Matt Ruff

1 universe Last reviewed 2026-10-26

Matt Ruff (born around 1965 in New York City) is an American novelist who studied creative writing at Cornell University. He wrote his first novel, Fool on the Hill, while attending Cornell, and the campus and the city of Ithaca, New York, figure in the story; published by the Atlantic Monthly Press in 1988, it is a fantasy set on a magic-irradiated college campus, influenced by earlier models from John Crowley to Thomas Pynchon. His later novels include Sewer, Gas, and Electric: The Public Works Trilogy (1997), Set This House in Order: A Romance of Souls (2003), which won the James Tiptree, Jr. Award in 2004, and Bad Monkeys.

Universe(s)

Books

• Fool on the Hill (1988) · Fool on the Hill Core Canon

Aggregate across all universes

• Total Core Canon books across all universes: 1 book
• Award recognitions across all universes: 1 (1 finalist mention)

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