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First Among Sequels - A Reader's Guide for Readers

This is the nexy Next Guide, so welcome. I am Martin Bentley, and I will do my best to live up to the level of Jon Brierly's and Ben Thymens' previous guides.

I also do not wish to go over the ground that they covered so well, so if something appears in a previous book or someone is a recurring character, look in those guides. I have also tried to avoid spoiling anything, but no promises.

Also, Jasper seems to have been a lot more exposition heavy in places than in the past, so those sections have not been annotated. If I have missed anything there, or elsewhere, feel free to contact me, either through the Fforum (I am MartinB there) or via e-post at mtb at martinb dot za dot net with the details and a page number.

Page numbers are for the Hodder and Staughton trade-paperbacks, since that is the version I have access to.

Before I dive into the actual guide, please see [www.jasperfforde.com] for what the deal is if you have any missing footnotes.

And now, without further ado:

FIRST AMONG SEQUELS - A Guide for the Bewildered, Perplexed and Horribly Lost.
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Cross Lewis' Number;

p.1 Redmond van der Post;

p.1 Alfredo Trafficcone;

p.3 Idiocy Offsets;

p.5 Barney Plotz;

p.6 Whatever happened to ... ;
Relates to the Superman story "Whatever Happened to the Man from Tomorrow". Well, even if it does not, it works.

p.6 Corby Scarlet;

p.6 dubious first novel;

p.6 guineas;

p.7 Dirt Harry meets Fanny Hill;

p.8 diesel-molasses hybrid cars;

p.9 Bananas for Edward;

p.10 shark repellent; That is how Batman made it....

p.10 Strontium Goat;

p.12 Apocalypse Next;
I believe this is somewhere on Japser's list of possible titles.

p.13 Tristram Shandy;

p.19 Welsh Tocyns;

p.19 pasta and anti-pasta;
Technically it is anti-pasto, but the similarities between cooking and particle physics are too great to ignore: no one really understands either, they are both complicated, and the cost is gastronomical.

p.25 Acme Carpets;

p.29 BETA;

p.30 Health and Safety;

p.33 Acheron, Aornis and Cocytus;
See the previous guides, but these are rivers named in Greek myth. Also quite a nasty family....

p.36 Limburger;

p.40 'special protection'; Actually, it is accorded some. See LIAGB.

p.42 Good Soldier Svejk;

p.43 departure of comedy from Thoms Hardy;
This could not have happened, since he writes such laugh-a-minute stories. </sarcasm>

p.44 [books listed];

p.45 1782;
Numbers usually mean something in Jasper's books. In this case, 1782 saw the opening of the first commercial bank in the USA, Rosseau's death and a few other things. When I look at the context again I will have a better idea for what to put in here....

p.45 MAWk-15H; Mawkish?

p.47 Senator Jobsworth;
A Jobsworth is a particularly annoying type of civil servant, who would love to help, but "It's more than me job's worth, guv"....

p.47 spectacles problem;

p.57 Speedy Muffler;

p.59 Mrs Dalloway;

p.59 Axis of Unreadable;

p.90 Isambard Kingdom Brunel;
Just go look at 2dGoggles, since Sidney Padua explains IK Brunel far better than I do.

p.93 The Demonic Couplets;

p.102 Murder of Roger Ackroyd;

p.110 Cornelius Scampton-Tappett;

p.113 Fermat's Last Theorem;

p.120 Berko-Boyler;

p.120 October sixth, 1983;

p.122 Bendix Scintilla;

p.126 SHE is the one who must be obeyed;

p.137 Dr Who;

p.139 Welsh rarebit;

p.140 Scorcese;

p.163 James Tarbuck;

p.163 Clary-LaMarr;

p.164 Ekranoplane;

p.167 Apologorium;

p.169 Austen Rover;
The Austin Rover is a real car. This one? I wish it were....

p.179 Colonel William Dobbin;

p.217 Colonel Barksdale;

p.218 Jacob Marley, Snork Maiden, Senator Zigo;

p.226 The Second Sex;

p.233 Dr Temperance Brennan;

p.234 Mickey Finn;

p.235 Kathy and Kerry;

p.269 Tobruk;

p.282 lasagne three nights in a row;
I could go for that as part of the price to rat out my sister.... I love lasagne.

p.284 Schroedinger Night Fever principle;

p.284 Pulp Fiction, Face/Off;

p.287 The Short Now;

p.303 Special Theory of Relativity

p.306 visible reading matter;

p.306 Why so much unread and untold;

p.308 Dr Nessecitar;

p.337 Spacehopper;

p.373 something nasty sitting in the corner;

p.383 [whole page]; Sound familiar at all?

p.393 serial killer; Argh....

p.395 got a situation; Such a cliff-hanger.... Hope that Thursday returns soon....