The bestselling writer takes us to a world where people hibernate...
Different writers have different ways of approaching their books, but for Jasper Fforde the idea of a “narrative dare” is key. What if you were, for example, to set a thriller “in a world in which humans have always hibernated”? Fforde’s answer to this question is contained within Early Riser, a thriller set in the dead of a winter through which most of the population is slumbering.
“It’s like writing a book in a reverse order where the world happens, the detail of the world happens, the dramatic possibilities of the detail in that world happen, and the plot gets tacked on the back of that,” Fforde says.
If that sounds like an arse-about-tit way of doing things, Fforde probably wouldn’t entirely disagree, but in the case of Early Riser, it works a treat as we see winter in a chilly world where, far from people being worried about global warming, they’re concerned about relentlessly advancing glaciers. As the population sleeps, the officers of the Winter Consul watch over them. It’s an inherently spooky idea that draws in part on Fforde’s own time as a focus puller in the film industry working on after-hours shoots when it was, as he remembers it, dark, chilly and the world seemed to operate under different rules.
“There’s a sort of survival instinct that happens when people do night work,” says Fforde. “You talk to emergency services who do night work and [they say] it’s very different, it’s not just a shift, there’s something very different about being around when everybody else is fast asleep.”
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
PURE AND SIMPLE
IN THE FINAL PART OF OUR EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW, SHOWRUNNER RUSSELL T DAVIES TALKS RELAUNCHING DOCTOR WHO
TO CAP IT ALL OFF
CELEBRATING 40 YEARS OF THE BBC SERIES THE TRIPODS
FRENCH REVOLUTION
THE WALKING DEAD SPIN-OFF SHOWRUNNER DAVID ZABEL ON BEING GIVEN THE TOUGH TASK OF REUNITING DARYL AND CAROL IN FRANCE
SILENT KILLERS
THE DIRECTOR OF HOLLYWOOD'S SPEAK NO EVIL REMAKE ON HORROR, COMEDY AND JAMES MCAVOY
BRING OUT YOUR DEAD
THE GHOST WITH THE MOST RETURNS FINALLY - IN BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE
TEENAGE DREAM
JOE LOCKE HITS THE ROAD RUNNING
MOB RULE THE PENGUIN
GOTHAM'S UP FOR GRABS IN BRUISING NEW CRIME SAGA BUT WHERE IS THE BATMAN?
SEASON OF THE WITCH
AS MARVEL TELEVISION CARVES OUT A NEW PATH FOR ITSELF, WE SPEAK TO CREATOR JAC SCHAEFFER, PLUS A CAST OF STARS LED BY KATHRYN HAHN AND JOE LOCKE, ABOUT THE MAGIC OF WANDAVISION'S SPIN-OFF AGATHA ALL ALONG
Ghouls Allowed
Even silence can't save you at this year's Halloween Horror Nights
Those '70s Shows
James Swallow takes a trip back in time with his new Space: 1999 and UFO novellas