Jasper Fforde
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| Jasper Fforde | |
|---|---|
 Jasper Fforde at a book signing in New York July 2007 |
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| Born | 11 January 1961 London, England |
| Occupation | novelist |
| Genres | Alternate history |
Jasper Fforde (born in London on 11 January 1961) is an English novelist, mainly known for his Thursday Next novels.
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[edit] Life and work
He is the son of John Standish Fforde, the 24th Chief Cashier for the Bank of England (whose signature used to appear on sterling banknotes)[1] and the cousin of the author Katie Fforde. He was educated at the progressive Dartington Hall School.
His early career was spent as a focus puller in the film industry, where he worked on a number of films, including Quills, GoldenEye, and Entrapment. [2]
His published books include a series of novels starring the literary detective Thursday Next; The Eyre Affair, Lost in a Good Book, The Well of Lost Plots, Something Rotten, and First Among Sequels. The Eyre Affair had received 76 publisher rejections before its eventual acceptance for publication.[3] Fforde won the Wodehouse prize for comic fiction in 2004 for The Well of Lost Plots.[4]
The Big Over Easy (2005), which shares a similar setting with the Next novels, is a reworking of his first written novel, which initially failed to find a publisher. Its original title was Who Killed Humpty Dumpty?[5], and later had the working title of Nursery Crime, which is the title now used to refer to this series of books. These books describe the investigations of DCI Jack Spratt. The follow-up to The Big Over Easy, The Fourth Bear, was published in July 2006 and focuses on Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
Fforde's books are noted for the number of literary allusions, wordplay and the tightly scripted plot, and loose adherence to traditional genres. His works usually contain various elements of metafiction, parody, and fantasy. None of his books have a chapter 13.
Fforde has an interest in aviation, and owns and flies a Tiger Moth.
[edit] Future plans
In 2006 Jasper Fforde said:
"The Thursday Next series has four books, so the next book I'm going to be writing is five, so we're going to go back to her for a book and after that I don't know, I might experiment with a new series or two. It's an exciting time because I don't know what's going to come out in 09. I am going to have a book for 09 but I don't know what it's about, and that's very exciting because where is it, right now? It's going to be there in two years time but it's not here now. I pledged a book a year for 10 years to try and get established and that finishes in four years and I said to myself that I could have a year off then. So I'm looking forward to that."[6]
Fforde recently stated that there will be "No new Fforde book for 2008"[7], and publication of the first novel in his new "A Shades of Grey" series is now planned for July 2009, having been originally announced by publishers as available in summer 2008[8]. According to the (less recent) First Among Sequels Special Features section on Fforde's website, the sixth Thursday Next novel, entitled One of our Thursdays is Missing, was also scheduled to be published in 2009[9].
Fforde also plans a third Nursery Crime novel, The Last Great Tortoise Race:
"The Last Great Tortoise Race will be the third and final installment of the NCD series. I have no idea when it will be written, or published."[10]
[edit] Bibliography
- Thursday Next
- The Eyre Affair (2001)
- Lost in a Good Book (2002)
- The Well of Lost Plots (2003)
- Something Rotten (2004)
- First Among Sequels (2007)
- Nursery Crimes
- The Big Over Easy (2005)
- The Fourth Bear (2006)
- Shades of Grey
- "Painting by Numbers" (expected July 2009)
[edit] References
- ^ Jasper Fforde Fan club FfAQs. Retrieved on 2008-01-13.
- ^ Jasper Fforde at the Internet Movie Database
- ^ John Sutherland. "If it's Thursday it must be the valley of death", The Guardian, 26 July 2003. Retrieved on 2007-11-22.
- ^ John Ezard. "Lost Plots gains a prize", The Guardian, 31 May 2004. Retrieved on 2007-11-22.
- ^ Peter Guttridge. "Back off or Humpty Dumpty gets it", The Observer, 19 June 2005. Retrieved on 2007-11-22.
- ^ Gary Kemble (2006-09-16). Q & A: Jasper Fforde. Articulate. ABC News. Retrieved on 2008-02-01.
- ^ Jasper Fforde.com : What's New? (2008-01-25). Retrieved on 2008-02-01.
- ^ Adult Hardcover May - August 2008 Frontlist. Penguin Group (US). Retrieved on 2008-02-01.
- ^ 'First Among Sequels' Special Features Section (2007-04-07). Retrieved on 2008-02-01.
- ^ Jasper Fforde.com : Frequently Asked Questions.
[edit] External links
- Jasper Fforde's Web site
- Thursday Next Web site
- Home of the new series of Nursery Crime books
- Jasper Fforde at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Jasper Fforde at the Internet Movie Database
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Fforde, Jasper |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | English novelist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 11 January 1961 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London, England |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
