Although Jasper Fforde is perhaps best known for his series of fantasy novels featuring literary detective Thursday Next, he also writes the Nursery Crimes mysteries and now, SHADES OF GREY, the start of a new trilogy. In the satirical thriller, social order is dictated by the colors one sees. But that’s not the only thing that’s strange …
BOOKGASM: SHADES OF GREY imagines a world with institutionalized mercy killings. Was that element included simply to shock your readers?
FFORDE: Not really. Aspects that we consider normal today could very well be repugnant in the future — eating animals, for one thing, or abundant choice or invasive surgery. I was simply trying to demonstrate that what is acceptable today may not be acceptable forever, and vice versa. Social mores change with time, like fashion: Who knows where it might all end up? I especially like the idea that waste, impoliteness and overpopulation become “abominations,” although I’m not sure recycling one’s aunt will ever truly catch on.
BOOKGASM: Did you have any worries about creating and writing about such a bizarre world?
FFORDE: Of course. But I’ve never been averse to a little risk. After all, writing without risk is not really writing at all. Sometimes one has to just let fly with a high-concept piece and see where the pieces fall. As it generally turns out, the central story is familiar, but just with different rules of engagement. My approach to writing has always been that of telling a conventional story, but in a wholly unconventional setting.
BOOKGASM: Lots of authors tend to gravitate toward one particular character. Is there one you feel most attached to?
FFORDE: Eddie. He’s a reluctant hero — someone who wants to lead a normal life, but is called to step up and be counted. Without Jane, he would have simply returned to his home village and Constance. But Jane changes all that. I think it is that sense of unrealized potential in all of us that I find most interesting. Ordinary people do exceptional things in exceptional circumstances.
BOOKGASM: What influenced this work, in terms of other works of literature?
FFORDE: 1984 and BRAVE NEW WORLD, to go back to primary sources. In both the aforementioned books, there are large cities with a centralized government that is very much the dominating force. In SHADES, I wanted the forces of oppression to be much subtler and internal, so everything is more localized, but no less oppressive. The citizenry are dispersed, with communication and transport limited, and idle and seditious thoughts banished from the head by a cocktail of the compulsory staging of musicals, tea dances and the minimum of one hobby. There is the fear of the dark to keep people bound to home village, and the ever-present possibility of Riffraff, lightning and swan attacks. Keep them amused with ballroom dancing and entertainment, but keep them in line with fear.
BOOKGASM: What novels are you working on now?
BOOKGASM: The sixth in my Thursday Next series, which will be titled ONE OF OUR THURSDAYS IS MISSING. In the first book of the series, I had a real person attempting to find their way around the fictional world, but here, I will have a fictional person attempt to find their way around the real world — potentially a much harder proposition. —Rod Lott
OTHER RECENT BOOKGASM AUTHOR INTERVIEWS:
• Q&A with RIFFTRAX’s Mike Nelson
• Q&A with 7TH SON: DESCENT’s J.C. Hutchins
• Q&A with ZOMBOCALYPSE NOW’s Matt Youngmark
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