Oh, yes! I've heard of them, but like Gregory Maguire, I haven't gone near them. A friend of mine in Arizona told me about "The Eyre Affair" last spring, but we'd already started writing Namesake and I was terrified that we'd be accused of copying Maguire and Fforde. So, the best way to avoid that was not to read the works for now. When we're further into the comic, I have definite plans to read Fforde.