In the books Granny Next is 108 and very much alive, but in the family tree under Thursdaynext.com she is listed as having died in 1968. Have I missed something here?

Isn't she doomed to live eternally? If she's 108 in 1985, she would've been, um, 89 in 1968. Maybe then she was "killed" but not eradicated by the ChronoGuard to live forever until she's found that certain book and thus is not supposed to age any further? As far as I remember, she still looks roundabout 89, from appearance.
Only an idea, anyone with a ChronoGuard insight?



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Never put a sock in a toaster!
E. Izzard

There is this theory that she might actually be Thursday herself later & come back in time but whether that's so... I like it though. Seems plausible.



Post Edited (07-24-03 10:51)

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If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.

This is the perfect thread to mention (again) that maybe the Hades were involved with the curse. Maybe Acherons grandma/mum did it and were possibly named Nymphadora?

Granny Next has a very different atitude to Thursday, though, so maybe it isn't her future self.



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Those who forget the pasta are doomed to reheat it.

Maybe the question will be explained in one of the next Next books? :-)



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Never put a sock in a toaster!
E. Izzard

so maybe she did die in 1968 and was dragged off to hell by Hades and was rescued by her son but was cursed by whichever Hades when she escaped?

I like Nymphadora - was thinking along the lines of Ploutos or Lethe myself. ; )



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If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.

I don't see why people have been suggesting that Granny Next is actually Thursday. The rest of her family are odd enough, so I don't see why she can't have a mad and cursed Granny too.

Besides, if Grandma Next can't die until she's read the 10 most boring classics, why does she keep asking Thursday for advice ? Thursday appears to give suggestions of books she's already read (age roughly 35), and Gran says she's read them recently, in her quest to die. If Gran is Thursday, then why does she need to read them again now ?

I'm happy for Granny Next to be herself.

well, actually Thursday does not neccessarily have to have read them all to recommend them as being boring. Sometimes people just quit reading a book halfway through it, because they decide that they could do something more useful with their time, for example read a less boring book.

But I don't really like the idea of Thursday being Granny as well. It's just a too big paradoxon.



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Colourless green ideas sleep furiously.

(N. Chomsky 1957)

For Paradox see Fforde.
For Paradoxon see Nextarillion (presumably).

BTW V V I have ordered the book you recommended from Amazon. Thanks. Ever read Tolkien?

I tried the Lord of the Rings. Thrice. Never got past page 120 of the first volume (and i tried really hart, even reading it out to my flatmate and vice versa in order to stand it together didn't work). I used to feel ashamed because this book defeated me, although everyone (including those who usually don't read anything without pictures in) seems to have read it, but I got over it by now.



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Colourless green ideas sleep furiously.

(N. Chomsky 1957)

If you don't like it you don't like it, not everyone does. The first volume is very unlike the 2nd and 3rd, but don't feel obliged to read it on my account. I only asked because I felt it wrong to crack a dreadful pun without an explanation; 'The Nextarillion' was a Fforde / Tolkien crossover I serialised in this very Fforum a while ago. It's full of paradoxes, and I thought paradoxon was a good alternative in this context. Never mind. And thanks again.

Thursday and Granny N do have a lot of common (uncommon?) experiences: eradicated husbands, working in Jurisfiction, run ins with a mnemonomorph. I can't picture Thursday growing old in blue gingham, though.

Any idea why they don't ask the UA of W Cat to list the 10 most boring classics? He seems to have access to all Bookworld statistics.

And both having worked with Neanderthals, which seems strange (at least to me...) in Granny's case if she's in her proper time as she'd presumably have retired years before they were re-created... For that matter, she'd probably have retired before the SpecOps Network was even set up...

"Boring" may be too subjective for quantification.

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Warning! Product may contain Newts!

I prefer Granny being a separate character. If she has a list of the Top Ten, she could die when she wants, but maybe Colonel Next has politely asked her to help Thursday further into the Future.



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Those who forget the pasta are doomed to reheat it.

No reason why Granny couldn't have worked with Neanderthals after retiring from Spec-Ops. It could have been part-time or voluntary work. After a working life like Granny Next seems to have had, staying at home and knitting would be very boring, especially as her husband has been eradicated and she wouldn't have any company.