I got an email from the real Jasper Fforde today! It came from his normal email address and when I asked Julie she said she had noticed me getting upset about something and had read my blog too (I’d forgotten I’d told her about it ages ago). She said she’d told Jasper about it because this fake Ffforde bloke seemed to be getting a bit out of hand and she thought he should know about it.
Julie also said that she had thought that the Junior Designate Programme was a bit suspect for a long while now, and that now she knows its a bad thing. She said it would be a crime if another Junior failed their assessment, but there is nothing she can do to help me. I don’t really understand what she meant by any of that but it has made my very uneasy.
Dear june,
Julie has informed me about what has been going on with this impostor with an extra F. Don’t worry, I don’t blame you for a second for being taken in and nor will Hodder. You can’t help your nature.
Now I think I know who he is but curiously I can’t remember his name. There’s a mist where that should be in my memory. But Mari had a root through old paperwork and discovered a letter which is ringing a bell, albeit muffled. I’ve attached a scan of it.
If this is true, then I am pretty sure I would have put him some place and trained a BookCam there. Wherever the place is, there’ll be a page for it on my website. If the place were ‘wonderland’, it would be www.jasperfforde.com/wonderland.html. The place wasn’t wonderland, alas, I checked.
I’m pretty sure I wrote the name of the place down recently, I’d bet somewhere in the new book. But I checked through the proof and couldn’t find it. Where could it be?
This amnesia is curious. It’s like I’m chasing the thoughts round and round my mind but they keep scurrying away. I hope that doesn’t mean what or who I think it means. If he escaped from whichever place then the lock-word would be there in pieces. But how will I ever remember the key-word?
In any case, june, none of this is your fault and thank you for all your help with the competition. I have written a good reference for your designate assessment and reassignment and I think (again strangely I can’t remember for sure) I thanked you too. Somewhere.
Good luck! If you are going to be in Swindon next Saturday as Julie said you might be to deal with this fellow…beyond the call… do come and say hello at the official signing from 2pm. And of course I’ll help in any way I can.
Best wishes
(the real) Jasper Fforde
