I was inspired by Magda's Thursday Next costume to get some of my friends who I forced to read TEA (and they loved it, too!) to gather a group and go as most of the cast from the Thursday Next series.

I myself am playing Thursday, though originally I was supposed to be Landen, as we're all girls. What I did was this - buy a jacket and baseball cap in the same colours, and get 'SpecOps-27' embroidered on the hat and 'Thursday Next' on one side of the jacket and 'SpecOps' on the other.

We also had 'Names copyright Jasper Fforde' put on the edge of the back of the hat and on the trim of the jacket. Since we're copyright-fearing people.

Just a story I wanted to share ... and see perhaps if anyone else wants a SpecOps hat.

Jasper is supposed to be marketing some SpecOps t-shirts ... they're on his site somewhere, but sales have yet to materialise.

I dunno about a hat (not a hat-wearer, although increasing balditude may change that), but what we do want is pictures. Failure to provide images of these costumes will result in a ChronoGuard eradication order being issued, or failing that an outbreak of sarcasm.

(And if there are pics can we put them in Whatever next, please?)



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I am very interested in the Universe. I am specialising in the Universe and everything surrounding it. - E. L. Wisty

I want a SpecOps T-shirt! Where on this increasingly large site is he selling them?



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

[www.jasperfforde.com]

There's the link, but they've yet to go on sale. I can't wait, as I'll be purchasing the SpecOps-27 and the ChronoGuard... My only complaint is the lack of SpecOps-17! "Suckers and Biters"... Heh heh heh.

How about some little pet sweaters that say "Version 2.1" on the back? It would probably cause some interesting looks if you then walk your pet in the park wearing a SpecOps jacket.

CJ - thanks for the link, and welcome to the Fforum! (I don't think I've seen you around before...)

I think I'd get some pretty interesting looks if I walked any of my pets in the park, with or without a Nextian pet sweater. Admittedly I used to know an eccentric vicar who took his two Siamese cats for walks on a lead, but my cats are not Siamese and would definitely take exception!



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

Sounds like fun!

My friend DeForrest (the man standing in the kitchen with no costume in my pics) did say that if he'd known I was coming as Thursday he'd have come as Acheron Hades. I did point out that he could be Hades disguised as DeForrest, for all I could tell without shooting him. He didn't volunteer for that particular test.

BTW, anyone not wanting to dig through the old Fforum to find my Halloween costume, but interested in seeing it, can look at the bottom of this page:
[www.geocities.com]

I highly recommend accessories such as entroposcopes (and dodos). Even people who hadn't read the book liked the entroposcope, and there's a label and instructions you can print out on Jasper's downloads page.

I have an elasticated cat harness, dating from the time Vila (since sadly deceased) took to following me and partner-of-time when we went out. One evening, he trailed us, of his own accord, about half a mile to one friend's house, then back past our house and another 2 minutes walk to Gary's bedsit. Vila made himself useful by catching a large spider under Gary's bed.
We got him the harness because Vila would follow us up to Commonside and across a fairly busy road to the Dram Shop, and we didn't want him to get flattened by a passing 95 bus. The Dram Shop had its own resident cat, a handsome, fluffy ginger called Henry. He behaved very well when we brought Vila into his shop and introduced them.
I've used the harness on other cats, when letting them outside for the first time. They don't like it much, so I've never tried taking them for walks.

Big advantage of cats: you can exercise them by playing indoors. None of this late-night-walk-in-the-rain nonsense.

*coughs* Er, fascinating, but wrong thread!



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

no it's not! you were talking about walking pets and Skiffle was talking about walking her cats with a harness! (I walk Odin with one! or rather, he walks me!)

Elasticated? Great - kitty yo-yos!



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

Vila was the only cat we could take for a walk with the harness. With the others, it was more a case of taking them for a drag.

My Dad nicknamed one dog (a long time ago) Woodbine - as he had to keep taking him out for a drag...



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

I get the joke, but I suspect it might have gone over the head's of a few others. Woodbines aren't such a common brand, these days.

I think even foreign non-smokers like me have heard of woodbines, at least if they've read the Adrian mole books!

Oh, you're right... as you were... Magda had temporarily confused me by going back on topic :-S. My fault - I get quite tired these days.

Minsky has something to say to PSD about kitty yo-yos. It starts with "skrrrrrrk!" and the rest is even less polite...



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

Devious of me, eh?



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"I've often said that the difference between British and American SF TV series is that the British ones have three-dimensional characters and cardboard spaceships, while the Americans do it the other way around."
--Ross Smith

Just unexpected... lol



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

Rhea great idea! i will force my frens to read TEA and have a party too!!!

Magda, loved ur pickwick ... btw where can i get thoes downloads for the labels and the kewl specOps name tag!?

The entroposcope labels are on the downloads section of this website, along with instructions. The SpecOps ID tag, I made myself using Adobe Illustrator.

You can get to the downloads page by clicking "Jasperfforde.com" on the top of this page, then clicking the "Downloads" link at the top of that page.



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"I've often said that the difference between British and American SF TV series is that the British ones have three-dimensional characters and cardboard spaceships, while the Americans do it the other way around."
--Ross Smith