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
This book quite successfully challenges the ideas of Christian moral supremacy and the unchallenged political agenda of superpowers. It is a deeply satisfying novel which excites hopes of a long and productive career for this young writer.
The Mirage is an intriguing addition to the genre . .. . Ruff spices up his tale with a wealth of arresting details. . . . Ruff keeps you reading, [out of] eagerness to see what twist he’ll think of next.
The New York Times Book Review
A unique and compelling read.
Furious entertainment. . . . It echoes Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policeman’s Union or Steven Barnes’s Lion’s Blood , but more comparisons will be made to Philip K. Dick’s World War II reimagining The Man in the High Castle .
If you amalgamated the methodical, punctilious, world-building skills of Ian McDonald (The Dervish House ) with the reality-distortion powers of Philip K. Dick (The Man in the High Castle ) and then folded in the satirical, take-no- prisoners savagery of Norman Spinrad (The Iron Dream ), you might very well be able to produce a book approximating Matt Ruff's The Mirage — God willing, as Ruff's characters are continually cautioning. Ruff's Big Idea masterstroke — so simple yet infinitely deep — is to imagine a world where every polarity of the post-9/11 scene has been flipped 180 degrees. (Actually, of course, for maximum plausibility, the fictional timeline is shown to have diverged from ours much earlier, at the end of the Ottoman Empire.)The City & the City .The Years of Rice and Salt. (And it's a testament to the paucity of ambition among current SF writers that such a juicy topic has basically gone begging, despite its immediacy and topicality, save for these two novels.) Ruff has not let one niche of his imaginary culture or politics go unexplored. He's even imagined the kind of lolcats this world would boast! Courtesy of Ruff's hard work, the reader inhabits this world as fully as possible. And the information is delivered with sophisticated, effortless grace. The excerpts before each chapter from the "Library of Alexandria" web pages (the new world's Wikipedia) help a lot in this cause. Moreover, Ruff creates a completely sympathetic portrait of the world, warts and glamour both, not some propagandist's one- dimensional caricature in either direction. It's a humanist, naturalistic depiction. Yes, the world of the UAS discriminates against homosexuality still, to the point where Samir's gayness is used as blackmail material. But there's no mindless jihad against other cultures, and in fact the enlightened Muslims work hand-in-hand with the Israelis, whose post-WWII refugee nation was founded in the ruins of Germany! ("The Israelis were bombing Vienna" is the opening line to one chapter.)Author of several acclaimed novels and story collections, including Fractal Paisleys, Little Doors, and Neutrino Drag, Paul Di Filippo was nominated for a Sturgeon Award, a Hugo Award, and a World Fantasy Award — all in a single year. William Gibson has called his work "spooky, haunting, and hilarious." His reviews have appeared in The Washington Post, Science Fiction Weekly, Asimov's Magazine, and The San Francisco Chronicle.
Reviewer: Paul Di Filippo
Genre buster Ruff (Bad Monkeys) takes the reader through the looking glass into a world where a union of benevolent Muslim states (the U.A.S.) guards against Christian fundamentalist terrorists trying to spread fear and unrest. After the terrorist attack of 11-9-2001 on towers in Baghdad, the story proper begins in 2009, as Homeland Security Agent Mustafa al Baghdadi, witness to the original attack, nearly dies confronting a suicide bomber from Texas named James Travis, aka “the crusader.” The crusader survives the attempt, and his claims that their world is actually a polar opposite distortion of the truth sends Mustafa spinning. Ruff’s exposition to establish the situation is impressively simple: clever, inventive entries from “The Library of Alexandria, A User-Edited Reference Source” are peppered throughout, tweaking Wikipedia and appearing just when readers (or sometimes characters) need them. Among other entries, one finds a long biography of Saddam Hussein, “philanthropist, novelist... and Iraqi labor organizer”; an explication of the “Miranda Warning” rights of U.A.S. citizens; and a chronicle of the 40-year reign of Lyndon Johnson, described as the President of the Christian States of America (C.S.A.) who was born in the Evangelical Republic of Texas; his “Mexican Gulf War” of 1991 pitted Louisiana against an OPEC-backed Texas. Beneath this dubious verisimilitude lies a truth that gives Ruff’s work a sharp satiric bite. As to the book itself, it’s as traditional in its story as it is unconventional in its premise, with a full cast of characters and narrative arc. As the plot thickens, the ideas keep coming, with Ruff revising the history of, among other things, the gay rights movement, David Koresh, and Timothy McVeigh. This is both entertaining and provocative, exactly what the best popular fiction should be. Agent: The Melanie Jackson Agency. (Feb.)
A unique and compelling read.” — The Associated Press
“Like Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America , the premise behind Ruff’s alternate-history novel is chilling.” — The New York Post
“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 — The Seattle Times
“Ruff embraces his twisty concept with an attention to detail that suggests many months, more likely years, of fervent research. . . . 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.” — The Stranger
“A funhouse-mirror mash-up where H.G. Wells and Graham Greene collide with The Arabian Nights and The Matrix . . . . Ruff dizzies and dazzles 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
“Furious entertainment. . . . It echoes Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policeman’s Union or Steven Barnes’s Lion’s Blood , but more comparisons will be made to Philip K. Dick’s World War II reimagining The Man in the High Castle .” — The Onion's AV Club
“If you amalgamated the methodical, punctilious, world-building skills of Ian McDonald with the reality-distortion powers of Philip K. Dick and then folded in the satirical, take-no-prisoners savagery of Norman Spinrad, you might be able to produce a book approximating The Mirage .” — Barnes and Nobles Review
“That The Mirage shares DNA with airport-kiosk genre exercises is nothing to be ashamed of. A good thriller is hard to pull off. The ingredients are clear enough: propulsive action, sympathetic characterization, and enough detail to ground the story without slowing things down.” — The Philadelphia City Paper
“This book quite successfully challenges the ideas of Christian moral supremacy and the unchallenged political agenda of superpowers. It is a deeply satisfying novel which excites hopes of a long and productive career for this young writer.” — Examiner.com
“The Mirage is an intriguing addition to the genre . .. . Ruff spices up his tale with a wealth of arresting details. . . . Ruff keeps you reading, [out of] eagerness to see what twist he’ll think of next.” — The New York Times Book Review
“An audacious new novel. . . . . The Mirage is a topsy-turvy tour de force, another winner from a truly inventive and unpredictable storyteller.” — The San Francisco Chronicle
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.
A unique and compelling read.
That The Mirage shares DNA with airport-kiosk genre exercises is nothing to be ashamed of. A good thriller is hard to pull off. The ingredients are clear enough: propulsive action, sympathetic characterization, and enough detail to ground the story without slowing things down.
The Philadelphia City Paper
Like Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America , the premise behind Ruff’s alternate-history novel is chilling.
Furious entertainment. . . . It echoes Michael Chabon’s The Yiddish Policeman’s Union or Steven Barnes’s Lion’s Blood , but more comparisons will be made to Philip K. Dick’s World War II reimagining The Man in the High Castle .
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 .
A funhouse-mirror mash-up where H.G. Wells and Graham Greene collide with The Arabian Nights and The Matrix . . . . Ruff dizzies and dazzles the reader with a fantastic-and fantastical-story.
If you amalgamated the methodical, punctilious, world-building skills of Ian McDonald with the reality-distortion powers of Philip K. Dick and then folded in the satirical, take-no-prisoners savagery of Norman Spinrad, you might be able to produce a book approximating The Mirage .
An audacious new novel. . . . . The Mirage is a topsy-turvy tour de force, another winner from a truly inventive and unpredictable storyteller.
The San Francisco Chronicle
On 11/9/01, Christian fundamentalists hijack four jetliners, crashing two into the Tigris & Euphrates World Trade Towers in Baghdad and another into the Arab Defense Ministry in Riyadh. Years later, a suicide bomber interrogated by Arab Homeland Security agent Mustafa al Baghdadi reveals the dirty truth: the Arab states' supremacy is just a mirage, and the real superpower is the United States. Okay, the author did well with Bad Monkeys, but this new thriller could go either way, stimulating some readers while outraging others. Your choice; with a 40,000-copy first printing.
A thriller unusual in its concept, combining politics with an alternate reality. No attacks occur on Sept. 11. The real tragedy happens on Nov. 9, 2001, when terrorists from the Christian States of America (CSA) attack the twin towers in Baghdad. The world is turned upside down and inside out, with the United Arab States (UAS) being the world's dominant power and America a fragmented collection of countries that include the Republic of Texas. The UAS invades and conquers the CSA, but captured prisoners bring rumors that everything the Arabs see is a mirage, that the true superpower is America. Some even claim that "God loves America, not Arabia." Real-life characters show up aplenty but are cast in unexpected lights. Timothy McVeigh and Osama bin Laden, for example, are warriors for the good guys, but at least Saddam Hussein is still a thug. Readers have someone to root for in conventional thrillers, but that is lacking here. Much detail mirrors the West we know, an approach that starts out looking clever but quickly becomes too cute—Gaddafi claiming to have invented the Internet; a Six Flags Hanging Gardens theme park; and a series of self-help books including Christianity for the Ignorant. Germany is a Jewish state, while Palestine belongs to the Arabs. The UAS is a largely tolerant place, where one character even says, "Hey, it's a free country." Another shrugs off the revelation that someone is gay, as if no one cares in the UAS. A few characters, including the heroine named Amal, risk their lives to determine the truth—is their whole world an illusion? The writing is good, but the characters are hard to care about and the plot doesn't feel properly resolved. Not bad, but it won't give you the willies.
