First Among Sequels (2007) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Summary edit see section history

Characters/People edit see section history

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• Thursday Next: Female detective who tracks down literary theft, forgery and other book-related crimes. She is unique in that she is the only real person who is also a fictional character and as such, she has special abilities.
• Commander Bradshaw: Jurisfiction's longest serving member and star of a colonial adventure series for boys.
• Landen Parke-Laine: Husband of Thursday Parker-Laine-Next. He is an author.
• Spike Stoker: Uses Acme Carpets as a cover for dealing with all matter of things that go bump in the night (undead, vampires, etc.) . He had dreadlocks and wears lots of goth-type jewelry as protection.
• Mycroft Next: Thursday's deceased uncle and a brilliant inventor.
• John Henry Goliath: Founder of the Goliath corporation
• Bowden Gable: Manager of Acme Carpets, which is a cover for a special ops section.Thursday's partner at SpecOps 27
• Jenny Next: The third child of Landen and Thursday. She never is present at mealtimes.
• Polly Next: Mycroft's wife and Thursday's Aunt.
• Aornis Hades: Sister of Acheron, and arch-nemesis of Thursday.
• Mrs. Bennet: A character in Pride and Prejudice--she and Thursday interact several times when Thursday is in the fictional world.
• Pickwick: Thursday's dodo
• Emperor Zhark: Villain in a fictional science fiction series and a jurisfiction agent who often works with Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle
• Stig: A co-worker of Thursday at Acme Carpets, currently assigned to locate diatrymas. He is a Neanderthal.
• Colonel Barksdale: Head of the Council of Genres Combined Forces, seen as a constant warmonger.
• Mrs. Tiggy-winkle: a hedgehog from Beatrix Potter who is a Jurisfiction agent and often works with Emperor Zhark.
• Sherlock Holmes: A fictional detective whose series has resisted most efforts to penetrate it. The series is being rewritten to include Holmes's death, causing great concern in the fictional world and increased attempts to gain access so that the re-write can be corrected.
• Mrs. Danvers: Originally a character in the book Rebecca, she has become a character type with numerous clones that roam the fiction world.
• Lydia: One of the daughters from Pride and Prejudice
• Colin: A TransGenre Taxi driver who ferries Thursday from place to place in the fictional world.
• Lizzie: One of the daughters in Pride and Prejudice.
• Millon DeFloss: Thursday's unofficial biographer, sometimes considered a stalker.
• Roger: One of the Piano Squad--a group that moves pianos around the fictional works as needed.
• Danverclone: Any one of a number of clones of Mrs. Danvers who follow written orders.
• Jane Eyre: Main character in a novel of the same name. It is in this novel that Felix gets his start.
• Baxter: Senator Jobsworth's chief advisor
• Redmond Van De Poste: Prime Minister and a member of the Commonsense party. He is trying to disperse a surplus of stupidity.
• Anton Next: Thursday's younger brother with whom she served in the Crimea. He is deceased.
• Mrs. Berko-boyler: A next door neighbor who is often conscripted to watch Jenny.
• Felix: Acheron Hades's henchman. He has multiple incarnations--whenever one of his bodies dies, he moves the Felix face to another body.
• Mary: One of the daughters in Pride and Prejudice
• Dr. Anne Wirthless: Later revealed to be Dr. Anne Wirthless-Schitt, she is the project manager for the Austen Rover at Goliath.
• Charles: One of the Piano Squad--the group that moves pianos around the fictional works.
• Friday Next: Son of Thursday and Landen, he is supposed to join the Chronoguard (time patrol) and become a member of some import. Instead he is a teenager with a propensity for sleeping late and playing music with his buddies. He exists on several time levels.
• Thursday5: The fictional incarnation of Thursday Next from book 5 of her series. She is a flower child type, wearing natural fiber clothing and eating healthy foods. She is a Jurisfiction Cadet being evaluated by the real Thursday Next.
• Thursday1-4: The fictional incarnation of Thursday Next from the first four books in the series. She is less inhibited than her real counterpart and tends to act on impulse. She is being evaluated for jurisfiction at the request of Jobsworth.
• Tuesday Next: Daughter of Thursday and Landen, she is a mathematical genius.
• Jobsworth: Head of the Council of Genres and antagonist to Thursday.

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Swindon, England: The town where the Next family lives.
• Outland: What the fictional world calls the real world.
• Great Library: A vast library consisting of 26 floors above ground to hold all published works and 26 floors below ground to hold unpublished works and other various parts of fiction.
• Text Sea: One of the sub-levels of the Great Library--it is the book world at its most basic.
• Goliathopolis: Town owned wholly by the Goliath Corp.

Organizations edit see section history

• SpecOps: Handles things deemed too weird for the regular police. It has many levels. SO-27 is the literary detectives.
• Jurisfiction: The agency responsible for policing the book world.
• Council of Genres <CofG>: The governing body over all things literary, of which Senator Jobsworth has control. But which Thursday has the ultimate veto and final say.

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Errata edit see section history

The entire first print run of the UK Hodder edition of First Among Sequels is missing the footnoterphone speech. These should be on pages 194, 195, 332, 333, 339, 392 and 393. Since the books are already in the shops and thus too late for error slips, the missing text can be found on the Jasper Fforde website in the 'Book Upgrades' section.

Series & Lists edit see section history

Preceded by Something Rotten, and followed by One of Our Thursdays Is Missing.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Jasper Fforde (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• The Bookseller (2008: Publicity Campaign of the Year, #1)

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PR6106.F67 T475 2007
• Dewey: 823.914

Notes for Parents edit see section history

Add a note to help parents select a book for a child.

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Mystery & Thrillers › Mystery

More Books Like This edit see section history