All hail! I met the Great Panjandrum...in the flesh!!! And Mari, too. Jasper and Mari are both fantastic people! Very personable, I must say! Oh, and by the way, I'm the VERY FIRST FfORUMITE he's met! (And he said so in my books! Neener! -can't believe an American had to be the first one! LOL)

I went to his book signing tonite and he read a little bit from LIAGB (seeing as how it just came out in the US)...he read the part from the Trial. It was funny. I loved hearing him read it. After he read that exerpt, he opened it up for questions and there were some good ones, indeed!

I asked him if there were any books that were about ready to come into public domain that he's slobbering over to write about. And he related a story about the Fiction Awards that will be in WOLP. He had Eeyore as one of the awards presenters who was doing the presentation for Best Dead Male Character. Well, all the Winnie the Pooh books are owned by Disney now and they said he couldn't use Eeyore. So in the edit, he put that the Emcee said, "I'm sorry, our original presenter, Eeyore, can't be here with us tonite due to some problems with copyright...." and his editor nixed that, saying it was just too cheeky. LOL, I thought it was great and the crowd thought it was hysterical!

There were lots of other good questions too. I'll try to remember them. And maybe I'll put them in a story for Whatever Next if Ben ever gets around to getting the stuff edited so we can post it! (Jasper asked about that by the way! So get off yer duff, PSD! <GRIN>)

Oh, and I did say "Hi from the Fforumites" as requested!

That is fantastic! Lucky you (but also lucky Jasper having such devoted readers). I look forward to hearing more about it in the newsletter.

Nothing wrong with being cheeky... the more I hear about Jasper, the more I like him. Boo to the editor for killing his gag!



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

Sarah

We demand more details! How long did you get to talk with him? Did he let slip some interesting background info? Did you tell him Magda was laying in wait for him in Detroit? Ooooh .... *jealous*

And I agree with Sarah ..... good morning, Sarah, btw ..... I only know two other authors as nice as him!



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

BY THE WAY, you all know by know I got the WOLP proof but i was being good and didn't pick it up, but i just checked one thing and in the Credits there is this:

My thanks to Scarletbea, PoetScientistDrinker, Yan, Ben, Carla, Jon, Magda, AllAmericanCutie and Dave at the Fforde Forumn for their nomination in the Bookie Awards

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee we got our names on the book!

Cool!! He did mention that at the talk, but he didn't tell me he put our names in!! Nifty!

And as far as Magda goes, they actually thought I was her at first (I guess being one of only 2 regular American Fforumites, it's understandable how they'd be confused, but they got it right eventually!). And I did tell Jasper he'd be seeing Magda too!

I got to talk to him for about 10-15 minutes. And I talked off and on to Mari for a good portion of the time afterward.

Overall, a very fun evening. And I do have to say I was on my very best behavior so I wouldn't come across like a stalker! Just a rabid fan with good decorum! My husband was proud!

oh and interesting background....

he has 2 sons...not sure how old, etc....but they were both born in Swindon! LOL

And of his entire family, siblings, etc, he is the only one who never went to university...the rest of them hold doctorates!

uhm...I'll try to remember more later!

Cor, that and a few wins at the dogs. This goes down as a good day...



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.

Well if all goes according to schedule I'll be meeting Jasper tomorrow evening myself. Mind you, being relatively introverted I'll probably get up to him and say "Hi Jasper, I'm Magda from the Fforum. Will you sign my dodo as well as my books?" and then go utterly blank for conversation. Of course, since I'll be bringing my dodo he may well figure out who it is before I say anything at all.

Anybody got any great questions they think I should ask? I can never think of them at the right time myself (I'll probably be inspired as to what to say when I'm about halfway home).

Well, Dido would like to send a big "plock" to your Pickwick, and to anyone else who would appreciate one, including Jasper if you wouldn't feel too much of an idiot...

I'd rather like to know how often he actually reads this Fforum, to be honest. Does he realise quite what a strange bunch we are?!



..........................................................................................

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

Sarah

Carla wrote:

> My thanks to Scarletbea, PoetScientistDrinker, Yan, Ben, Carla, Jon, Magda, AllAmericanCutie and Dave at the Fforde Forumn for their nomination in the Bookie Awards

YAYAYAYAY

This has to be a good thing for a night when I'm feeling so down......

Sarah, Jasper told me that he doesn't get to keep up with the Fforum as much as he likes since he's been SOOOOO busy. However, he loves popping in once and a while to lurk. And there's just so much going on on the Fforum that he can't always keep up.

And he does realize what a strange lot we are. One of the questions I asked during the public Q&A was how his website and especially the Fforum figure into his 'publishing empire' (that part got a good laugh by him and Mari) and how much does what is said in the Fforum figure into what goes on in the books, like does he get ideas, etc...

He said he's gotten some great ideas from the Fforum (the awards, etc) and that the Fforumites are "all quite mad...and wonderfully funny"

By the way, he LOVES all the parodies and songs, etc. He wants to see more!

Hey Twila,

Was he signing his backlist as well as the new book? Just checking if I should tote along my trade paperbacks of TEA and LIAGB and get them signed as well. I'm already planning to bring them unless told not to bother, along with my dodo and my camera, of course.



--------------
&quot;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.&quot;
--Ross Smith

In other words, were they limiting how many books could be signed per person? (I realize this could vary by bookstore, but I'm curious what was done there).



--------------
&quot;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.&quot;
--Ross Smith

[timidly waves a hand at the back of class]

Who is Yan? Or am I missing something?

[/puts hand down]

yay! I got a mention. Unless it's Dave R, of course! Umm. I shall take the credit for people I know anyway. They need never know, mwahahaha....

and I can't even get the search thingummy to do a search which will find the thread in question!

boo.

And PSD / Ben gets mentioned twice !

[bangs head on desk]
we'll never hear the end of it now.....

found the thread btw. The Search whojummy doesn't work properly.

Either that or I don't.

Hmmm.

Is it hometime yet?

i found the thread and there is someone called Yan who posted there and then vanished...

Ben, did you vote twice?

Not that I can remember (and when can I ever, btw?). There was another Ben about a few times - maybe he mailed Mr Ff directly?



PSD

==========

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