May 2003

I was lucky enough to get to meet Jasper during his US book tour to promote the release of Lost in a Good Book and for the paperback relase of The Eyre Affair. Jasper had two stops in Washington DC; a morning reading at the Library of Congress, and an evening talk at Olsson's Books near the White House. My husband Jon and I had planned on attending both events, but were only able to make it to the evening do.

I really didn't know what to expect, only having been to a couple of book-signings before in my life. I guess I was thinking it would be a quick reading of a few paragraphs, a couple of pat questions, a quick line to sign the books and then he'd be out the door. Boy, was I pleasantly surprised! It wasn't like that at all! We arrived a little bit early and I was completely shocked to see how many people ended up coming. The bookstore staff had to bring out more chairs and even then it was still standing room only. I honestly did not know so many people in the DC area even knew about Jasper ... no offense to him, it just seems like we had him all to ourselves, the Fforumites and I. But I was so happily surprised on that matter!

Jasper started out by reading an excerpt from Lost in a Good Book (chapter 18, The trial of Fräulein N.) He explained the use of Kafka's The Trial and told the crowd that he had worked on a movie adaptation of the book and so he had it all visualized in his head when he was writing Thursday's version. His reading and little aside comments brought on plenty of giggles and really got the audience in the mood for some good Q & A.

He was asked where he gets his ideas for which books Thursday jumps into, and Jasper explained that there are lots of books he'd love to use, but most of them were still under copyright protection. He'd have to wait until they became public domain. So 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 The Well of Lost Plots. He had Eeyore as one of the awards presenters who was doing the presentation for Best Dead Male Character. Well, all of the Winnie the Pooh books are owned by Disney now and they pointedly said he couldn't use Eeyore. So in the edit, he wrote that the Emcee said, "I'm sorry, our original presenter, Eeyore, can't be here with us tonight due to some problems with copyright...." and his editor nixed that, saying it was just too cheeky. The crowd thought it was hysterical! Now that definitely elicited a big laugh!

I also asked how his website and especially the Fforum figure into his 'publishing empire' (that part got a good laugh by both Jasper and Mari) and how much does what is said in the Fforum figure into what goes on in the books; does he get ideas, etc... He related that there have been some wonderful ideas from the Fforum (the awards, etc) and that the Fforumites are "all quite mad...and wonderfully funny". Jasper said to check the credits when The Well of Lost Plots is released. (Carla O., lucky owner of a proof copy, has since informed us that many of us were mentioned by name...how exciting!)

Jasper said that he considers websites like his to be the illustrations for books of the modern age, seeing as how the only way to have illustrations these days is to publish a childrens' book. He related a story about stealing away to read Alice in Wonderland in his parents' library; it was an old copy with wonderful illustrations that really sparked his imagination. And it became his goal when he wrote his book to always to have illustrations. But of course, the publishers said no. So in Jasper's world, his website takes that place and makes the books more interactive. (Athough, Jasper has since gotten notice that TN-4 will have illustrations!)

After the reading and the lengthy Q & A, Jasper was more than willing to sign books and talk to everyone. No one was rushed through the line, which reached about half way around the sizeable store. Luckily for me, my husband was willing to go stand in line for me while I attempted to take a few pics and talked to Mari a bit. (She had been sitting near me and my husband during the reading and had been eyeing my camera...she's a big camera buff and had been eagerly hoping she'd get to play with my new Nikon digital SLR.)

Seeing as how I bought enough books to make a big deposit in the Fforde Children's College Fund, I had my husband hang towards the back of the line, so we wouldn't hold too many people up while my books were signed. And it also gave us more time to chat with Jasper and Mari. They're both amazingly friendly and very witty and fun-loving. While in line, one woman who had previously met Jasper asked if he and Mari were married. Mari said no, that he hadn't asked yet. I told her she should just ask him. And she giggled and said the thought had occurred to her to sit in the audience and stand up during the Q & A and ask him to marry her right then and there. Jasper blushed a bit and looked all cute and said that would have been "rather nice." The English art of understatement!

Jasper was nice enough to sign all of my books for me and also inscribed my personal copies with variations of "For Twila, the 1st Fforumite I've ever met!" I was really pleased with having that honor! We had our picture taken with Jasper and got our post cards from Mari and chit-chatted a little. They were both tired and hungry after a very long day and we didn't want to hold them up any more, so we thanked them both, told them how much we enjoyed meeting them and we were on our way. Even my husband Jon, who is notoriously stoic when it comes to these kinds of things, said he was really impressed and had a great time. He also told me he may just have to read the books now. I've only been trying to get him to read them for over a year now! I guess it takes someone as charming as Jasper to get the point across!


Photos with Jasper Fforde taken by Mari Roberts using Twila's camera.
Photo of Mari Roberts taken by Twila (under horrible lighting conditions from too far away!)