In an earlier book she defeated a powerful wizard named Shandar who was attempting to rid the world of Dragons, and now he’s back to try again. Jennifer Strange works for Kazam, a company that rents out wizards to do mundane jobs like loft conversions and unblocking drains. The Eye of Zoltar is the third in the Chronicles of Kazam series and is set in the Ununited Kingdoms, a modern-day world that mixes cars, TVs, magic, despotic kings and dragons.

What can you tell us about your latest book, The Eye of Zoltar? Read, watch TV, go to the theatre, see movies. Take notes about stuff, keep a diary, try to figure out why people do the strange stuff they do. Know the difference (and want to know the difference) between “dog’s” and “dogs” and “there” and “their” and “lesser” and “fewer.” If you’re old enough, get a part-time job somewhere that has a lot of people of very different backgrounds - a fast food joint is a good start, or Saturday mornings in a shoe shop or hardware store - and just listen to people’s lives. I began when I was 27, and was published at 39, seven novels later. The one piece of advice I would have given the younger Jasper would have been to start writing earlier. It may take 10 years to get published, and that 10 years needs to start as soon as possible. Writing is a skill to be learned, not a gift that will ooze out effortlessly. What advice would you give to aspiring young authors? We asked him to tell us about the book - and a whole lot more. It’s the third installment in Fforde’s Chronicles of Kazam series. If you like magic, hilarity and crazy action, you might want to give The Eye of Zoltar a look.

Meet author Jasper Fforde (no - that’s not a typo!).

The Eye of Zoltar by Jasper Fforde