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-past
o, 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....