Jasper Fforde

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - A "hilarious" (The Guardian), "blindingly inventive," (The Seattle Times) and "wonderfully weird dystopian thriller" (Shelf Awareness) from the author of The Constant Rabbit and the Thursday Next series "A cause for celebration . . . Fforde writes witty, chewy sentences, full of morsels, and delivers them deadpan. . . . His] relentless imagination and his affection for his characters are contagious and irresistible."--The New York Times Book Review Every Winter, the human population hibernates. During those bitterly cold four months, the nation is a snow-draped landscape of desolate loneliness, devoid of human activity. Well, not quite. Your name is Charlie Worthing and it's your first season with the Winter consuls, the group responsible for ensuring the hibernatory safe passage of the sleeping masses. You are investigating an outbreak of viral dreams, which you dismiss as nothing more than an artefact born of the sleeping mind. When the dreams start to kill people, it's unsettling. When you get the dreams too, it's weird. When they start to come true, you begin to doubt your sanity. But teasing truth from Winter is never easy: You have to avoid the Villains and their penchant for murder, kidnapping, and stamp collecting; ensure you aren't eaten by Nightwalkers; and sidestep the increasingly less-than-mythical Wintervolk. But so long as you remember to wrap up warmly, you'll be fine.

Jasper Fforde's first standalone novel - full of the imagination, wit and intelligence that has made Fforde a Number One bestseller.

In the good old days, magic was powerful, unregulated by government, and even the largest spell could be woven without filling in magic release form B1-7g. Then the magic started fading away. Fifteen-year-old Jennifer Strange runs Kazam, an employment agency for soothsayers and sorcerers. But work is drying up. Drain cleaner is cheaper than a spell, and even magic carpets are reduced to pizza delivery. So it's a surprise when the visions start. Not only do they predict the death of the Last Dragon at the hands of a dragonslayer, they also point to Jennifer, and say something is coming. Big Magic . . .

The Mighty Shandar, the most powerful wizard the world has ever seen, returns to the Ununited Kingdoms. Clearly, he didn't solve the Dragon Problem, and must return his fee: eighteen dray-weights of gold. But the Mighty Shandar doesn't do refunds, and vows to eliminate the dragons - unless sixteen-year-old Jennifer Strange and her sidekicks from the Kazam house of enchantment can bring him the legendary jewel, The Eye of Zoltar.The only thing that stands in their way is a perilous journey with a 50% Fatality Index - through the Cambrian Empire to the Leviathan Graveyard, at the top of the deadly Cadair Idris mountain. And it's a quest that sees Jennifer fighting not just for her life, but for everything she knows and loves . . .

Magic has been in a sad state in the Ununited Kingdom for years, but now it's finally on the rise, and boneheaded King Snodd IV knows it. If he succeeds at his plot, the very future of magic will be at risk Sensible sixteen-year-old Jennifer Strange, acting manager of Kazam Mystical Arts Management and its unpredictable crew of sorcerers, has little chance against the king and his cronies--but there's no way Kazam will let go of the noble powers of magic without a fight. A suspenseful, satirical story of Quarkbeasts, trolls, and wizidrical crackle

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Ex-detective Thursday Next faces her trickiest assignment yet in the seventh novel of this renowned series, " a] bibliophile's Wonderland" (The Plain Dealer). "It's safe to say that if you enjoy that particularly British, Douglas Adams-style absurd delivery of wry observations, you'll get a kick out of The Woman Who Died a Lot]."--New York Journal of Books Thursday Next, the Bookworld's leading enforcement officer, has been forced into semiretirement following an assassination attempt. When her former SpecOps division is reinstated, she assumes she's the obvious choice to lead the Literary Detectives. Sadly, our banged-up heroine is no spring chicken, and her old boss has a cushier job in mind: Chief Librarian of the Swindon All-You-Can-Eat-at-Fatso's Drink Not Included Library. But where Thursday goes, trouble follows. As the new Chief Librarian faces 100 percent budget cuts and trouble from the ever-evil Jack Schitt, the Next children face their own career hiccups--and possible nonexistence. Don't miss any of Jasper Fforde's delightfully entertaining Thursday Next novels: THE EYRE AFFAIR - LOST IN A GOOD BOOK - THE WELL OF LOST PLOTS - SOMETHING ROTTEN - FIRST AMONG SEQUELS - ONE OF OUR THURSDAYS IS MISSING - THE WOMAN WHO DIED A LOT

In the good old days, magic was indispensable. But now magic is fading: Drain cleaner is cheaper than a spell, and magic carpets are used for pizza delivery. Fifteen-year-old Jennifer Strange runs Kazam, an employment agency for magicians--but it's hard to stay in business when magic is drying up. And then the visions start, predicting the death of the world's last dragon at the hands of an unnamed Dragonslayer. If the visions are true, everything will change for Kazam--and for Jennifer.

The seventh book in the phenomenally successful Thursday Next series by Number One bestselling author Jasper Fforde. 'Fans of the late Douglas Adams, or, even, Monty Python, will feel at home with Fforde' - HeraldThe BookWorld's leading enforcement officer Thursday Next is four months into an enforced semi-retirement following an assassination attempt. She returns home to Swindon for what you'd expect to be a time of recuperation. If only life were that simple. Thursday is faced with an array of family problems - son Friday's lack of focus since his career in the Chronoguard was relegated to a might-have-been, daughter Tuesday's difficulty perfecting the Anti-Smote shield needed to thwart an angry Deity's promise to wipe Swindon off the face of the earth, and Jenny, who doesn't exist. And that's not all. With Goliath attempting to replace Thursday at every opportunity with synthetic Thursdays, the prediction that Friday's Destiny-Aware colleagues will die in mysterious circumstances, and a looming meteorite that could destroy all human life on earth, Thursday's retirement is going to be anything but easy . . .

The second in Jasper Fforde's Dragonslayer trilogy for younger readers, this is magical, hilarious and irreverent writing.

The sixth instalment of Number One bestselling author Jasper Fforde's sensational Thursday Nextseries. 'Fforde's books are more than just an ingenious idea. They are written with buoyant zest and are tautly plotted. They have empathetic heroes and heroines who nearly make terrible mistakes and suitably dastardly villains who do. They also have more twists and turns than Christie, and are embellished with the rich details of Dickens or Pratchett' - IndependentIt is a time of unrest in the BookWorld. Only the diplomatic skills of ace literary detective Thursday Next can avert a devastating genre war. But a week before the peace talks, Thursday vanishes. Has she simply returned home to the RealWorld or is this something more sinister?All is not yet lost. Living at the quiet end of speculative fiction is the written Thursday Next, eager to prove herself worth of her illustrious namesake. The written Thursday is soon hot on the trail of her factual alter-ego, and quickly stumbles upon a plot so fiendish that it threatens the very BookWorld itself.

The sixth installment in Jasper Fforde's New York Times bestselling series follows literary detective Thursday Next on another adventure in her alternate reality of literature-obsessed England--from the author of Early Riser Dazzlingly funny and imaginative, Jasper Fforde's books have won him the affection of readers, reviewers, and-dare we say it-booksellers alike. Fans can breathe a sigh of relief because Thursday Next-or at least one of her-is back. At a time of great unrest in the BookWorld, only the ace literary detective can avert a devastating Genre War--thing is, Thursday has vanished. Now the written Thursday must answer the call, save the Bookworld, evade capture, and find the actual Thursday With a clockwork Butler in tow, and Men in Plaid as well as her Designated Love Interest in pursuit, she must reluctantly agree to journey up the mysterious Metaphoric River for answers.

In the good old days, magic was powerful, unregulated by government, and even the largest spell could be woven without filling in magic release form B1-7g.Then the magic started fading away.Fifteen-year-old Jennifer Strange runs Kazam, an employment agency for soothsayers and sorcerers. But work is drying up. Drain cleaner is cheaper than a spell, and even magic carpets are reduced to pizza delivery.So it's a surprise when the visions start. Not only do they predict the death of the Last Dragon at the hands of a dragonslayer, they also point to Jennifer, and say something is coming. Big Magic . . .

From the New York Times bestselling author of the Thursday Next series comes a "laugh-out-loud funny" (Los Angeles Times) and "brilliantly original" (Booklist, starred review) novel of a man attempting to navigate a color-coded world. "A rich brew of dystopic fantasy and deadpan goofiness."--The Washington Post Welcome to Chromatacia, where the Colortocracy rules society through a social hierarchy based on one's limited color perception. In this world, you are what you can see. Eddie Russet wants to move up. When he and his father relocate to the backwater village of East Carmine, his carefully cultivated plans to leverage his better-than-average red perception and marry into a powerful family are quickly upended. Eddie must content with lethal swans, sneaky Yellows, inviolable rules, an enforced marriage to the hideous Violet deMauve, and a risky friendship with an intriguing Grey named Jane who shows Eddie that the apparent peace of his world is as much an illusion as color itself. Will Eddie be able to tread the fine line between total conformity--accepting the path, partner, and career delineated by his hue--and his instinctive curiosity that is bound to get him into trouble?

Imagine a black and white world where colour is a commodity . . .Hundreds of years in the future, after the Something that Happened, the world is an alarmingly different place.Life is lived according to The Rulebook and social hierarchy is determined by your perception of colour. Eddie Russett is an above average Red who dreams of moving up the ladder by marriage to Constance Oxblood. Until he is sent to the Outer Fringes where he meets Jane - a lowly Grey with an uncontrollable temper and a desire to see him killed. For Eddie, it's love at first sight. But his infatuation will lead him to discover that all is not as it seems in a world where everything that looks black and white is really shades of grey ...If George Orwell had tripped over a paint pot or Douglas Adams favoured colour swatches instead of towels, neither of them would have come up with anything as eccentrically brilliant as Shades of Grey.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - In this "hilarious and] invigorating romp for all lovers of literature" (Associated Press), Thursday Next returns to rescue reading from certain destruction--again--the "mind-blowing" (The Seattle Times) fifth installment of the renowned Thursday Next series. " With a] furiously agile imagination . . . Fforde has shaken up genres--fantasy, comedy, crime, sci-fi, parody, literary criticism--and come up with a superb mishmash."--The Miami Herald Fourteen years after she pegged out at the 1988 SuperHoop, Thursday Next is grappling with a host of problems in the Book World: a recalcitrant new apprentice, the death of Sherlock Holmes, and the inexplicable departure of comedy from the once-hilarious Thomas Hardy novels. The Council of Genres is trying to broker a peace deal between certain antagonistic genres: Racy Novel has been recklessly placed between Ecclesiastical and Feminist, and they are at each other's throats. Meanwhile, back in Swindon, the government is reporting a dangerously high stupidity surplus, and Thursday's idle sixteen-year-old son would rather sleep all day than follow his destiny as a member of the ChronoGuard. Not only does she captain the ship Moral Dilemma to the very limits of acceptable narrative possibilities, but Thursday also finds she must face down her most vicious enemy yet: herself. Don't miss any of Jasper Fforde's delightfully entertaining Thursday Next novels: THE EYRE AFFAIR - LOST IN A GOOD BOOK - THE WELL OF LOST PLOTS - SOMETHING ROTTEN - FIRST AMONG SEQUELS - ONE OF OUR THURSDAYS IS MISSING - THE WOMAN WHO DIED A LOT

The fifth book in the phenomenally successful Thursday Next series, from Number One bestselling author Jasper Fforde. 'Ingenious - I'll watch Jasper Fforde nervously' Terry Pratchett on The Eyre AffairFourteen years after she pegged out at 1988 SuperHoop, Thursday Next is grappling with a recalcitrant new apprentice, the death of Sherlock Holmes and the inexplicable departure of comedy from the once-hilarious Thomas Hardy novels.Her idle sixteen-year-old would rather sleep all day than save the world from imminent destruction, the government has a dangerously high stupidity surplues, and the Stiltonista Cheese Mafia are causing trouble for Thursday in her hometown of Swindon. Then things begin to get bad. As Reality Book Shows look set to transplant Reality TV Shows and Goliath invent a trans-fictional tourist coach, Thursday must once again have her wits about her as she travels to the very limits of acceptable narrative possibilities to rescue the reading experience from almost certain destruction . . .

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - Enter the seedy underbelly of nursery crime, where characters are never as they seem, in this "brilliantly, breathlessly odd" (USA Today) novel from the renowned author of The Big Over Easy and the Thursday Next series. "Like the best novels of Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett, Fforde goes beyond his genre."--Los Angeles Times Book Review "Jasper Fforde is able to write diabolically. . . . Outrageous satirical agility is his stock in trade."--The New York Times Detective Jack Spratt and Sergeant Mary Mary long to collar the Gingerbreadman--psychopath, sadist, criminal genius, cookie--who's at large in Reading. Instead, they're demoted to searching for missing journalist Henrietta "Goldy" Hatchett. The last witnesses to see her alive were the reclusive three bears, and Jack thinks something's odd about their story. How could that porridge be too hot, too cold, and just right if it was poured at the same time? The question is: was there a fourth bear?

The Gingerbreadman - psychopath, sadist, convicted murderer and cake/biscuit - is loose on the streets of Reading. It isn't Jack Spratt's case. Despite the success of the Humpty Dumpty investigation, the well publicised failure to prevent Red Riding-Hood and her Gran being eaten once again plunges the Nursery Crime Division into controversy. Enforced non-involvement with the Gingerbreadman hunt looks to be frustrating until a chance encounter at the oddly familiar Deja-Vu Club leads them onto the hunt for missing journalist Henrietta 'Goldy' Hatchett, star reporter for The Daily Toad. The last witnesses to see her alive were The Three Bears, comfortably living out a life of rural solitude in Andersen's wood. But all is not what it seems. Are the unexplained explosions around the globe somehow related to missing nuclear scientist Angus McGuffin? Is cucumber-growing really that dangerous? Why are National Security involved? But most important of all: How could the bears' porridge be at such disparate temperatures when they were poured at the same time?

Unconvinced that a former convict and millionaire philanthropist has been murdered by his suicide-victim ex-wife, detective inspector Jack Spratt and his assistant, Mary Mary, battle internal politics while uncovering a plot involving money laundering, bullion smuggling, and asylum-seeking titans. By the author of The Eyre Affair. Reader's Guide available. Reprint. 150,000 first printing.

A Sunday Times bestseller in hardback, THE BIG OVER EASY heralds the start of an ingenious new series from the creator of the international phenomenon Thursday Next.