Lovecraft Country (Hb)

Description

Chicago, 1954.

When his father Montrose goes missing, 22-year-old Army veteran Atticus Turner embarks on a road trip to New England to find him, accompanied by his Uncle George-publisher of The Safe Negro Travel Guide-and his childhood friend Letitia. On their journey to the manor of Mr. Braithwhite-heir to the estate that owned one of Atticus's ancestors-they encounter both mundane terrors of white America and malevolent spirits that seem straight out of the weird tales George devours.

At the manor, Atticus discovers his father in chains, held prisoner by a secret cabal named the Order of the Ancient Dawn-led by Samuel Braithwhite and his son Caleb-which has gathered to orchestrate a ritual that shockingly centers on Atticus. And his one hope of salvation may be the seed of his-and the whole Turner clan's-destruction.

A chimerical blend of magic, power, hope, and freedom that stretches across time, touching diverse members of two black families, Lovecraft Country is a devastating kaleidoscopic portrait of racism-the terrifying specter that continues to haunt us today.

Promotion info

The critically acclaimed cult novelist makes visceral the terrors of life in Jim Crow America and its lingering effects in this brilliant and wondrous work of the imagination that melds historical fiction, pulp noir, and Lovecraftian horror and fantasy.

Reviews

Another "only Matt Ruff could do it" production. Lovecraft Country takes the unlikeliest of premises and spins it into a funny, fast, exciting, and affecting read -- Neal Stephenson, author of Snow Crash and Cryptonomicon At every turn, Ruff has great fun pitting mid-twentieth-century horror and sci-fi cliches against the banal and ever present bigotry of the era. * New York Times Book Review * A brilliantly conceived story brilliantly executed -- Christopher Moore, author of Lamb and A Dirty Job Lovecraft Country doesn't just race along, it tears, demanding that you keep turning its pages without interruption -- Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother Ruff's worldbuilding is a blend of magic, researched realism, and adventure story. * LA Review of Books * Nonstop adventure that includes time-shifting, shape-shifting, and Lovecraft-like horrors ... Ruff, a cult favorite for his mind-bending fiction, vividly portrays racism as a horror worse than anything conceived by Lovecraft in this provocative, chimerical novel * Booklist * Lovecraft Country is a genre-bending attempt to address the severe problem of race in modern America, skewering the prejudices of older pulp works while maintaining their flavor, but it's also a compulsively readable horror-fantasy in its own right: timely, terrifying, and hilarious. * Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi & Fantasy Blog * Ruff shows with great cleverness how it's possible for a group of victims to appropriate the very methods used to victimize them, master those methods, and bend them to serve their own purposes. * Locus * I enjoyed every ounce of Ruff's book. * Tor.com * . . . this newer book rewards patience, and nowhere more so than in the passages where it heartbreakingly weaves Hippolyta into the actual events that surrounded Pluto's discovery and naming. Once Ruff took me there, I would've followed him anywhere in Lovecraft Country. * Seattle Review of Books * Genuinely spooky . . . But the real horror is the reality of life for African-Americans in the Jim Crow era . . . sparks the imagination while also igniting the reader's empathy. * Library Journal * Wonderful from page one . . . Matt Ruff is one of the gentlest, wildest writers of fantastic fiction. -- John Crowley, author of Little, Big Lovecraft Country is bound to appeal to any reader who wants to delve into the strangeness of our land's racial legacy. * Seattle Times * uproariously funny, frequently thrilling, full of clever "firecracker" moments, and constantly surprising . . . this is a book that will leave you cheering, not weeping . . . It's a heroic story that will have you pumping your fist . . . Ruff has created a story that's as compelling as it is exciting - and the result is definitely one of the most important books of 2016. * io9 * heartfelt, passionate, polemical, scary and clever * Locus * He quickly puts you in a chair of his own design, then compels you to sit at its edge . . . Perhaps his greatest victory is giving his characters the space to live and breathe, even when their environment seeks to constrict them. The slippery dialogue and suspense-soaked prose make Lovecraft Country - a challenge to one of the most recognizable legacies in science fiction - worth every dime. * Chicago Review of Books * The list of authors inspired by the works of HP Lovecraft is nigh-on endless, but we can't remember the last time we read an homage this intelligent and entertaining . . . Rich, intelligent, sensitive and massively entertaining, this is an absolute pleasure. * Sci Fi Now * Ruff (The Mirage) has an impressive grasp of classic horror themes . . . Readers will appreciate the irony of how the Turners' conditioning in enduring racial bias empowers them to master more macabre challenges. * Publishers Weekly * difficult to read, but even more so to put down. * Odyssey *