1: "...When I sat down, my intent was to write a good book; and as far as the tenuity of my understanding would hold out--a wise, aye, and a discreet--taking care only, as I went along, to put into it all the wit and the judgment (be it more or less) which the great Author and Bestower of them had thought fit originally to give me--so that, as your worships see--'tis just as God pleases." Do you remember / recognize this quotation and could you have written that?

2: You've often been asked about genre blending, the Thursday Next books overlapping many genres (science-fiction, fantasy, whodunnits, uchrony...). In what section are your books generally to be found in libraries and bookshops? Did you ever hear about them being found in curious sections?

3: Now that you've reached a certain level of success, don't you think it would be a good commercial idea to re-issue old English classics that aren't read anymore presenting them as spin-offs from Thursday Next's adventures in order to boost their sales?

4: If you could use the Prose Portal, what book would you hate finding yourself in and why?

5: Your books are a windfall for literary analysts and scholars, since they provide a rich and curious example of "intertextuality" (a theory about the interconnection of texts and the relationship between one or more texts that quote from or allude to one another). Have you ever had contacts with "University people" interested in your work? Has any scholar begun analysing your prose and do you like the idea?

6: Did you ever consider the possibility that someone could write fiction using Thursday Next's world, just as you use other novel's worlds? What would your reaction be?

7: What is most surprising comparison you've ever read or heard about your writing? Have you ever been compared to people you still can't understand why you were compared to?

8: Your website is particularly surprising. Few author websites are as rich as yours (special features, extra material, resources for journalists...), and it seems to be an ever-expanding network of texts and pages, which reminded me of Borges's library of Babel (an ever-expanding library containing every books ever written), which itself reminded me of your Great Library. Is that pure coincidence or is idea of ever-expanding collection of pages, plots and ideas a kind of obsession?

9: Have you ever given thought to the Mad Hatter's famous unanswered riddle, "Why is a raven like a writing-desk?" and do you have any answer to it?






1: "...when I sat down, my intent was to write a good book; and as far as the tenuity of my understanding would hold out--a wise, aye, and a discreet--taking care only, as I went along, to put into it all the wit and the judgment (be it more or less) which the great Author and Bestower of them had thought fit originally to give me--so that, as your worships see--'tis just as God pleases." Do you remember / recognize this quotation and could you have written that?

'No' on both counts. It looks like Bunyan or someone like that.

2: You've often been asked about genre blending, the Thursday Next books overlapping many genres (science-fiction, fantasy, whodunnits, uchrony...). In what section are your books generally to be found in libraries and bookshops? Did you ever hear about them being found in curious sections?

Generally, I'm in the 'Fiction' section although sometimes I'm in Fantasy or SF. Foyles in London have me in six sections - bless them! I'm not a huge fan of pigeonholing. I'd like to see bookshops and libraries categorised by something else entirely - such as colour of the cover. One of the most interesting sections in a library is the 'oversize book' section which has a startlingly eclectic mix - it would be much more interesting if all shelves were the same...

3: Now that you've reached a certain level of success, don't you think it would be a good commercial idea to re-issue old English classics that aren't read anymore presenting them as spin-offs from Thursday Next's adventures in order to boost their sales?

It might indeed. Many people have told me they've been switched on to the classics by reading Thursday's adventures. I'm delighted, of course.

4:If you could use the Prose Portal, what book would you hate finding yourself in and why?

'The Bumper book of recipes for Okra and Marzipan'. I can't stand either.

5: Your books are a windfall for literary analysts and scholars, since they provide a rich and curious example of "intertextuality" (a theory about the interconnection of texts and the relationship between one or more texts that quote from or allude to one another). Have you ever had contacts with "University people" interested in your work? Has any scholar begun analysing your prose and do you like the idea?

There are three people at last count doing a degree based on my work, and one person conducting a doctoral thesis. I'm not really troubled one way or another over this; academics have to study something, after all - just as long as I don't have to read any of them, and be asked to comment.

6: Did you ever consider the possibility that someone could write fiction using Thursday Next's world, just as you use other novel's worlds? What would your reaction be?

Well, I'd like them to do what I did: wait until I have been dead over a hundred years, or politely seek permission

7: What is most surprising comparison you've ever read or heard about your writing? Have you ever been compared to people you still can't understand why you were compared to?

Surprising comparison? All of them. Comparisons are a form of reviewer's shorthand - rather than discuss a book they often like to make it easier for themselves and the public by saying one's book is 'Mother Goose meets Morse' or something equally daft. You know you've made it when someone describes another book as 'Well, it's Jasper Fforde meets Dennis Wheatly' or something...

8: Your website is particularly surprising. Few author websites are as rich as yours (special features, extra material, resources for journalists...), and it seems to be an ever-expanding network of texts and pages, which reminded me of Borges's library of Babel (an ever-expanding library containing every books ever written), which itself reminded me of your Great Library. Is that pure coincidence or is idea of ever-expanding collection of pages, plots and ideas a kind of obsession?

I'm afraid it's a coincidence. Despite appearances I'm only patchily self-taught; I never went to university or studied English.

9:Have you ever given thought to the Mad Hatter's famous unanswered riddle, "Why is a raven like a writing-desk?" and do you have any answer to it?

In 'The Eyre Affair' when Thursday is in the Cheshire Cat Bar and Grill talking to the barman there are three proffered alternatives: "Poe wrote on both" is pretty good, "they both stoop with a flap" is average but "Because there is a B in Both" is my favourite.



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