Tap cover to enlarge

Fool on the Hill

Published
Dec 1989
Main Genre
General Fiction General Fiction
Rating
Pages
448

About This Book

From the author of Lovecraft Country: Myth and reality collide on a college campus "in a comic fantasy of wonderful energy, invention, and generosity of spirit" (Alison Lurie).

 


Stephen Titus George is a young writer-in-residence at Cornell University in upstate New York. A bestselling author in search of a new story, he sees his life as a modern-day fairy tale starring himself as a would-be knight trying to woo a lovely maiden—or, actually, two: the bewitching Calliope and his guiding light, Aurora Borealis Smith. But he's not quite in control of the narrative.


 


There's another writer with even greater influence on campus. The unseen Mr. Sunshine is an eternal, semi-retired deity who's been fashioning his own story for centuries. He has all his characters in place: dragons, sprites, gnomes, and villains. And now, finally, his hero. As Mr. Sunshine's world comes to fabulous and violent life, how can Stephen decide his own fate if it's already being plotted by a god?


 


An epic of life and death, good and evil, love and sorcery, Fool on the Hill lands Matt Ruff happily on the shelf between Tom Robbins and J. R. R. Tolkien for every lover of the "funky and fantastical" (New York magazine).


 


"Inspired . . . rich in flavorful language . . . [a] dazzling tour de force." —San Francisco Chronicle

 


"The plot comes together like a brilliant clockwork toy." —Locus

Genres & Themes

Characters & Occupations

Buy This Book

Formats & Editions

Browse the different covers, formats, and publication history for this title.

Paperback

Paperback edition cover
Mass Market Paperback
First Edition Dec 1989 Warner ISBN 0446357723
Buy
Paperback edition cover
Trade Paperback
Jan 1998 Grove Press ISBN 0802135358
Buy

Hardcover

Hardcover edition cover
Hardcover
Jan 1988 Grove Press ISBN 0871132435
Buy

eBook

eBook edition cover
eBook
Jul 2012 Grove Press ISBN B008UX3CYU
Buy
eBook edition cover
eBook
Jul 2012 Grove Press ISBN 0802193625
Buy