1: I really enjoyed this book. It was a breath of fresh air - something so different and imaginative. While reading I couldn't help stopping to wonder how this took shape in your imagination. I would love to hear something about how you put it together. What made you think of the idea. Anything about your creative process that you would be willing to share

2: Pursuing truth and accepting truth, despite its difficulty seems to be a theme. Was that intentional? Would you talk more about that?

3: What was your inspiration for many of the unique names that are a part of the book?

4: What was your favorite book (or books) as a kid? Did the books that you read as a child have any influence on your writing?

5: Have you ever considered writing an annotated version of the book? Having never read Jane Eyre myself, I felt like I was missing out on some really clever uses of the names, scenes and plot line

6: Twilightjess and I were wondering is it possible in your world to jump into non-fiction books?

7: I guess I would love to know which was your favorite character or scene?

8: I'm wondering if you, as the author, actually know what all those levels of SpecOps do, or if you're discovering them as you go, too

9: I also wonder about Thursday's relationship with her father, as opposed to Joffy's. Why does the old man visit one child and not the other? Is he just working, and Thursday is more useful to him? Or does he really have so much trouble relating to Joffy that he can't bring himself to visit?

10: In addition to The Eyre Affair, I have also read The Big Over Easy. You have created your own genre! What inspired you to write about and use other pieces of literature in your books? Have you always been interested in fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and classic literature?

11: What i really want to know, and it might be silly, Is in this world where Thursdays lives How many people are able to read themselves into the books?

12: You reference so many great works. Why does Jane Eyre (and Rochester) get the honor of being the main text?









1:I really enjoyed this book. It was a breath of fresh air - something so different and imaginative. While reading I couldn't help stopping to wonder how this took shape in your imagination. I would love to hear something about how you put it together. What made you think of the idea. Anything about your creative process that you would be willing to share..."

Jasper: Inspiration comes from everywhere, and everything. Books, radio shows, newspaper reports, 70's sitcoms, films, plays. 'The Eyre affair' has tons of ideas compressed into it; if something amuses or grabs my attention then I try to attach it leech-like to the story and then let it grow. The continuous linking of disparate strands is something that I find very enjoyable and quite challenging. In 'The Eyre Affair' I link the Charge of the Light Brigade, Jane Eyre, the biggest corporation ever, an explanation of spontaneous human combustion, the notion of catching a meteorite with a baseball mitt, arguing about who wrote Shakespeare's plays, driving through a time warp and a police department that deals with werewolves. I suppose the idea is to keep the audience from falling asleep. In many ways SpecOps is really only there to link the unlinkable; and what easier way to include everything than devise an organisation that deals with everything? And then there's the Welsh Socialist Republic. And Porsche Speedsters. And audience participation Richard III. And dodos. It's the Swiss army knife of books. Or a station with a lot of platforms. Or another metaphor entirely. You decide.

It started with an idea that Jane Eyre is kidnapped from Jane Eyre, and grew from there. Who would have done such a thing, and why, and more importantly, what sort of world would there have to be to make this seem not only likely, but inevitable? Thursday's world is not so strange simply for amusement, although I think it functions quite well in that regard. No, it is to give the central idea plausibility. Fantasy novels, while odd, do need a complex inner logic to function. Building the canvas that sits behind the main events is actually a great deal of fun.

2: Pursuing truth and accepting truth, despite its difficulty seems to be a theme. Was that intentional? Would you talk more about that?..."

Jasper: It's something we all need to do, really. Few of us ever tell the truth, or are free of an agenda, and even less of us realise it. Emotion rules mankind from the smallest decision to the largest, whether we feel happy with a brand a toothpaste to a knee-jerk reaction to go to war. Thursday has to deal with two sides of an emotional issue, and has to face facts - and logic - to be able to come to terms with it.

3: What was your inspiration for many of the unique names that are a part of the book?.."

Jasper: There is a long tradition of silly names in English Literature. "thursday Next' is a (now archaic) way of saying 'Next Thursday'. You'll find it in Romeo and Juliet: PARIS That may be must be, love, on Thursday next. JULIET What must be shall be. FRIAR LAURENCE That's a certain text. But that's not where I got it from. My mother uses the term and I borrowed it from her. It has a nice long-short-long internal rhythm, too. 'Thurs-day-next' 'dum-de-dum'. Whenever I hear a phrase that might be a name but isn't, I just pigeonhole it for later use, and 'Thursday Next' is just a really good name. Female, of course - and slightly quirky and enigmatic. In the same way, 'Bowden Cable' is actually the sleeved cable used to operate bicycle brakes, and 'Braxton Hicks' is the name given to the practice contractions that proceed real contractions during childbirth. But you'll know that already, since this is 'twilightmoms'. Incidentally, The name of Thursday's husband, Landen Parke-Laine, comes from what happens if you are playing monopoly and land on the first of the blue set - a US translation might be 'Landen Boarde-Walke'. Hence his parent's names, mentioned in 'Lost in a Good Book' are 'Houson Parke-Laine' and 'Billden Parke-Laine'. It's a good joke, but not everyone gets it... If you come across any of my names, there is usually a reason behind it. Some obscure, some obvious. "Paige Turner" is a pretty terrible one. So bad, in fact, that I don't use her first and second names together in the book until right at the end when she arrives at Thursday and Landen's wedding - and that's where you see the name in one piece for the first time. If you hadn't figured it out, you were punned by stealth!

4: What was your favorite book (or books) as a kid? Did the books that you read as a child have any influence on your writing?..."

Jasper: Probably 'Alice in Wonderland'. It was the first book I actually remembered picking up to read aged seven or eight. I still have the same copy in my library. Top five must also include 'Catch-22', 'To kill a mocking bird', 'Slaughterhouse-5', 'Decline and Fall' and 'Three Men in a Boat'. I often read the section about sailing or transporting a cheese from Liverpool, (3M in a B) and it still makes me laugh. All the books have references in mine. "Slaughterhouse-5?" I hear you ask, "where are the references to that?" Well, Lola Vavoom is a name not a million miles from Montana Wildhack and the astute reader might notice shades of the Tralfamadorians in the life cycle of BookPeople.

5: Have you ever considered writing an annotated version of the book? Having never read Jane Eyre myself, I felt like I was missing out on some really clever uses of the names, scenes and plot line..."

Jasper: For the 25 year anniversary, perhaps. In the meantime, you can read the first few pages annotated at Annotated or an entire reference guide which can be found here: reference guide

6: Twilightjess and I were wondering is it possible in your world to jump into non-fiction books?..."

Jasper: Indeed you can. In later books Miss Havisham and Thursday jump into a washing machine instruction manual, and find it populated by an upwardly mobile operative who is learning Spanish so he can move up to multi-language manuals. He also derides the kids who populate the domestic technical manual field, and who can't do their jobs properly - little wonder we can't understand the instructions for a DVD..

7: Debiwin: I guess I would love to know which was your favorite character or scene?.."

Jasper: In 'The Eyre Affair' I'm very partial to the notion of the audience participation of Richard III. It's only great fun, but shows Thursday's world without actually explaining it. Expositional, but entertaining. Perfect!

8: I'm wondering if you, as the author, actually know what all those levels of SpecOps do, or if you're discovering them as you go, too.."

Jasper: Not really; as soon as I think up a silly idea, I just add a SpecOps department to deal with it. It's an idea that allows me to put almost anything in Thursday's world, but is also a satirical device or the increased legislation we have in our lives..

9: I also wonder about Thursday's relationship with her father, as opposed to Joffy's. Why does the old man visit one child and not the other? Is he just working, and Thursday is more useful to him? Or does he really have so much trouble relating to Joffy that he can't bring himself to visit?..."

Some ideas are never fully explored, or at least, not yet. This is either to allow me to revisit the issue at a later date, or simply to extend the idea of a larger world outside the covers of the book - an 'inferred narrative' if you want a technical term.

10: In addition to The Eyre Affair, I have also read The Big Over Easy. You have created your own genre! What inspired you to write about and use other pieces of literature in your books? Have you always been interested in fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and classic literature?..."

Jasper: I'm more interested in our perception of them. Jane Eyre is a classic that you don't mess with, so I do, and there's the effect of sniggering at the back of English class about it all. Mild subversion. In the Nursery Crime books, it's all about moving immovable objects. Humpty Dumpty has been falling off his wall and Goldilocks running out of the bear's house for so long, that they have burned deep fissures in our minds. When I come along and ask: 'What really happened?' there is a good opportunity for new gags, and new insights. What was Humpty doing on the wall? And why was the three bear's porridge at different temperatures when it was poured at the same time? I think we have a right to know.

11: What I really want to know, and it might be silly, Is in this world where Thursdays lives How many people are able to read themselves into the books?.."

Jasper: Not many. But you can do it, and me. When you get lost in a good book, everything else seems to vanish..

12: You reference so many great works. Why does Jane Eyre (and Rochester) get the honor of being the main text?..."

Jasper: Three reasons. Firstly, it's a great book. The characters of Jane Eyre, Rochester, Mrs Fairfax, Grace Poole, Bertha and Pilot the dog are all great fun to subvert in the name of Nextian entertainment. Secondly, it is well-known, even 150 years after publication. For 'The Eyre Affair' to have any resonance the featured novel has to be familiar and respected. If a potential reader of my book hasn't read 'Jane Eyre' they might have seen the film, and if they haven't done either, they might still know that Jane is a heroine of Victorian romantic fiction. I don't know of many other books that can do this. Thirdly, it's in the public domain. I can do pretty much what I want and not have to worry about copyright problems - given the premise of the novel, something that has to remain a consideration!





Click here to go back to Questionarium