We've made it to Issue 4. And so I think it's fair to say that WN is here to stay! I'll be shooting to put out a full issue every three months. More than that and you'll probably get sick of me.
So keep sending your ideas, submissions and comments. I love to hear the feedback!
Jon Brierley resigns as Co-Editor of WN.
Sadly, I say goodbye to Jon. He has been an invaluable part of spearheading the creation of this humble newsletter. He has also been the chief scribe. I'm glad I got to work with you on our little pet project. But more than that, I'm glad I can call you "friend". You will be missed. Read his farewell letter.
If anyone has ideas for articles you'd like to see or have something you'd like to contribute, simply drop me a line. Also, with Jon's departure, I could use some guest editors. If you're interested, email me at:
Memo from JurisFiction Discovered - Sheds New Light on Missing Agent
A long-forgotten memo from JurisFiction was discovered this week. The memo, dated 1986, was found in a leatherbound 1912 copy of Jane Austen's Sense & Sensibility. Tracey Lloyd of Plymouth, England found the memo as it dropped from the book she was unloading from a crate of antique books recently bought at auction. The memo is from a missing JurisFiction Agent. Click here to read more and to See the JurisFiction Memo
Hodder & Stoughton UK Announces a Jasper Micro-Site
Our wonderful contact at Hodder & Stoughton, Jasper's UK publishers, recently contacted us to announce the creation of a new Micro-Site to showcase Jasper and his works. There is a smashingly good Bluffer's Guide as well as a game that challenges you to save the world from certain annihilation by Dream Topping. Check out Hodder & Stoughton's Micro-Site
WOLP Review from Down Under
The Fforum's very own Kaz, aka Karen Conway from Tasmania, Australia sent us the Who Weekly Magazine review of The Well of Lost Plots.
Who Weekly, August 18, 2003
by Marianne Bilkey
Grade: B+
Jasper Fforde, whose latest novel, The Well of Lost Plots (Hodder & Stoughton, $32.95), is the third installment in the adventures of literary detective Thursday Next, makes a Mensa workout feel like a spelling bee for first graders. Thinking well beyond the two-dimensional square, the brilliant Fforde takes his heroine from the dangers of the real world into the unknown fictional world.
Having rescued Jane Eyre from a life without Rochester in Fforde's debut novel, The Eyre Affair, and avoided death-by-coincidence in the sequel, Lost in a Good Book, Thursday's escape to the Well of Lost Plots is supposed to be a relaxing maternity break away from the clutches of villainous Jack Schitt. But Fforde has better ideas. As part of the Character Exchange Programme, Thursday is transported to an unpublished dectective novel, Caversham Heights, where she is cruelly stripped of her memories, harrangued by striking nursery rhyme characters, tired of their repetious life, and exposed to the potentially fatal Mispeling Vyrus.
Fforde's work is not just too difficult to explain simply, it's simply too difficult to explain. I can only urge the uninitiated to begin with his first two novels - to throw yourself straight into The Well of Lost Plots is not only courting absolute confusion, it's denying yourself the pleasureable freefall trhough Fforde's finer works.
New Chat Room a Success!
The Chat room has been a major success! In fact, rarely an evening went by this summer without a lively discussion and lots of joking and kidding around. We saw lots of the same faces but an occasional new face was great. It was so much fun to get to meet everyone. So with the new year here, all shiny and new, let's get back in that chat room and reconnect!
We have switched our chat room location. The Bravenet room just was not meeting the needs of our users, so after quite a bit of research, I think we've hit on a winner. So much so, that we may go to the pro version with no ads and lots more features. This new software seems to be much more browser friendly and much more stable than our previous room. We're still in the testing phase, so why don't you drop by and help us test it and let us know what you think.
The next scheduled Ffan Chat will be on Thursday, February 12th at 9:30pm London time, but the chat room is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for casual fun and good natured chatting. So stop on by!
Ffan Club Contributions
Okay, here it is...the part we dread. But...
To help defray some of the costs of running this website and keep membership free for everyone, we've decided to begin accepting donations from our visitors who want to make the site better. This is definitely NOT manditory!! We're just saying if you'd like to help out, that's great! One thing we do ask is that no person donate more than $20 per year. First of all, we don't need that much and secondly, we don't want to do all of the accounting at the end of the year! We do want to assure you that 100% of the money will go towards the website and Ffan events.
So we've set up a bank account that is strictly for the Ffan Club and also a corresponding PayPal account. And we've made it so you can donate with your credit card - in nearly any currency.
We really do appreciate all of your support and we hope we can continue to serve you and bring you even more fun stuff in the future! If you have ideas for features you'd like to see, please let us know.
Click on the headline to read the poetry kindly sent to us by readers. If you would like to submit some stories or poems, please email them to the address at the bottom of the page.
Click on the headline to read stories submitted by obsessed stalwart Fforde Ffans! This month's featured author is Jon Brierley. Follow along as Jurisfiction Operatives Pilgrim and Juan meander through awful literary puns in the Department of Rhyme & Unreason.
- Details of the American tour for WOLP in hardcover and LIAGB in paperback
- More letters to Dear WN
- New additions to the Nextian Songbook
- Part 2 of Jon Brierley's Sherlock Holmes Mystery - hopefully
Any submissions or comments may be sent to:
If you would like a headshot posted with your submission, please attach a nicely focused photo of yourself. We will edit it down to the proper size, so do not worry about doing it yourself. Any nude pics will promptly be posted for all readers to ridicule.
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We'll let you know when the next issue is ready. You just click the link in the email we send and you'll be instantly transported here...like magic!
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- April 2003
- May 2003
- June-July 2003
Come join our LIVE Ffan Chat
Our next scheduled chat time will be
Thursday, February 12th
at 9:30pm, London time
Check this WORLD CLOCK to
compare your local time.
The Chat Room will be available 24/7*
for impromptu conversations.
Stop by and see who's hanging around!
*Pending server availability
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2004 American Tour
for The Well of Lost Plots
February 23 - March 19, 2004
- Monday, February 23
Portland, Oregon
Barnes and Noble
1720 North Jantzen Beach
Portland, OR 97217
Contact: Page Jordan
503-283-2800 -- store
email:
7:15 PM arrival
7:30 PM Reading & Signing
- Tuesday, February 24
Seattle/Tacoma, Washington
Elliott Bay Book Company
101 S. Main Street
Seattle, WA 98104
Contact: Rick Simonson
(206) 624-6640 Direct
email:
7:15 PM arrival
7:30 PM Reading & Signing
- Wednesday, February 25
Seattle, Washington
Friends of the Libraries USA
Full Details TBA
- Thursday, February 26
San Francisco, California
Barnes & Noble #2072
5604 Bay Street
Emeryville, CA 94608
Contact: Nancy Thorne
510-547-0905 store
email:
7:15 PM arrival
7:30 PM Reading & Signing
- Friday, February 27
San Francisco, California
Booksmith
1644 Haight Street
San Francisco, CA 94117
Contact: Thomas Gladysz
415-863-8688
email:
6:45 PM arrival
7:00 PM Reading & Signing
- Saturday, February 28
San Mateo, California
M is for Mystery
86 East 3rd Avenue
San Mateo, CA 94401
Contact: Ed Kaufman
650-401-8077
email:
1:45 PM arrival
2:00 PM Reading and Signing
- Monday, March 1
Los Angeles/Pasadena, California
Vroman's Bookstore
695 E.Colorado Blvd
Pasadena, CA 91101
Contact: Linda Urban
(626) 449-5320
email:
11:45 AM arrival
12:00 PM Reading & Signing
- Monday, March 1
Los Angeles, California
Barnes & Noble #2709
Westside Pavillions Store
10850 West Pico Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90064
Contact: Katie Layman
310-475-4144 store
email:
7:15 PM arrival
7:30 PM Reading & Signing
- Tuesday, March 2
San Diego/La Jolla, California
Warwick's
7812 Girard Avenue
La Jolla, CA 92037
Contact: Kat Kinzer
858-454-0347
email:
7:15 PM arrival
7:30 PM Reading & Signing
- Wednesday, March 3
Austin, Texas
Book People
603 N. Lamar
Austin, TX 78703
Contact: Alex Pippard
(512) 472-4288 X404
email:
6:45 PM arrival
7:00 PM Reading & Signing
- Thursday, March 4
Houston, Texas
Murder by the Book
2342 Bissonnet
Houston, TX 77005
Contact: David Thompson
713-524-8597
email:
6:15 PM arrival
6:30 PM Reading & Signing
- Friday, March 5
Cedar Rapids/Iowa City, Iowa
Prairie Lights
15 South Dubuque
Iowa City, IA 52240
Contact: Paul Ingram
(319) 337-2681
email:
7:45 PM arrival
8:00 PM Reading & Signing
- Saturday, March 6
Minneapolis/St.Paul, Minnesota
Bound to be Read
870 Grand Avenue
Saint Paul, MN 55105
Contact: Jenny White
(651) 298-0378
email:
1:45 PM arrival
2:00 PM Reading & Signing
- Monday, March 8
Edina/Minneapolis, Minnesota
Barnes & Noble #2514
3225 W 69th Street
Edina, MN 55435
Contact: Peg Reilly
952-920-0633 store
email:
7:15 PM arrival
7:30 PM Reading & Signing
- Tuesday, March 9
St. Louis, Missouri
Left Bank Books
399 North Euclid Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63108
Contact: Carrie Robb
314-367-6731 store
email:
6:45 PM arrival
7:00 PM Reading & Signing
- Wednesday, March 10
Lexington, Kentucky
Joseph-Beth Books
161 Lexington Green Circle
Lexington, KY 40503
Contact: Sarah Hall
859-422-1424 direct
email:
6:45 PM arrival
7:00 PM Reading & Signing
- Thursday, March 11
Nashville, Tennesee
Davis Kidd Booksellers
Grace's Plaza, 4007 Hillsboro Road
Nashville, TN 37215
Contact: Ginger Knight
615-385-2645 (Store Hours)
email:
5:45 PM arrival
6:00 PM Reading & Signing
- Friday, March 12
Jackson, Mississippi
Lemuria
202 Banner Hall, 4465 I-55 North
Jackson, MS 39206
Contact: Bill Kehoe
601-366-7619
email:
4:45 PM arrival
5:00 PM Reading & Signing
- Saturday, March 13
Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina
Quail Ridge Books & Music
3522 Wade Avenue
Raleigh, NC 27607
Contact: Rene Martin
919-828-1588
email:
3:45 PM arrival
4:00 PM Reading & Signing
- Monday, March 15
New Orleans, Louisiana
Beaucoup Books
5414 Magazine Street
New Orleans, LA 70115
Contact: Courtney Eiswirth
504-895-2663
email:
6:15 PM arrival
6:30 PM Reading & Signing
- Tuesday, March 16
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, Pennsylvania
Tudor Bookshop
Wyoming Seminary's Stettler Learning Center (call to verify venue)
651 Wyoming Avenue
Kingston, PA 18704
Contact: Lynn Gonchar
570-288-9697
email:
6:45 PM arrival
7:00 PM Reading & Signing
- Thursday, March 18
New York, New York
Barnes & Noble #1979
Upper West Side
2289 Broadway ( at 82nd St.)
New York, NY 10024
Contact: Ann Harson
(212) 721-5282 direct
email:
7:15 PM arrival
7:30 PM Reading & Signing
- Friday, March 19
New York, New York
Partners & Crime
44 Greenwich Ave.
New York, NY 10011
Contact: Kate Nesbit
212-243-0440
email:
6:45 PM arrival
7:00 PM Reading and Signing
French Launch of L'affair Eyre
- April, 2004
Appearance in Paris in early April to support French language version The Eyre Affair
UK: Cheltenham Festival
UK: Swindon Fringe
- May 6, 2004
"Is this cool or what?!?" says Jasper. Talk, reading, and if time allows, short "Audience participation of Richard III" Venue: Pub in Swindon. More details TBA
Australia: Possible Tour
- Last 3 weeks of May, 2004
Possible tour and invitation to festivals. More details TBA
US/UK: Launch of TN4
- August, 2004
Simultaneous launch of Thursday Next 4: Something Rotten
UK: Edinburgh Festival
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