“Faster Than The Speed of Love” is Brian Griffin’s long running work-in-progress novel. The novel was finally published in the season 7 episode “420″ by Carter Pewterschmidt, complete with an Oprah Winfrey sticker on each copy. At the end of “420″, the book is mentioned in a news report. The book is reported to have set the record for worst selling novel of all time, not selling a single copy, noted as “thanks to universal panning by literary critics”.

Mentions

A running gag in the show, references to Brian’s novel by Stewie quickly became a fan favourite, wherein Stewie mockingly asks Brian how he is coming along with the novel, his voice growing higher and higher in pitch until it reaches comical level, only returning to normal after the subject is dropped. Clearly a fan favourite moment, voice of Stewie, Seth MacFarlane, has been asked to recreate the scenes by fans on several documented occasions. The novel has featured in the following episodes:

• Brian The Bachelor
• Brian Goes Back To College
• Saving Private Brian
• Movin’ Out (Brian’s Song)
• The Former Life of Brian
• Baby Not on Board
• 420
• Dog Gone

Plot

The season 6 episode “Movin’ Out (Brian’s Song)”, sees Brian finally revealing the plot of the novel. He tells Lois the title of the novel, who claims it to be the worst title she’s ever heard.

The novel encompasses the story of a boy who must rescue his father, a pilot who has been taken captive by a militant Islamic country. The boy gathers World War II veteran pilots, one of which is Japanese, but is accepted by the other pilots regardless.

Lois however points out the similarities between Brian’s novel and that of the Iron Eagle series of films. But Brian is apparently unaware of the similarities or even of the existence of the films.

The plot’s consistancy is reinforced later in season 6 in “The Former Life of Brian”. Brian, while stoned with his newfound son Dylan, reveals further details of the novel. All we hear is “…in chapter 28, the other pilots finally trust the Japanese pilot and let him into their group.” As Lois had earlier pointed out, this refers to a plot line in the film “Aces: Iron Eagle III”.

Publishing

In the season 7 episode “420″, the book is finally published after Carter Pewterschmidt bribes Brian into encouraging the abolition of marijuana. Carter in return agrees to finance the publication of his book, as he once did for Peter in season 4′s “Peterotica”. He produces 2 million copies, adding an Oprah sticker on each copy to encourage sales.

Reception

In “The Former Life of Brian”, Dylan, Brian’s son, states that it is an amazing story. He is however high on marijuana at the time. In the season 8 episode “Dog Gone”, a group of people with special needs read Brian’s novel as part of their “special” literary group, and enjoy it immensely; their chaperone quotes “the simplistic writing style” as to why they enjoyed the book so much.