By Geoff Boucher at the Los Angeles Times: ‘Looking Glass Wars’ takes Alice to a very different Wonderland
It’s been 144 years since Lewis Carroll introduced the world to an inquisitive girl named Alice, but her surreal adventures still resonate – Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” arrives in theaters in March and next month on SyFy it’s “Alice,” a modern-day reworking of the familiar mythology with a cast led by Kathy Bates and Tim Curry.
And then there’s “The Looking Glass Wars,” the series of bestselling novels by Frank Beddor that takes the classic 19th century children’s tale off into a truly unexpected literary territory – the battlefields of epic fantasy. The series began in 2006 and Beddor’s third “Looking Glass Wars” novel, “ArchEnemy,” just hit stores in October.
Beddor’s basic premise: Carroll’s books weren’t fantasy, they were a betrayal of a refugee in need – the author created a misleading cartoon that distracted everyone from the “true” story about a real girl (an exiled princess named Alyss, not Alice) and a real place (a Wonderland that exists in a different dimension but is linked to our world). After a bloody coup, the “real” Alyss fled Wonderland with her bodyguard, Hatter Madigan, but they were separated before arrival on Earth. And so begins their adventure…
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Via Rick Klaw at San Antonio Current: The fungus among us –VanderMeer’s spore noir has legs
World Fantasy Award winner Jeff VanderMeer, in the anthology New Weird, defined the 21st century’s first major literary movement.
“New Weird is a type of urban … fiction that subverts the romanticized ideas about place found in traditional fantasy, largely by choosing … complex real-world models … that may combine elements of science fiction and fantasy. [It] has a visceral, in-the-moment quality that often uses elements of surreal or transgressive horror for its tone, style, and effects.”
As the subgenre’s standard-bearer, VanderMeer has created an intriguing vision that successfully incorporates the seemingly disparate elements of fantasy and gritty reality.
The first two volumes of The Ambergris Cycle, City of Saints & Madmen and Shriek: An Afterword, introduced a fascinating story sequence centered on the city-state Ambergris and its unusual inhabitants and happenings.
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The Looking Glass Wars reminds me of Tin Man (SyFy mini series based on Wizard of Oz). And I really liked Tin Man so I’ll have to check this out. I’m not sure about Finch, but I don’t like mystery novels, so I can’t really judge. Love the cover though.
Which book sounds better to you?
