How much does it cost to join the Ffan Club?: Nada! Zip! Zero! Zilch! Of course, you're always welcome to make a small donation to keep us going. Twila started this site for everyone out of the kindness of her heart...along with a bit of knuckle grease. Besides, it's not really membership driven. It's more of a "come see what's up and find out something you may not have known about Jasper" thing. You may subscribe to the Whatever Next newsletter, though. (That's free too!)

Does the Ffan Club relay messages directly to Jasper himself?: Not usually...but if you would like to contact Jasper directly via email, you can reach him at: Just remember, Jasper is a very busy guy and we don't want to inundate him with too much email. It might take him away from writing the next Thursday novel! And we wouldn't want that now, would we? Didn't think so!

When is Jasper coming to my town for a signing?: For each book, Jasper normally does a small tour in the UK, US, sometimes Canada and sometimes Australia. For particular dates, you may check Jasper's Appearances Page or the Ffan Club calendar which also includes info on scheduled Ffan Chats and other club events.

How do I make a suggestion for the ffan site?: We welcome suggestions! How can we know what you want if you don't tell us!? Simply drop us a line at

Is Swindon a real place?: You bet! Swindon is located almost directly west of London off the M4, and came to prominence during the heyday of the British railway. Be sure to check out more about Swindon's history.

Is Jasper Fforde his real name?: Yup! As far as we know it is. Of course, he could be some super-secret agent and he's fooling us all, but since his father's name was John Standish Fforde (yup, the one who signed the money in the UK) it's a good bet that Jasper's real name is, indeed, Jasper Fforde!

How on earth do you pronounce "Fforde"? All those extra letters are freaking me out!: Take a deep breath and pretend those extra letters don't exist. It's "f OH rd", just like the cars.

I've just picked up one of Jasper Fforde's books and I'm really, really enjoying it. Do I have to read them in any particular order? Will it be harder for me to understand the newer ones without having read the ones that came before? I just want to make sure I'm not missing anything!~Rebecca in NY: While it's definitely best to read them in order, you don't need to. The stories can stand on their own. But, there are a lot of jokes that play upon jokes that have played upon puns that travel from book to book and things will make a whole lot more sense AND be just that much more fun to read!

Why are the dustjackets for the UK and US versions so drastically different? My US copies are, of course, prized possesions but the dustjackets are not as 'fun' as the ones printed for the UK. ~Christopher in Texas: Great question! The reason is because they come from different publishers. And each publishing house does oodles of research on what will appeal to each target audience. Think about it...how often do you walk through a bookstore but pass a book by because the cover doesn't grab you? Sad but true! So this is just Hodder and Penguin's way of trying to grab their audiences. Personally, I prefer the UK covers too!

Is Jasper related/married to Katie Fforde (famous author of several romance novels)?: Well, sort of. In an internet interview, Katie Fforde responded, "Yes, I am related to Jasper, sort of! He is my husband's cousin, so while it's not a blood relationship, we do meet up as family quite often." And Jasper says he refuses to move his books on the store shelves if it means covering up any of Katie's!

So when might Jasper think of using The Lord of the Rings as a format for a book or bring in a LOTR character to work for Jurisfiction?~Andrew in Wales: The short answer on that is that Jasper usually only "borrows" from works that are old enough to be in the Public Domain. LOTR doesn't fit into that yet and there is no way that Tolkein's estate would give permission for Jasper to parody it. They make too much money on it. However, Jasper was lucky enough to get permission from the Evelyn Waugh Trust to use Brideshead Revisited and from Enid Blyton to use Shadow the Sheepdog, and there were a few others who kindly gave him permission. Let's hope even more hop on the bandwagon.
Somehow, the vision of Gimli trudging through some Jane Austen work sort of tickles me...

What, are you obsessed with Jasper or something?: LOL, NO! I'm just a huge fan of his work and after meeting him and hanging out, I've found we have a lot in common. We both love great literature, are both camera nuts and collect photo equipment, we love kitchen gadgets and are just general all-around techno-geeks. He's just a really cool guy. Both Jasper and his s/o Mari are a blast to hang out with! It's cool to meet someone who's just as big of a goober as you are, ya know what I mean?!

How many emails have you received from people with the last name of "Eyre"?: 2 so far. Bet that was something you always wanted to know! **edit! Make that 3 now! I just got an email from Joanne Eyre. Hi Joanne!

This "double F" thing...is it really necessary?: Nope! But it's ffun!

How does Twila like her toast?: Uhm, moderately toasted potato bread with real butter and a good smear of blackberry jam. Thanks for asking.

Are marshmallows really part of a balanced diet for your pet dodo?: No, but chocolate isn't part of a balanced diet for people either, and I dare you to try to take it away from them. Besides, anything you can use to train a dodo is okay in my book!