A Good Day

 

I got some real – and very unexpected – good news today. I was reading over the birthdays on the 11 January File 770 posting and discovered that one of my favorite authors, Jasper Fforde, had been born on 11the of January, 1961. Great. I clicked on the comments as saw that some of the commentators had tried and didn’t click with perhaps my favorite SF story, his Shades of Grey. So of course, I had to comment and say how much I enjoyed it. It was published in 2010, when I was 60 years old, and was the first book in a planned trilogy which included Painting by Numbers, and The Gordini Protocals. As the years went by following its release, the second book did not appear. I found a Youtube video of him saying that he was planning to write a prequel to the book before continuing on with the series. By this time I was despairing of living long enough to read all three before I died. Later, I found an interview with Fforde where he said that the series was canceled because of the disappointing sales of Shades of Grey. Alas. So in my comment, I mentioned how sad I was that the planned sequels were never going to be written.

Today, just to see if anyone else commented on Jasper Fforde, I checked back on that comment thread and found that a SF author & poet, Nicole J LeBoeuf, commented on my post, pointing out to me that a sequel to Shades of Grey has been announced, and is scheduled to be released on August 11th 2022! I immediately punched up Amazon UK (as Fforde’s books, if they even reach the US turn up a year after they’re released in the UK) and found the listing: the sequel is called Red Side Story. I pre-ordered my copy. The listing is here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1444763660/ref=pe_27063361_485629781_TE_item

I looked Fforde’s website and on it he mentions that he wants to wrap up his long running Thursday Next series along with Shades of Grey to move on to new stories. This means that at least some of the mysteries left hanging in Shades of Grey will be wrapped up in one book instead of two. I might actually live to know the Truth…

All in all, a good day. I’ve got something to look forward to – not just a new Jasper Fforde book, but a book that features the return of Eddie Russett and Jane Burnswick nee Grey -- a book that I never expected to be able to read.

Update: The book's release has been pushed back to April 2023 -- deju vu all over again. Early Riser was pushed back for years as he struggled to complete it. Will I live to read this?

Update of update; The current release date, as of 11 May 2023, is Feb 6 2024. Yah, right.