http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/ Writer's blog and Lewis Carroll en-us Nucleus CMS v3.33 ? Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog//nucleus/nucleus2.gif http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/ http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=584 the link:

I hope Susan won't mind my reproducing one of the pictures, which happens to be on her blog.

null]]> General http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=584 Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:48:12 +0000 http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=582
What I'd forgotten is that the church also has this curious figure.

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It is of course claimed to be a cat, smiling, but I'd say it is likely to be the head of one of those medieval strange beasts which are found so often in old churches. (I often look out for a book which will explain what all these things in churches are, but have never yet found one)

Yet, though I don't think its makers intended it to be a Cheshire cat, it is certain that the Dodgson children would have seen it week after week, year after year, and Carroll may well have amused the others by weaving a story about it being some kind of a Cheshire cat. The family had after all moved to Croft from Cheshire. And apparently, when you stand up, the cat's "grin" can no longer be seen - it disappears.

He's known to have woven information about things around him into the stories he told to children, and I like to think of him gathering his brothers and sisters around and amusing them, too, with stories about this strange character in their father's church. I want to revisit Croft, to see what else I can spot, although goodness knows when I will next have the chance to do so.



]]> General http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=582 Mon, 8 Mar 2010 09:52:35 +0000 http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=580
cheshire cat]]> General http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=580 Sat, 6 Mar 2010 09:20:06 +0000 http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=578 Marjorie, from Chicago, snapped my book on show in Barnes and Noble and Borders.

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It means a lot to me because I didn't go to the US for the launch and won't ever see my book on display in the front of those shops again, probably. at least now I can look at the photos and imagine I'm in the Windy City !

Barnes and noble display]]> General http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=578 Fri, 5 Mar 2010 18:32:45 +0000 http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=574
Alice's "house"

Paris has one of the best Alice in Wonderland attractions of any of the Disney parks - not only the revolving teacups, but also a labyrinth, where you walk to, fro and round, trying to find your way to the castle in the middle. All right, I know there isn't a castle in "Alice" but this is rather beautiful with its gorgeously Kremlin-style tiled roof and golden weathervane.

There were also Alice and Mad Hatter characters on the floats, signing autographs and posing for photographs in the park - it was quite hard to get this one, amidst the jostling crowd.


Alice and the Mad Hatter

What about Tim Burton's version? The only signs of those, were posters. No doubt that will change, unless Disney have decided to stick with their cartoon Alice as the definitive one.

More reviews. Apparently the book was mentioned in the Universal Register in Tuesday's copy of the Times of London. I've been unable to find this online, but my UK publisher Haus promises to send me a clipping. Hurrah! I've always wanted to be featured on the Times Universal Register!

A nice review from Salt Lake City And many thanks to Bill Burns for letting me know more about Newsday.

I was thrilled to see this elegant Japanese blog with a long, thoughtful review.


]]> General http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=574 Thu, 4 Mar 2010 16:38:05 +0000 http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=571 Mayfair Public Library, W.1

A review in the Times of London. Apparently there's another in Newsday (a US magazine), which also includes Melanie Benjamin's fascinating sounding Alice I Have Been, which I've just ordered from Amazon. There's another nice review on Nayu's Reading Corner a great blog which has a lot of YA and fantasy. And a mention from the Toronto Globe & Mail which has a good pic of the cover and a brief comment about the book. And the Boston Globe has put out a very intelligent and well informed piece.

Talking of reviews, I've got one to write myself. It's a YA review for the Ham and High - I've been reviewing children's books for them forever. There's a terrific one, "When I was Joe" by an author who doesn't live too far from me, Keren David. It explores the idea of a teenager getting a new identity under the Witness Protection Programme - an aspect that had never occurred to me. Very interesting. Also a book which has stayed with me for ages, called "Out of Shadows" about Zimbabwe in the 1980s. I've just read an intriguing review of it in "The Zimbabwean". Such a lot of marvellous stuff being written for YAs these days.

The picture shows Mayfair Public Library, a tiny and architecturally rather beautiful library in the heart of some of London's poshest real estate. It's so welcoming and comfortable, and not a bit pretentious. The ideal spot for sitting and reading reviews other people have written of books one's never heard of. ]]> General http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=571 Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:16:31 +0000 http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=569 Alice Totem Teeshirt. It is sufficiently offbeat to appeal to me. I don't wear teeshirts any more but I'm wondering if I know anyone who does. ]]> General http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=569 Thu, 25 Feb 2010 22:49:03 +0000 http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=567 null

Yoshi has sent a bag full of ephemera from Japan, including some publicity for Tim Burton's new Alice in Wonderland. Super!

null]]> General http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=567 Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:14:39 +0000 http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=563 I feel a review coming on...

This is me, feeling a review coming on.

There has been quite a bit of news coverage of THE MYSTERY OF LEWIS CARROLL in publications as far afield as Chile, and there was a sizeable piece in the London Sunday Times last week. I've also been interviewed for various publications and radio programmes in various parts of the world, and I'm told that there are also reviews in the pipeline in both the US and UK. So far I have only noticed a few reviews, and none of them are in print publications - but then I don't see US print publications and the book is not yet published in the UK.

It is a strange feeling to have one's book criticised publicly. So far the response has not been negative, and I imagine when I do get hurtful negative responses (as I surely will) I'll only feel cross if it seems the reviewer hadn't read the book properly, or is deliberately misrepresenting it. . Still, I'd have that in common with Carroll. It seems many of the criticisms of him - like the paedophile one I've linked to below - are made by people who know almost nothing about what he really said and did.

Here are a couple of the online reviews:

Fantasy Book Review

Bookgasm

I'm very pleased with Jonathan Wilkin's review on Amazon.com. I appreciate it because he has bought the book himself and taken the trouble to say what he thinks in a thoughtful considered way, on Amazon. . Even if the reviews aren't as good as Jonathan Wilkin's, it makes me feel that my words are connecting with real people.

I've put the "paedophilia" article on another page of this site, so it will stay there permanently


]]> General http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=563 Sat, 20 Feb 2010 11:20:18 +0000 http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=561 here.She's often referred to as the top UK literary blogger, and her reviews are beautifully written, intelligent and entirely accessible. Although I know whatever she says will be worth hearing, I await her thoughts with some apprehension, because she admits to being prejudiced against Carroll and is hoping my book will change her mind.

My aim has never been to change anyone's mind, because I tried very hard to approach Carroll without an agenda and see what I found. I confess I’d hoped to find someone nice, because I loved “Alice." But if he’d been unpleasant, pretending otherwise wouldn’t have changed anything.

As it happened, I generally liked him. He was interesting, clever, kind, reasonably cheerful, surprisingly strong-minded and generally well adjusted to his society. I specially liked it that he tried hard to be good. That’s a bit unfashionable nowadays, but he seems to have taken it extremely seriously.

Perhaps the closed-in, repressive Victorian era suited him, really, because it made him rein himself in and hide himself away. That pruning or starving or deprivation, somehow seemed to make him stronger and more vivid. I wonder if he'd seem less interesting in today’s open and publicity-conscious world.

Here he is as a young man, perched on a windowsill at Croft Rectory. And oh, yes, there’s a cat again. Can it possibly be HIS cat? No; it’s Raine Szramski’s cat, GoGo, posing obligingly for this tableau. No smiles, but then GoGo's not the Cheshire type. Thanks, Raine (and GoGo).

Not the Cheshire Cat



]]> General http://www.jabberwock.co.uk/blog/index.php?itemid=561 Thu, 18 Feb 2010 09:41:50 +0000