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| This is a chronological
order of updatement and a few press releases. To read old Fforde News Fflashes click on the link. | ||
| 10th December 2012 Competition results for the TN7 and DS1 Sleuthing competitions:
USA Dragonslayer Sleuthing Competition. US and Canada Woman Who Died a Lot Sleuthing Competition. | ||
| 2nd Oct 2012 Youtube video of Jasper talking about The Last Dragonslayer and going on a location recce of Hereford, where the book is set.
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| 1st October 2012 Win a Book! 1: Win the MILLIONTH copy of my USA sales with my The Woman Who Died a Lot quiz. 2: Win the FIRST EVER signed US copy of The Last Dragonslayer | ||
 This beautiful and especially bound edition could be yours! (Grass not included)  The first signed first edition of The Last Dragonslayer. A true collector's edition.. Wow! Prize includes shadow, but only under optimum (sunny) conditions. |
I have two books out in the US this October: The Woman Who Died a Lot and The Last Dragonslayer, both of which warrant their own competition. The books can be ordered from: The Woman Who Died a Lot Amazon (USA) Barnes and Noble (USA) Indiebound (USA) Amazon (Canada) Amazon Kindle (USA) The Last Dragonslayer Amazon (USA) Barnes and Noble (USA) Books a Million (USA) HMH Store Guide (USA) Amazon Kindle (USA) To see the competitions, please click: Dragonslayer Sleuthing Competition USA only Woman Who Died a Lot Sleuthing CompetitionUSA and Canada |
| 19th September 2012  The NEW UK paperback edition with a cover that matches the rest of the series. This supercedes the old 'Supermarket' cover that it has lived with these past three years. This is from the 11th edition, and copies this should start filtering down to bookshops almost immedietely, although stocks of the old cover will linger on. |
| 14th September 2012 New Youtube film: On how you might get me to appear at a bookshop near you (17th Sept 2012)
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| 14th September 2012  The USA edition of The Last Dragonslayer, again, as photographed on my front lawn. It will be available on the 2nd October 2012 in the States, and I'll be touring for the whole of October promoting it and the US Woman Who Died a Lot. For details of the tour, go to my Events Page . The Book can be pre-ordered at your local outlet or at the following sites: |
| 14th September 2012  The USA edition of The Woman Who Died a Lot , as photographed on my front lawn. It will be available on the 2nd October 2012 in the States, and I'll be touring for the whole of October promoting it and the US Last Dragonslayer. For details of the tour, go to my Events Page . The Book can be pre-ordered in your local outlet or by mousing your way to: |
| 23rd August 2012  The Song of the Quarkbeast is now available in the UK in paperback. It can be ordered at the following outlets: Amazon (UK) Waterstone's (UK) Foyles (UK) Book Depository (UK) ...but to see how you can win a copy, go to my Win a Book page page. |
| 23rd July 2012 Ellen and Hatty of the Young Journalists Academy interview me at Lincoln on the 19th July 2012
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| 23rd July 2012 Youtube film of my hangout (it's a videoconference Q&A) at Google on the 20th July 2012
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| 23rd July 2012  The Special Features page is now open, and will list a short wordamneyray, a few deleted scenes (and why, which is actually a bit more interesting) and a 'Well of Lost Sentences' More details, go to my TN7 Special Features page. |
| It's here, it's here! 4th July 2012  Well, here it is, hot off the presses - the hardback UK edition of The Woman Who Died a Lot, or TWWDAL, as we call it. Now I know this will really annoy some of you collectors out there, but apparently TN7 will NOT be available in a 'Royal Hardback' edition, and only in the slightly smaller hardback. I had a word with my publishers who may do a rethink as a super-limited run, but, well, we'll see. I'll be making a special features page live soon, but you can find out a little more about this book by going to my 'Next Book' page. Oh, and if you are in a charitable mood, I'd be grateful if you could preorder a copy (if not buying it in the first week), so I might be able to get the book into the bestseller list, like we did last year. Not to make ME happy, of course, as I tower above such things, but for my publisher - and mother. Preorder Amazon (USA) Preorder Barnes and Noble (USA) Preorder Amazon (UK) Preorder Waterstone's (UK) Preorder Foyles (UK) Preorder Amazon (Canada) |
| 4th July 2012 Youtube video of Jasper talking about the new book, 'The Woman Who Died a Lot'. This is a first for me, and if successful, may follow it up with more!
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 3rd July 2012 Hodder and Stoughton press release Hodder & Stoughton acquires three new Jasper Fforde novels FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Hodder & Stoughton is delighted to announce the acquisition of new novels by number one bestselling author Jasper Fforde. Publishing Director Carolyn Mays bought three adult titles from Will Francis at Janklow Nesbit. Jasper Fforde's first novel was highly-acclaimed, genre-expanding The Eyre Affair; his last, ten years later, was the Sunday Times Number One fiction bestseller One of Our Thursdays is Missing. In between he has had extraordinary critical acclaim ('Pure inspired lunacy' Daily Express, 'Freshness and invention bursting from every page' The Sunday Times, 'No summaries can do justice to the sheer inventiveness, wit, complexity, erudition, unexpectedness and originality of the works, nor to their vast repertoire of intricate wordplay and puns' The Times) and numerous bestsellers for his astonishingly imaginative novels. His new novel, The Woman Who Died A Lot, is the latest Thursday Next adventure and, published on 12th July, is eagerly awaited by thousands of readers. Carolyn Mays said, 'I am continually amazed by Jasper's extraordinary imagination and it has been the most enormous privilege to work with him over the years. I'm thrilled to have a new contract to take us through 2017, and look forward to even greater, much-deserved success.' Hodder have bought British Commonwealth rights including Europe, excluding Canada. Jasper, in response, said: 'I am delighted at the news. Everyone at Hodder has done a fantastic job in promoting and supporting me during the past eleven years, and I am extremly happy that we will, as a team, continue to bring my somewhat odd books to the marketplace.' |
| 4th April 2012 USA Dragonslayer now published on the 2nd October, and will tour for a week ahead of Penguin, so I may potentially have a 15-city tour. Hoorah! Appearances Page
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| 3rd April 2012 What we got up to in Abu Dhabi. Not 'Aberdovey' as a friend of mine thought. I was chatting for a while about how hot it was, and how the leadership had embraced a culture of diversity to other religions, and he was getting more and more confused. Then I said there was a three hour time difference and the penny dropped. Mind you, I haven't been to Aberdovey recently, so it might be quite a lot like the Emirates. Oh well. In any event, my thanks to the British Council for sending us out there, and here are a few links to videos of us chatting on panels: youtube of Fforde and others in the ADIBF My co-conspirators on the trip: Laughs: Phillip Ardagh Selected gems from Large Forest in South America Food: Sally Butcher Veggiestan: A Vegetable Lover's Tour of the Middle East Travel: Tim Mackintosh-Smith Landfalls: On the Edge of Islam with Ibn Battutah Poetry: Tishani Doshi Everything Begins Elsewhere |
| 9th Mar 2012 ++ New Questions and Answers section on the Brighton Plot Bunnies Website: Fforde Q&A featuring Gregory Peck joke ++ |
| What were most of Jasper's Books written on? 5th Mar 2012  If you thought the answer was 'paper' or 'a computer' you would only be half right. From 2002 until 2011 I wrote all my books on this desk. So that would include: Lost in a Good Book, The Well of Lost Plots, Something Rotten, First Among Sequels, Shades of Grey and Song of the Quarkbeast. Rewritten on this desk were The Big Over Easy, The Fourth Bear, and The Last Dragonslayer. It has endured three house moves, too. Only The Eyre Affair and The Woman Who Died a Lot were written elsewhere. The reason I am explaining this is because the desk is now retired and will be auctioned off at the 2012 Fforde Ffiesta in order to assist the Fforganisers in meeting the (constantly increasing) costs of putting on the Ffiesta.
There will be no reserve to the auction, and the desk will be signed on the underneath by me, outlining what it was, and its utter lack of global significance. Don't contact me about it. Direct any queries towards: The Ffiesta Website. |
| 5th March 2012 Finally! Thursday Nextreme Competition Winner announced. Yes, two years late, but we lost the trophy.
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| 23rd Feb 2012 +++ Title change for the upcoming Thursday Next book. No longer Dark Reading Matter but the more descriptive (and fun) The Woman Who Died a Lot. Dark Reading Matter will now be the title of TN8. I am currently fighting to get this into 1st draft by Monday, so all those waiting for the answers to the Quarkbeast Competition, I thank you for your patience! +++ 
A hasty mock up so we can have something to look at. The actual covers will be a lot better. |
| 30th Jan 2012 USA One of Thursdays is Missing published today - COMPETITION!
 The paperback edition of One of our Thursdays is Missing. One of Our Thursdays is Missing is published in the USA on January 30th 2012, and is available through the following links:
Amazon Barnes and Noble (Nook edition also) Kindle edition Alternatively, they are also available in your local independent. There is a competition to win some books.. |
| German DTV TN6 preview 23rd Jan 2012  A preview of the DTV edition of TN6 'Wo Ist Thursday Next' slated for publication in August, 2012. |
| 5th Jan 2012 Jasper now loading pictures on to INSTAGRAM, if you are so equipped - under the username 'jasperfforde'.
App download link |
| TN-6 now in paperback (UK) 5th Dec 2011 
NEW NEW NEW 5th Jane 2012 One of our Thursdays is Missing is now available as a UK paperback. In addition to your local friendly bookshops, it can be found at : Amazon or Waterstone's or Foyles or if you have a Kindle, try: Amazon Kindle or an eReader: Foyles eReader |
| New Picture of the Week 19th Dec 2011  The Llywyn-On Reservoir, taken from the road to Neath, S Wales, early morning. Panasonic GF1, 150mm |
| New Picture of the Week 6th Dec 2011  On the Wye Valley Walk, just above Monnington, Herefordshire, UK. Nikon F100, 18mm, T-Max 400 |
| 28th Nov 2011 ATTN GERMAN READERS:
From Daniela at Lovely Books: "Shades of Grey" (Grau) wins Bronze in the German Reader's Choice Award!! 35 titles made it to the shortlist of each category and Grau reached the Top 3! You can find who else won prizes at the List of Winners. |
| New Picture of the Week 1st Dec 2011  This was on a commercial for Paul Arden that we shot in 1999, so although I took the snap, I cannot claim to be the author. The picture seems particular apt now that Etonians are back in power. The boys were actually using squeezy bottles for the wee effect, and at one point a policewoman marched up about to arrest us all, but then she saw it wasn't wee and we could, in fact, film quite legally here, she moved off, with a polite apology. Wouldn't happen now. This would be considered a 'demonstration' within a mile of parliament square and we'd all be down the nick. It wouldn't have stopped Paul Arden though. He'd still have filmed it. Marvellous character, sadly no longer with us. For the life of me, I can't remember what the commercial was for. Not for Eton, obviously. Nikon F90X, 35mm, Kodak BCN400 For more POTW, go to Picture of the Week Index. |
| New Picture of the Week 24th November 2011  Milly was a terrific dog - sadly no longer with us - and went everywhere with me, including flying. She used to look out of the window for a bit, yawn, then curl up for a nap. She was a fair co-pilot (I've had worse) but could never get the hang of banking in an aircraft. As any aviator will tell you, a banked turn in an aircraft is a balanced turn - the line of gravity remains vertically below the aircraft, irrespective of where the planet might be. If you've ever had a drink in your hand in a Jetliner which is banking, the liquid in the glass stays, yes, level to the aircraft. You can do a balanced turn and roll completely over and back to upright, still with the line of gravity pointing through the floor of the aircraft. A famed stunt pilot named Bob Hoover used to do precisely that, and could pour out a glass of iced tea as the aircraft rolled. It's a trick worth watching: Utube Bob Hoover Clip. In any event, Milly didn't really get the whole 'messing around with gravity thing', and when I banked left, she'd take a visual cue from the horizon, lean right to compensate, and fall over. This was probably why she simply yawned and went to sleep. This was taken about 2000' above Bronydd - that's a bend in the river Wye beyond, and Cabalva Farm. Contax G2, Summer 2006 For more POTW, go to Picture of the Week Index. |
| 20th Nov 2011 ATTN GERMAN READERS:
From Karla at Lovely Books: "Der Leserpreis - die besten Buecher 2011" is a big success in this year again. It is one of the biggest audience bookawards in the German-speaking area. Until yesterday readers could nominate their favourite books for the Leserpreis 2011. Hereby we heartly want to congratulate you: Your book "Shades of Grey" was chosen most often by the readers and therefore made it to the shortlist in the category "Fantasy". In each category there are now 35 books for choice. Since today you can see the shortlist at this website: Leserpreis Website Now the important phase starts. Here readers can vote for their favourite books until 27 November 2011. On Monday 28th November 2011 the Leserpreis in Gold, Silver and Bronze will be awarded. If you like to call your reader's attention to your nomination and the voting, please link to this website. |
| 15th Nov 2011 Song of the Quarkbeast Sleuthing Competition Extended until January due to many people getting their copies for Christmas, and not being able to enter. The competition now closes on the 30th January 2012
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| New Picture of the Week 15th November 2011  Winter beach amblers, Ventimiglia, Italy, February 2011 Olympus OM2, Kodak T-Max 400, 50mm For more POTW, go to Picture of the Week Index. |
| New Picture of the Week 15th November 2011  Lost cat sign and neatly discarded paper cup, London, 2006 Contax G2, 35mm lens For more POTW, go to Picture of the Week Index. |
| 10th Nov 2011  The Song of the Quarkbeast - now for sale Published today, November 10th 2011, The Song of the Quarkbeast. For more details, have a look HERE. If you want to order, try your local bookshop or Amazon or Waterstones. |
| New Picture of the Week 2nd November 2011  Playing Scrabble with Maddy. I'm having a bit of trouble, and on this occasion, got thrashed. Olympus OM2SP, 400TMax, Christmas 2010 For more POTW, go to Picture of the Week Index. |
| New Picture of the Week 28th Oct 2011  My entry to the 'Grand Fromage de Photographie' competition at Cannes, 2007. Nikon F3, 105mm, Fuji Transparency For more POTW, go to Picture of the Week Index. |
| 12th Oct 2011 ++ News on the latest book. Despite assurances that I was working on a 'Super-Secret-Standalone' book to be published in Spring 2012, it now looks set to be TN7: Dark Reading Matter. This is due to the lack of time available to work on a new book, and properly develop the new characters, settings and tone. TN7 will be in draft form by December 2011, probably for publication in May 2012. DS-3, The Return of Shandar is still slated to be written in the first six months of 2012, with publication in November 2012. My standalone will thus be pushed back to being written in the latter part of 2012, with publication in 2013. This two book a year thing can be quite frustrating, especially with a new baby and the house being rebuilt, but we should be back on track soon. ++ |
| New Picture of the Week 11th Oct 2011  At the RAF reserve collection in Stafford, they have a whole host of bizarre items that are currently not on display at either Cosford or Hendon. We were shown around the hangar by the highly committed and encyclopedic curators, and saw not only T E Lawrence's rosary, Douglas Bader's 2nd best leg, but the singed pennant from the back of the R101. There was furniture, too - Goering's dining room chairs, and this is Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris' desk, from which he conducted the aerial bombing campaign against Nazi Germany in the latter part of the war. And there it is, looking worn and chipped, untidly sitting on a pallette. Kind of surreal. Oh, and in case you're interested, Goering's taste in dining room furniture tended towards the grand. For more POTW, go to Picture of the Week Index. |
| New Picture of the Week 5th Oct 2011  On the Begwyns, Dec 2005. Low sun on an evening trot around the lake on the Begwyns, not far from us. Those dead trees have almost all disappered now, but the sky remains as glowery as ever. Fuji GS645W, with .6ND graduated filter held in place with fingers. For more POTW, go to Picture of the Week Index. |
| New Picture of the Week 3rd Oct 2011  Penguin pool, London Zoo, August 2011. The gorgeously realised concrete double-helixed cantilever penguin enclosure designed in the late thirties and wholly unsuited for Penguins. The rather lovely Casson Elephant House is the same - fantastic piece of design that won prizes, plaudits, and fame for Sir Hugh Casson. Absolutely no bloody good for elephants. Both protected buildings. The penguin pool is a fountain feature, the elephant house for smaller animals more suited to it - like wild pig, and humans fond of architectural design. For more POTW, go to Picture of the Week Index. |
| New Picture of the Week 30th Sept 2011  |
| 28th Sept 2011  Czech TN2 - Thursday kicks butt Published in the Czech Republic and available NOW - Ztracena V dobre Knize, or, if you prefer, Lost in a Good Book. You can order it HERE. I have two copies to give away, so please go to my Czech TN2 Giveaway Competition Page |
| 8th Sept 2011  Paperback edition of Last Dragonslayer - out soon! Published on the 15th September 2011, the paperback edition of The Last Dragonslayer. More about this book can be found at My DS-1 mini site and if you want to pre-order, you could try Amazon or Waterstone's. There is a COMPETITION, too, where you can win FREE copies! Go to my competition page or directly to the DS1 'Find a rhyme' competition. |
| 8th Sept 2011  German Language edition of 'Shades of Grey' - Grau Published September 2011, the German Language edition of Shades of Grey, known as 'Grau. This is published by Eichborn rather than DTV who do my Thursday Books. You can buy this from all good booksellers in Germany, or order it online at Amazon.de. There is a COMPETITION, too, where you can win FREE copies! Go to my competition page or directly to the German Shades of Grey Grau competition. |
| 8th Sept 2011 You saw it here first: Cover design of The Song of the Quarkbeast Published in November 2011, The Song of the Quarkbeast. For more details, have a look HERE. If you want to pre-order, try your local bookshop or Amazon or Waterstones. |
| 4th July 2011  The Italian edition of The Last Dragon This is the first published foreign language edition of The Last Dragonslayer anywhere, and I have been given two copies by my Italian publishers Mondadori, one of which I am giving away. For more details, please go to my Pasta Picture Competition If you want to know more this edition, please go to the Mondadori Website. |
| 4th July 2011  One of the entries to my Flipback Competition The results to my 'Win a Flipback' competition are in! Please mouse your way to Flipback competition page to see the results.. If you want to know more about Flipbacks which are launched on the 30th June, go to the Flipback Website where, amongst other things, you can download the Launch Brochure. |
| 18th June 2011  The 'Flipback' edition of Shades of Grey Flipback books are a new publishing idea - compact books (5" by 3") you can really fit into a pocket to take anywhere. They need no batteries, and no WiFi connection - staggering! For the first crop of Flipbacks published by Hodder, they have selected some of the best books from the finest writers ... and me. I've been sent two, so I am keeping one and offering the other as a glittering (yet diminutive) prize for the winner of the latest Fforde competition If you want to know more about Flipbacks which are launched on the 30th June, go to the Flipback Website where, amongst other things, you can download the Launch Brochure. |
| For older Fforde News Flashes please go to my Fforde News Fflash Archive pages. |
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| Our thanks to The Goliath Corporation for its generous sponsorship. |