I am excited.
Bill Bailey to enter Eurovision.
Oh yes.
Those of you who’ve known me for a while will know that I’m a huge Jasper Fforde ffan, so when I discovered he was giving a talk in Manchester yesterday to plug his new book First Among Sequels, I knew I had to go along to it, partly to get a copy of the book (which even from the little I’ve read so far seems to be another excellent adventure), and also to convince myself that the man actually existed, which sound slightly strange, but given the nature of Fforde’s books I wouldn’t be surprised if he actually turned out be a consciousness that had grown beyond physical form and was now directly linked to the literary ether as a spiritual phantom.
He wasn’t, by the way. But he did exist, and he was great fun to meet.
There was a good hour’s talk about all sorts of things, such as satirical fantasies creeping (or steamrolling) into reality, the difference between A and B grade marmalade, a few insights in the world of publishing – “If you call it First Among Sequels, people will think it’s a sequel!…” - and where a few of those names come from. And then of course, there was signing. I’ve never been able to go to any signing ever without being at a complete loss for words, and that wasn’t something that changed yesterday as I nervously watched him stick a Jasper on the page-with-a-title-that’s-not-a-title-page. I’ve got to work on my meeting famous people technique.
Still, I least I got the book…and had a excellent time getting it. If you ever get the opportunity to read Fforde’s books, please do. You won’t regret it.
Well, time waits for no man, as they say…