Ok, so maybe it's because I'm a fan but on my 4th (or possibly 6th) readin of TN 1 to 3 there are some things that unless somebody (Jasper?) can help clarify I'm going to end up in a brightly lit room, writing with crayons, because won't be allowed near anything sharp...

ok, here goes.

1. Travel in Thursday's world is by Gravitube and airship. apparently there are no planes. (I assume the bombers we hear droning overhead while Thurs and landen are in the minefield are zeppelin type jobbies). If that's the case and now bringing the Great Library into it - how could books like Biggles have been written - where he flies a plane?? Or what is the history of WW1 in Thursday's world?

2. For that matter - the Crimea War went on until 1985, and yet England was occupied during WW2. How were the troops in the Crimea supported, when the home fires were - so to speak - out?

3. back to books. Thursday's world has Dodo's but no ducks (bit harsh on ducks i think). yet, Caversham Heights has ducks on the lake by the flying boat. If ducks didn't exist, how could somebody write about them? Even if books from our world were read in Thursday's, people would go "Huh? what's a duck?"

4. and finally (and maybe i'm missing a crucial plot element here) at the end of LIAGB, where TN meets Mary, she mentions that the Sunderland has last flown in 1950-something, yet in the opening of TWOLP, she says it last flew in 1960-something. Either a Numerosite (or possibly a PrimeNumberavore) crept into my copy, but why the sudden differnce in dialogue.

anyway, maybe I'm just being pedantic, but please can somebody help unscramble my brain before I have to gurn again...

I suspect it will eventually have something to do with the fact that the Outland is itself a book written by a person living in a world that has planes and ducks...

In other words, Thursday's reality may be less real than she thinks...



... but, after all, we already knew that - didn't we?



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Metaphors be with you!

OK...
1. there are planes, but only prop driven - no jet engines. Think of the plane Hades used to steal the painting etc

2. I have a feeling this might be mentioned in the openning to a chapter somewhere, but anyway, its not a state of constant warfare, so during the occupation fighting in the crimea may have been at a lull. Alternatively other parts of the British Empire/ commonwealth could have supported the troops. Or maybe the occupying forces continued the war in an attempt to claim crimea for themselves.

3. Do you go "Huh. Whats a dodo?" when you read Fforde's books? And anyway, my own suspicion is that the Library contains books from different universes (ours included) and maybe the existance of ducks is one of the reasons Caversham heights is in the Well

4. That I don't know. Maybe someone forgot their lines... or the book got re-written. Or something.

Rob



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That statement is either so deep it would take a lifetime to fully comprehend every particle of its meaning, or it is a load of absolute tosh. Which is it, I wonder?
Terry Pratchett, Hogfather

All very interesting questions,
also the change from mary refering to arnold in LIAGB that he had lost his chance and then in TWOLP mary, harshly, says something to the effect of "tell him hes a jerk and to go to hell". have you read the big overeasy yet? 'cause mary was mary jones in TWOLP and mary mary in TBOE.

I think you'll find answers to your questions in older threads - I remember seeing them or even asking one or other of your questions myself quite a while ago.
Mary became Mary Mary because Caversham Heights was rewritten, originally as Nursery Crimes; I'm sure she was Mary somehing else before Jones, too.

About the duck thing, where in any of the books did it ever say that ducks didn't exist? It's not like Thursday's going to jump up and say duck so we all know they are in her world, its just a duck really, there are plenty of things in the books that aren't mentioned such as asparagus but one can only assume it exist in her world as well as ours.



SpecOps-27 Wordage is our business Grammar is our game.

I'm not sure if you've read WOLP yet, but you can find the duck reference on p.6 (UK version):

He [Arnold] caught sight of Pickwick, who was attempting to out-stare a strange aquatic bird with a rounded bill.
"What's that?" he asked suddenly.
"I think it's a duck although I can't be sure - we don't have any where I come from."



BTW welcome to the Fforum. You'll find there's more Ffordian traffic over in Nextian Chat, and you might even get some cake, or a marshmallow...



Post Edited (05-21-06 10:41)

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'Who looks after the animals?'

There's more--the television show in which scientists are trying to figure out how the duck would have walked and what noise it made. I'm pretty sure it's one of the times Thursday goes to visit Granny Next, but without my books with me I can't check.

yup... The tv show was "Walking With Ducks" - a la "Walking with Dinosaurs".



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Beware of the flying giraffes.