Seattle novelist Matt Ruff

Seattle novelist Matt Ruff came into the office today for a book reading. I haven't read any of his books, but he was on the Stranger's shortlist of literary geniuses. It's not every day that you get a chance to see a bonafide genius, so I was there.

He read a chapter from his latest book, Bad Monkeys. It chugged along with urgency and humor; I didn't want him to stop reading. Really good stuff.

When he finished reading, we got to ask questions. Here's some interesting bits:

• He tends to choose titles first and then write a book to fit the title. The title of this book happens to be a Cartman quote from an episode of South Park. Seriously. If you get the book, check the acknowledgements.
  
• Matt changes genre with almost every novel. This time he realized that he was entering Philip K. Dick territory, so he considered naming his protagonist Phil. Then he found out that Dick had a sister named Jane Charlotte, who died as a baby, and he switched to a female protagonist.
  
• He likes living in Seattle because he can go on long hikes and think about what to write. He tends to polish his novels as he writes—and he doesn't share them until they are in nearly finished form. With this novel, he shared all but the final chapter with his wife. She really wanted to know how it ended, but he hadn't written it yet. When he was finally finished, he had to go out while she read it.
  

I'm very much looking forward to reading Bad Monkeys, and I have his previous novel Set This House in Order (which is set in Seattle) on hold at the library.