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--- Have you hear of Jasper Fforde? (http://www.gatchamania.net/threadid.php?threadid=4588)
Posted by Daniella T on 03-05-2014 at 12:52:
Have you heard of Jasper Fforde?
Most importantly, has he heard about us?
Jasper Fforde is the author of a series of alternate reality/fantasy/choke-full of quirkiness books starring literary detective Thursday Next, and the Last Dragonslayer books. The Thursday Next books, by the way, are absolutely brilliant.
Now, what's interesting is that one of his characters is called Emperor Zhark. Still, as all the characters like Zhark are based on existing books, maybe there was indeed a sci-fi series with an "Emperor Zhark", I don't know.
But how do you explain the fact that the most recent book in the Last Dragonslayer series is called "The eye of Zoltar"?
Mr. Fforde, are you lurking around the Gatch fandom?
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They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Naturally, they became heroes -- Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan.
Posted by ElectricWhite on 03-05-2014 at 13:56:
Hmm....interesting...
I'd heard of him, but never looked at his work. But what you say, DT, does make me curious.
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Posted by Springie on 03-05-2014 at 15:49:
That is quite a coincidence! 
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Posted by ChrisW on 03-05-2014 at 20:10:
That is suspicious!! Hmm!!
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Eagle Whisperer
Posted by Becky Rock on 03-05-2014 at 20:43:
I've never heard of him, but that has to be more than a coincidence.
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I'm writing a book. I've got the page numbers so far...
Posted by Transmute Jun on 04-05-2014 at 14:15:
Maybe he's channeling Sandy Frank for naming ideas...
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Posted by lborgia88 on 04-05-2014 at 16:40:
RE: Have you heard of Jasper Fforde?
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Great catch!
I concur that his Thursday Next books are brilliant (at least through "Something Rotten" -I think they get a little weaker after that) and also his Nursery Crime series, and "Shades of Grey" (wish he'd write a sequel already!).
I haven't read his Dragonslayer books though... I agree, it might well not be a coincidence about the use of "Zhark" and "Zoltar." It seems that he did invent the character (and books featuring him) of Emperor Zhark himself...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fictional_books
Posted by Daniella T on 04-05-2014 at 19:19:
LB, I haven't read the Dragonslayer either, I'm working my way through the Next series, which I discovered only recently. So would you recommend the Nursery Crimes? "Shades of gray" I've bought already 
BTW, the list of fictional books is a great find!
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They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Naturally, they became heroes -- Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan.
Posted by lborgia88 on 31-05-2014 at 20:38:
Yes, I highly recommend the Nursery Crimes books, and Shades of Grey. I've both read them and listened to the audiobook versions.
I think Fforde is a master plotter -the way he can lay out multiple intricate plot threads and then bring them all together, seamlessly, at the end impresses the hell out of me (I think "Something Rotten" in his Thursday Next series is one of the best I've ever seen for that).
And I get big kick out of his sense of humor and all the literary in-jokes (though I'm sure there are plenty in the Thursday Next series that go right over my head -I haven't read all the Brit-Lit by any means).
Shades of Grey blew me away over the sheer imagination of the bizarre -and funny!- dystopia that he creates there.
I think his weakness, though, is getting too wrapped up in world-building, and in-jokes, at the expense of good plot -the problem with the Thursday Next books that come after Something Rotten, I think.
Posted by E.D. Darling on 01-06-2014 at 23:34:
I loved shades of grey! I'll have to check out the rest of his work!
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Dang it!
Posted by Daniella T on 02-06-2014 at 20:59:
The Thursday Next series made me want to read Jane Eyre and the other classics. I had read it when I was around eight or nine, but don't remember it. Not to mention Wuthering Heights...
Or maybe watch the movie 
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They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Naturally, they became heroes -- Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan.
Posted by Katblu42 on 10-03-2017 at 09:49:
Sorry for jumping in on this years after the fact, but I really love Jasper Fforde's first Nursery Crimes book ("The Big Over Easy"). I would highly recommend this book to anyone still wondering whether to try reading any of his work. There were a few things in the second one I wasn't sure I understood 100%, but I still enjoyed it.
I haven't seen any of his Dragonslayer series in bookshops here, but might have to give them a go.
I liked a lot of the concepts in the Thursday Next series, but only read the first one because I felt too many of the literary references were going over my head - too much stuff I have not read.
When I get through the stack of books I have bought and not read I do plan to get hold of "Shades of Grey" - it sounds intriguing.
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Posted by GrumpyGhostOwl on 10-03-2017 at 11:46:
When Katblu42 mentioned Jasper Fforde after beta-reading a story for me I purchased the first three books in the Thursday Next collection (they were bundled together for Kindle) and quite enjoyed them. Fforde isn't the grandmasterclass humourist that Sir Terry Pratchett was but I did enjoy those first three books and I did get most of the literary references. The little interlude with the Painted Jaguar had me chuckling and revisiting the Just So Stories.
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Posted by Daniella T on 10-03-2017 at 15:08:
GGO, I thought of Jasper Fforde when I read the title of your thread "One of our adjectives is missing" .
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They were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Naturally, they became heroes -- Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan.
Posted by Ebonyswanne on 11-03-2017 at 11:25:
Absolutely he is!! Other than that he was a fan as a kid and its his AU!
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