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Jasper Fforde

Goodreads Author

Born

in London, England, The United Kingdom

Website

http://www.jasperfforde.com

Twitter

jasperfforde

Genre

Science Fiction & Fantasy, Literature & Fiction

Member Since

March 2016

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Fforde began his career in the film industry, and for nineteen years held a variety of posts on such movies as Goldeneye, The Mask of Zorro and Entrapment. Secretly harbouring a desire to tell his own stories rather than help other people tell their's, Jasper started writing in 1988, and spent eleven years secretly writing novel after novel as he strove to find a style of his own that was a no-mans-land somewhere between the warring factions of Literary and Absurd.

After receiving 76 rejection letters from publishers, Jasper's first novel The Eyre Affair was taken on by Hodder & Stoughton and published in July 2001. Set in 1985 in a world that is similar to our own, but with a few crucial - and bizarre - differences (Wales is a socialist rep Fforde began his career in the film industry, and for nineteen years held a variety of posts on such movies as Goldeneye, The Mask of Zorro and Entrapment. Secretly harbouring a desire to tell his own stories rather than help other people tell their's, Jasper started writing in 1988, and spent eleven years secretly writing novel after novel as he strove to find a style of his own that was a no-mans-land somewhere between the warring factions of Literary and Absurd.

After receiving 76 rejection letters from publishers, Jasper's first novel The Eyre Affair was taken on by Hodder & Stoughton and published in July 2001. Set in 1985 in a world that is similar to our own, but with a few crucial - and bizarre - differences (Wales is a socialist republic, the Crimean War is still ongoing and the most popular pets are home-cloned dodos), The Eyre Affair introduces literary detective named 'Thursday Next'. Thursday's job includes spotting forgeries of Shakespeare's lost plays, mending holes in narrative plot lines, and rescuing characters who have been kidnapped from literary masterpieces.

Luckily for Jasper, the novel garnered dozens of effusive reviews, and received high praise from the press, from booksellers and readers throughout the UK. In the US The Eyre Affair was also an instant hit, entering the New York Times Bestseller List in its first week of publication.

Since then, Jasper has added another six to the Thursday Next series and has also begun a second series that he calls 'Nursery Crime', featuring Jack Spratt of The Nursery Crime Division. In the first book, 'The Big Over Easy', Humpty Dumpty is the victim in a whodunnit, and in the second, 'The Fourth Bear', the Three Bear's connection to Goldilocks disappearance can finally be revealed.

In January 2010 Fforde published 'Shades of Grey', in which a fragmented society struggle to survive in a colour-obsessed post-apocalyptic landscape.

His latest series is for Young Adults and include 'The Last Dragonslayer' (2010), 'Song of the Quarkbeast' (2011) and 'The Eye of Zoltar' (2013). All the books centre around Jennifer Strange, who manages a company of magicians named 'Kazam', and her attempts to keep the noble arts from the clutches of big business and property tycoons.

Jasper's 14th Book, 'Early Riser', a thriller set in a world in which humans have always hibernated, is due out in the UK in August 2018, and in the US in 2019.

Fforde failed his Welsh Nationality Test by erroneously identifying Gavin Henson as a TV chef, but continues to live and work in his adopted nation despite this setback. He has a Welsh wife, two welsh daughters and a welsh dog, who is mad but not because he's Welsh. He has a passion for movies, photographs, and aviation. (Jasper, not the dog)

Series:
* Thursday Next
* Nursery Crime
* Shades of Grey ...more

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Can you a come up with a deleted scene from your favorite Shakespeare play?

Jasper Fforde Just recently a previously unknown Shakespeare First Folio was rediscovered, which once again throws the often unwelcome spotlight on the earlier 'pro…moreJust recently a previously unknown Shakespeare First Folio was rediscovered, which once again throws the often unwelcome spotlight on the earlier 'problem' manuscripts of Shakespeare's most famous work, Hamlet.

The First (bad) Quarto of 1603 is long presumed to be a pirated version, presumably reassembled by minor actors within the company. But there are, however, even earlier versions which throw an intriguing light on Shakespeare's writing processes as he moved from first draft to finished masterpiece.

The 'Frightfully Bad' Quarto, for instance, featured Hamlet with the now notorious 'Scooby Doo' ending, where King Hamlet turns out to be Fortinbrass simply pretending to be a ghost in order to divert attention away from his pending invasion. It finishes with the line, now much paraphrased: "And were it not for these children of meddlesome countenance, this crown would be mine.'

Of lesser interest still is the fragmented 'Die Hard Quarto' which features Hamlet visiting Elsinore castle to reconcile with Ophelia, only to find the castle overrun with 'A foul and pestilent congregation of evilness' led by Polonius' estranged brother, Hans Gruber. Thankfully the play is now lost except for fragments of the 'Now I have a rapier Ho Ho Ho' scene. As a minor aside, the play features the first known usage of the exclamation: 'Yippee Ki Yay, Bull's pizzle'

But of all the various Hamlet drafts theorised to exist, perhaps the most contentious is: 'The Comedy of Hamlet, Prince of Zombies'. Extrapolated from scribbled margin notes in Kit Marlowe's early draft of 'The Massacre of Paris', the play is unique in that it was originally thought to have been performed backwards.

Denmark has been overrun by a Zombie Apocalypse. All are undead. The action begins when Prince Hamlet is brought back to life during a fencing tournament. In revenge for this 'foul and discourteous act' Hamlet proceeds to 'undead' the rest of the cast. He does this by various means - an 'elixir of life' to his mother, a refreshing sea journey for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, a swim in the fountain of life for his undead girlfriend Necrophelia, and the 'unstabbing' of Polonius. It was, according to a contemporary observer: 'A play of infinite mirth'.

Details of the action are mostly obscure, but the soliloquy survives where Hamlet muses on whether it is better to be dead or undead: 'To not to be, or to not to not to be'. The play ends, it is supposed, with Hamlet swearing to make his father undead and reseat him on the throne of the now living Denmark. It is thought the surviving line: 'Something Rotten in the State of Denmark' also refers to the play's Zombie roots.

The mechanism by which this early draft morphed into the modern Hamlet has long been mired in controversy, but tellingly, Shakespeare was known to have promised to deliver a 'most excellent tragedy' to the King's Men in 1602, and was told to: 'deliver the work on Monday or your head will be off'. It is tantalising to suggest that he simply reversed the action over the course of a boozy weekend.

Alas, we will never know.
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I dont have a question - I just want to say Thank You! I have loved all of your books!!?

Jasper Fforde I don't have an answer - I just want to say Thank You! I have loved that you read all my books!!?

Seriously, you guys pay my bills and allow me to do t…moreI don't have an answer - I just want to say Thank You! I have loved that you read all my books!!?

Seriously, you guys pay my bills and allow me to do the best job in the world. Thankyouthankyouthankyou(less)

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Jasper Fforde’s books

Average rating: 4.02 · 498,260 ratings · 43,036 reviews · 50 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Eyre Affair (Thursday Next, #1) 3.89 avg rating — 134,468 ratings — published 2001 — 119 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lost in a Good Book (Thursday Next, #2) 4.13 avg rating — 55,037 ratings — published 2002 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Well of Lost Plots (Thursday Next, #3) 4.09 avg rating — 41,615 ratings — published 2003 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Shades of Grey (Shades of Grey, #1) 4.15 avg rating — 39,121 ratings — published 2009 — 59 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Something Rotten (Thursday Next, #4) 4.16 avg rating — 35,420 ratings — published 2004 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Big Over Easy (Nursery Crime, #1) 3.94 avg rating — 33,916 ratings — published 2005 — 51 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	First Among Sequels (Thursday Next, #5) 4.02 avg rating — 27,080 ratings — published 2007 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Fourth Bear (Nursery Crime, #2) 4.07 avg rating — 23,682 ratings — published 2006 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Last Dragonslayer (The Last Dragonslayer, #1) 3.88 avg rating — 22,485 ratings — published 2010 — 62 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	One of Our Thursdays Is Missing (Thursday Next, #6) 3.98 avg rating — 19,791 ratings — published 2011 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Jasper Fforde…

Series by Jasper Fforde

Thursday Next (8 books)
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Jasper Fforde (Goodreads Author)

4.01 avg rating — 329,368 ratings

Nursery Crime (3 books)
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Jasper Fforde (Goodreads Author)

3.99 avg rating — 57,977 ratings

Shades of Grey (3 books)
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Jasper Fforde (Goodreads Author)

4.19 avg rating — 44,274 ratings

The Last Dragonslayer (4 books)
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3.98 avg rating — 40,467 ratings

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JULY FANTASY: This poll decides which 2 books move on to the run-off poll for the July Fantasy Book of the Month.

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde

25 votes, 31.3%

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24 votes, 30.0%

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13 votes, 16.3%

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80 total votes

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