1: A western set, a sheriff, continuous shootings: a strange location for Thursday Next. Why such a thing and what's your personal relationship (considering your cinematic past) with the glorious tradition of American western movies?

2: Back in Swindon, Goliath Corporation have more and more power. Why do you think nowadays people so easily let the corporations rule their minds and lives (we know something about it in Italy...)? It seems like a kind of strange spell...

3: Politics used to be much more sophisticated than nowadays. In your novel, politicians merely play croquet... What should we (and your characters) expect from this change?

4: Economy is the key-word of our contemporary world. And it has to do with cheese in your novel...

5: Why did you choose Hamlet and his Shakespearian gang as squatters in Thursday's mother's house?

6: Why do you think readers fell so much in love with Thursday Next's series? It's a good reward after those 76 "no" letters from publishers...









1: A western set, a sheriff, continuous shootings: a strange location for Thursday Next. Why such a thing and what's your personal relationship (considering your cinematic past) with the glorious tradition of American western movies?

In my books I like to lampoon in a polite way the very many different genres of writing. I'd realised that I'd not attacked the Western Genre, so decided to devote an entire chapter to it. I called a friend of mine who listed every Western cliche there was, and I diligently attempted to keep every single one in. But because I don't like to put in chapters for no reason, I decided the minotaur would be hiding out in a Western because he'd be able to disguise himself in a herd of cows. It was a lot of fun writing the chapter and especially mixing in the slapstick and the Bad Science Fiction that always follows an appearance by Emperor Zhark.

2: Back in Swindon, Goliath Corporation have more and more power. Why do you think nowadays people so easily let the corporations rule their minds and lives (we know something about it in Italy...)? It seems like a kind of strange spell...

Probably because corporations are an extension of our own personal greed and our failings, and also an embodiment of something that humans do particularly well - supply and demand. Corporations give us what we want in the form of cheap goods and homogenised products and services. It takes strength of mind to refuse to be involved. Corporations are everywhere, and their cynicism knows no bounds. Governments don't run the world - commerce does. I believe the power of the vote is not as powerful as our spending power. We could lobby a wicked multinational for months without effect. But if we stopped buying their products for a month, they'd be on their knees. We have huge power, but sadly, we rarely use it. Mind you, I like the idea of Goliath turning themselves into a quasi-religious 'Faith-based Corporate Management System'.

3: Politics used to be much more sophisticated than nowadays. In your novel, politicians merely play croquet... What should we (and your characters) expect from this change?

Not sure about this question - it must be something to do with the Italian translation!

4: Economy is the key-word of our contemporary world. And it has to do with cheese in your novel...

I like the idea of a very high duty on cheese in Thursday's world. In the United Kingdom we traditionally pay a lot of indirect tax - the high duty on fuel, cigarettes and alcohol pays for the health service, amongst other things. I got around to thinking, what if everyone was so hooked on cheese they'd pay almost anything to get it? Once that idea was in play, it was a small step towards dreaming up an illegal cheese market, with 'cheeseleggers' bringing wheels of cheap Welsh-made Brie across the border to sell to the cheese-crazed residents of Thursday's world. More jeopardy, more fun!

5: Why did you choose Hamlet and his Shakespearian gang as squatters in Thursday's mother's house?

Once I thought of having Hamlet in the real world because he was worried that he had been 'misinterpreted' as a ditherer who talks a lot and does very little, the rest of his adventures in the real world pretty much wrote themselves. I thought he and Otto Von Bismarck could start the Danish-German war over a slice of cake, and Lady Hamilton and Hamlet could have a fling together. After all, they have a lot on common - they both have a best friend called Horatio. It would also explain Admiral Nelson's odd behaviour at Trafalgar - perhaps he was trying to commit suicide with whatever was to hand - the entire French and Spanish navies.

6: Why do you think readers fell so much in love with Thursday Next's series? It's a good reward after those 76 "no" letters from publishers...

I'm not sure. Probably because it's all good honest silly fun. It gives readers an opportunity to laugh at the classics after we have been told for many years that they shouldn't be laughed at. I call it: 'sniggering at the back of class during English literature classes' and I think people enjoy that. For me, I like Thursday because there is nothing she can't do, and no idea too way-out that I can't somehow fit inside the bizarre world in which she lives. It's also because my books are a celebration of books and storytelling. As I often say: 'I write books for people who love stories, and stories for people who love books'.






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