Random Magic: It's a lot like our world, only...completely different.
When absent-minded Professor Random misplaces the main character from “Alice in Wonderland,” young Henry Witherspoon must book-jump to fetch Alice before chaos theory kicks in and the world vanishes.
Along the way he meets Winnie Flapjack, a wit-cracking doodle witch with nothing to her name but a magic feather and a plan. Such as it is.
Henry and Winnie brave the Dark Queen, whatwolves, pirates, Strüths, and fluttersmoths, Priscilla and Charybdis, obnoxiously cheerful vampires, Baron Samedi, a nine-dimensional cat, and one perpetually inebriated Muse to rescue Alice and save the world by tea time.
Darkly comic (“The Addams Family”, "The Princess Bride," “Kind Hearts and Coronets”) literary tale for intelligent readers; adults and in-betweens.
Best for: Anyone with a sweet tooth for the eerily fantastic, book lovers, people who read in the bathtub, snuggled up in a favorite comfy chair, on trains, in tea rooms and under trees. Or Britcom addicts, closet romantics, deep thinkers who need a little light reading, and fun folks who just love a good story.
But also recommended for: Anyone who's had a rough day and longs for the great escape, anyone who's ever read and loved Alice in Wonderland, everyone who believes in everyday magic (or the other kind), smart folks, kind folks, and folks who prefer their -- rather offbeat -- humor black as coal.
Advance reader pre-release reviews:
* “Brilliant! Roald Dahl meets Hayao Miyazaki”
* “Alice in Wonderland meets Monty Python!”
* “In [the] line of Pratchett or Adams”
* “A delightful chase to locate Alice”
* “Great dialogue”
* “LOVED it”
* “It's Lewis Carroll and Roald Dahl and Monty Python and...it all works!”
* “Zany, off-the-wall laugh riot”
* “Inventive and fun”
* “Vastly entertaining”
* “Tomorrow’s classic, today”
* “Sly dialogue…exquisite punning”
* “Fun dialogue banter, constantly turning words on their head to make sense of the non-sensical. And the imagination involved in the scenery and the wild characters strewn throughout Henry's journey are top notch, if perhaps drug induced”
* “Amazing gift for dialogue, especially comedic dialogue”
* “Wildly and wonderfully imaginative”
* “Lots of fun”
* “Quirky escape for children and parents”
* “Extremely creative”
* “Keeps building into funny, twisted nonsense!”
* “An original spin on mythology, folklore, and fairy tales”
* “The right director could have a field day with this”
* "Thoroughly enchanting”
...and “madly in love w/this story.”
How it all began (First page):
Prologue: In Which An Earl Vanishes, And Crumpets Appear
“You can’t declare anyone mad if they’re merely invisible.”
It’s been noted, of course, that quite interesting things happen on dark and stormy nights, particularly in castles.
If you’ve a moment, perhaps you’d like to play a round of 'let’s imagine.' You do have a fresh pot of tea handy, don’t you? You don’t? We’ll wait. Go on, then.
Right. Comfy? Well, now, let’s imagine…
It’s been the end of a long, hideous day. London is so trying. So noisy. So full of…of…too much of every sort of something.
Lying on the couch, feeling completely out of sorts, you moan to the walls or anyone who happens to be passing that you’d trade your very soul for a teensy smidgeon of peace and quiet.
Lo and behold, a rather lovely invitation arrives just at that moment, on a silver salver; a charming scrawl on impressively heavy linen cardstock, embossed with the family crest:
Baron and Baroness Such-and-So request the pleasure of your company…
Your presence, it appears, is in hot demand at a luxurious weekend soirée in the English countryside.
Of course, you go...
When absent-minded Professor Random misplaces the main character from “Alice in Wonderland,” young Henry Witherspoon must book-jump to fetch Alice before chaos theory kicks in and the world vanishes.
Along the way he meets Winnie Flapjack, a wit-cracking doodle witch with nothing to her name but a magic feather and a plan. Such as it is.
Henry and Winnie brave the Dark Queen, whatwolves, pirates, Strüths, and fluttersmoths, Priscilla and Charybdis, obnoxiously cheerful vampires, Baron Samedi, a nine-dimensional cat, and one perpetually inebriated Muse to rescue Alice and save the world by tea time.
Darkly comic (“The Addams Family”, "The Princess Bride," “Kind Hearts and Coronets”) literary tale for intelligent readers; adults and in-betweens.
Best for: Anyone with a sweet tooth for the eerily fantastic, book lovers, people who read in the bathtub, snuggled up in a favorite comfy chair, on trains, in tea rooms and under trees. Or Britcom addicts, closet romantics, deep thinkers who need a little light reading, and fun folks who just love a good story.
But also recommended for: Anyone who's had a rough day and longs for the great escape, anyone who's ever read and loved Alice in Wonderland, everyone who believes in everyday magic (or the other kind), smart folks, kind folks, and folks who prefer their -- rather offbeat -- humor black as coal.
Advance reader pre-release reviews:
* “Brilliant! Roald Dahl meets Hayao Miyazaki”
* “Alice in Wonderland meets Monty Python!”
* “In [the] line of Pratchett or Adams”
* “A delightful chase to locate Alice”
* “Great dialogue”
* “LOVED it”
* “It's Lewis Carroll and Roald Dahl and Monty Python and...it all works!”
* “Zany, off-the-wall laugh riot”
* “Inventive and fun”
* “Vastly entertaining”
* “Tomorrow’s classic, today”
* “Sly dialogue…exquisite punning”
* “Fun dialogue banter, constantly turning words on their head to make sense of the non-sensical. And the imagination involved in the scenery and the wild characters strewn throughout Henry's journey are top notch, if perhaps drug induced”
* “Amazing gift for dialogue, especially comedic dialogue”
* “Wildly and wonderfully imaginative”
* “Lots of fun”
* “Quirky escape for children and parents”
* “Extremely creative”
* “Keeps building into funny, twisted nonsense!”
* “An original spin on mythology, folklore, and fairy tales”
* “The right director could have a field day with this”
* "Thoroughly enchanting”
...and “madly in love w/this story.”
How it all began (First page):
Prologue: In Which An Earl Vanishes, And Crumpets Appear
“You can’t declare anyone mad if they’re merely invisible.”
It’s been noted, of course, that quite interesting things happen on dark and stormy nights, particularly in castles.
If you’ve a moment, perhaps you’d like to play a round of 'let’s imagine.' You do have a fresh pot of tea handy, don’t you? You don’t? We’ll wait. Go on, then.
Right. Comfy? Well, now, let’s imagine…
It’s been the end of a long, hideous day. London is so trying. So noisy. So full of…of…too much of every sort of something.
Lying on the couch, feeling completely out of sorts, you moan to the walls or anyone who happens to be passing that you’d trade your very soul for a teensy smidgeon of peace and quiet.
Lo and behold, a rather lovely invitation arrives just at that moment, on a silver salver; a charming scrawl on impressively heavy linen cardstock, embossed with the family crest:
Baron and Baroness Such-and-So request the pleasure of your company…
Your presence, it appears, is in hot demand at a luxurious weekend soirée in the English countryside.
Of course, you go...
