“Audacious. . . . The Mirage is studded throughout with delicious little alternate-world ironies concerning the war on terror and its various participants. Ruff never loses control of the plot, however, nor of the more serious themes that power his satire. The Mirage is a topsy-turvy tour de force, another winner from a truly inventive and unpredictable storyteller.”
—San Francisco Chronicle
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- Harper Perennial
- Carton Qty: 44
- Selling Territory: USCOM
- 25,000
- PUBLISHING HISTORY
- Harper
(hc) 9780061976223 - Subsidiary Rights: Audio: Harper; First Serial, UK, Translation, Dramatic: Melanie Jackson Agency
- On Sale: 2/12/2013
- FICTION
- pb 9780061976230 $15.99 ($17.99)
- 448 pages; 5 5/16 x 8
- Model ISBN: 9780061240423
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Backlist
The Mirage
Matt Ruff
- E-Book
- 9780062097934
- 2/7/2012
- $13.99 ( Can.)
- Marketing Code: AV
Set This House in Order
Matt Ruff
- Trade PB
- 9780060954857
- 1/20/2004
- $14.99 ($18.99 Can.)
- Marketing Code: AV
Also Available
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Quotes
"Matt Ruff's new thriller, The Mirage, is an intriguing addition to the genre . .. . Ruff spices up his tale with a wealth of arresting details, like the three-cornered hats worn by American militants in homage to the minutemen of the Revolutionary War. Other adroit touches of alternate reality include the lynching of four Arab contractors who lose their way in the militant stronghold of Langley, Va. And he serves up some pointed commentary on America's proclivity for religious zealotry. . . . Ruff keeps you reading, [out of] eagerness to see what twist he'll think of next."
- The New York Times Book Review
"Genre buster Ruff takes the reader through the looking glass into a world where a union of benevolent Muslims states (the U.A.S.) guards against Christian fundamentalist terrorists trying to spread fear and unrest. . . . The Mirage is both entertaining and provocative, exactly what the best popular fiction should be."
- Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A unique and compelling read."
- The Associated Press
"An unnerving but intriguing premise forms the backbone of Matt Ruff's latest novel, The Mirage, one of the most daring 9/11-inspired novels to emerge after that horrific day. . . . It's probably never going to be a great time to plumb the events of 9/11 for fodder to incorporate into a piece of leisure reading, but the straightforwardness of Ruff's approach gives the proceedings a gravitas that serves as a nod of respect for what the United States, the Iraqis, and the Afghanis farther afield have gone through."
- The Seattle Times
"Ruff embraces his twisty concept with an attention to detail that suggests many months, more likely years, of fervent research. . . . Ruff has never been afraid of temporary immersion in disparate genres, bouncing between sci-fi, literary parody, and even romance from novel to novel and, at times, chapter to chapter. . . . He is a world-class world builder who, perhaps better than any other writer, can create exotic, mysterious worlds and communicate their unique rules and consistent logics both clearly and concisely. . . . The Mirage isn't just an object lesson in geopolitics; it's a secret history, a magic mirror allowing glimpses into the effects of religious fundamentalism of all types on the United States over the last 50 years. . . . Ruff writes with the explosive prose of a very good thriller."
- The Stranger
"Ruff has constructed a funhouse-mirror mash-up where H.G. Wells and Graham Greene collide with The Arabian Nights and The Matrix. . . . It's no easy task to recreate the universe in its own, if slightly distorted, image, yet Ruff has succeeded handily, dizzying and dazzling the reader with a fantastic-and fantastical-story."
- BookPage
"Sci-fi/fantasy/post-cyberpunk cult author Matt Ruff imagines an alternate world in which Arabia becomes the earth's dominant superpower and America is a dictator-led, fundamentalist backwater. More than half the fun here comes from discovering all of the intricately clever consequences Ruff derives from that simple premise."
- Details
"The alt-historical framework is in many ways the best and most entertaining part of the book, and you want it to expand beyond the mere 400 pages of The Mirage."
- Seattle Weekly