden Bookshop has some in stock, and they ship internationally. I’ll be signing stock at other Seattle-area bookstores in the next few days, and will post updates here as I do. (Update 3/19: Queen Anne Book Company and Elliott Bay Book Company now have signed copies as well.)

Because we are still in a pandemic, I won’t be going on book tour, but you can listen to me on the 88 Names podcast or catch me on Twitch next Tuesday, March 23, starting at 3 PM Pacific/6 PM Eastern, when I will be a guest of the Dungeon Dudes, playing in their Untold Tales of Drakkenheim campaign.

Call of the Dreamlands

Back in the Before Time, when booksellers and authors could hang out in enclosed spaces without wearing masks, Phil Bevis of Chatwin Books asked if I’d write an introduction to an H.P. Lovecraft collection he was planning on publishing.

The book, Call of the Dreamlands, is out now. In addition to my intro, it contains seven stories drawn primarily from Lovecraft’s Dream Cycle: “The White Ship,” “Beyond the Wall of Sleep,” “Polaris,” “What the Moon Brings,” “Hypnos,” “Ex Oblivione,” and “The Strange High House in the Mist.”

Call of the Dreamlands is available in two formats: a paperback edition for $8.95, and a limited, numbered hardcover edition, signed by me and illustrator Dean Kelly, for $85. You can order from the Chatwin Books website, or pick up a copy from Chatwin’s retail store, Arundel Books, in Seattle’s Pioneer Square.

Signing books in the plaguelands.

Signed books for the holidays, 2020 edition

This is your 2020 reminder that signed copies of my novels make great holiday gifts.

The big book this year is obviously Lovecraft Country—ten weeks on the New York Times bestseller list (thanks, HBO!)—but back in March I published a new novel, 88 Names, that I also think is well worth your time. And if you’ve already read one or both of those and aren’t sure which Matt Ruff novel to try next, I’ve got a blog post to help you with that.

You can order signed and custom inscribed copies of any of my novels from Secret Garden Bookshop in Seattle (206-789-5006 / bookshop@secretgardenbooks.com). Tell them what you want and they’ll order it, get me to sign it, and ship it anywhere in the world, usually within a few days.

Signed books for the holidays, 2016 edition

This is your annual reminder that signed copies of my novels make great holiday gifts.

I’m selling signed first editions of Sewer, Gas & Electric, Set This House in Order, The Mirage, and Lovecraft Countryemail for details.

Signed trade paperbacks of my first five novels and hardcovers of Lovecraft Country are available from Secret Garden Bookshop in Seattle. You can contact them by phone at 206-789-5006 or via email; tell them what books you want, and they’ll order them, have me sign them, and ship them wherever you like. (And yes, they do ship internationally.)

In which I cast my shadow over an Innsmouth Porter

Last Saturday I was in Bremerton for a reading and signing sponsored by the Kitsap Regional Library. The Library has been experimenting with unusual event venues, and they picked a great one for me: the LoveCraft Brewing Company, a recently opened brewpub that serves artisanal Lovecraft-themed beers. I had the Innsmouth Porter, which I liked; other offerings include the Elder God Beire de Garde, the Dreamlands ESB, and the Dunwich Farmhouse Red Ale. Being me, I spent the trip home thinking up other possibilities: the Kölsch of Cthulhu, Pickman’s Lager, the Pilsner at Martin’s Beach, the Weissbier in Darkness, the Lambic Out of Space, and—OK, not a beer, but someone should totally make this—At the Mountains of Absinthe.

Thanks to Sara Jaffa, the LoveCraft brewers, Liberty Bay Books, and especially the folks who came out to the reading.

Also:

* If you missed the reading but wanted a signed copy of Lovecraft Country or one of my other novels, Liberty Bay Books has a few in stock now.

* Nick Mamatas’ new novel, I Am Providence, is finally in stores. As I say in my cover blurb, it’s just what you’d expect from Nick: sharp wit, biting but humane social commentary, and, for the romantics among us, a faceless narrator decomposing at the morgue. Check it out!

Monday notes, with bonus tentacles

* Despite the rain, we had nice turnout for Friday’s event at University Book Store. For those of you who missed it, I left behind a stack of signed books, and a video of the reading and Q&A should be online soon.

* On Saturday, Lisa and I attended the Literary Lions Gala, a fundraiser for the King County library system. Nancy Pearl emceed and Ruth Reichl was the featured speaker, but the high point of the evening for me was meeting GeekGirlCon cofounder and all-around superfan Adrienne Fox, who showed up at my signing table with Lovecraft Country inspired Cthulhu nails.

* The other high point of the evening was Nancy Pearl giving Lovecraft Country a special shout-out from the stage. And here she is on the podcast That Stack of Books, saying more nice things. Thanks, Nancy!

* Locus magazine, which already gave Lovecraft Country a thumbs-up in their January issue, has another glowing review this month, this time by Tim Pratt: “[The] characters are some of the most fully realized and human I’ve ever encountered, neither idealized nor stereotyped: they are people, with their own flaws and virtues, all shaped by their experiences with systemic oppression and personal prejudice, and all coping in different ways that consistently ring true psychologically. The sections of the novel are interwoven beautifully, telling miniature stories while advancing the overall plot, and provide an array of differing viewpoints and visions of a complex and dangerous world. The book is often harrowing, yes, but it’s also a testament to the power of family, community, ingenuity, and love to overcome (or at least cope with) unendurable horrors. It might be my favorite Matt Ruff novel yet, and that’s saying something.”

* Via io9: artist Steve Thomas has created a set of Lovecraft-themed travel posters. You can buy prints of them here.

* Next Saturday, March 12, I’ll be traveling east of the Cascades for events at A Book for All Seasons in Leavenworth, WA (signing books, 11 AM-1 PM) and the Wenatchee Public Library (reading & signing, 2 PM).