The conceit of this collection, Wonderland, is to ask several authors to send their considerable imaginations down the rabbit hole, visiting Wonderland in their own unique ways. It is fun to read all the different takes, to see the tropes of Wonderland deployed over and over, to uncover new characters and recast old friends. In this collection we get versions of Alice that range from technological-dystopian revolutionary to wild-west detective; from a computer simulation to a biographically informed literary character who explores her past traumas and future capacity to cope. This collection features phenomenal writers whose work we’ve all enjoyed. It is bookended with poems by Jane Yolen, we get a piece from Robert Shearman and Laura Mauro. There is so much to love in this collection, but unfortunately I have room to love on only a few.
“The White Queen’s Spy” by Genevieve Cogman is told from the point of view of a future fascist spy in training. She and her boss have invited an elderly Alice to an interview over the course of which we learn that Alice had been trained as a spy during the XX conflict and was trained to summon “hysterical strength,” at will. Because of this she can perform heroic deeds and then have little memory or trauma associated with her assignments. The point of view character wants this ability so she can better serve the new British fascist government. The hyper-nationalism disguised as patriotism will resonate with readers on both sides of the Pond. There’s so much to love about this story from its villain-in-the-making point of view, to the feminist subversion in the idea of hysterical strength and then the twist that reveals the old woman’s cunning and the source of her powers. This is a fantastic story whose form is as subversive as its hero.
“Vanished Summer Glory” by Rio Youers has an alternating point of view, Rosemarie and Before. A mystery unravels as Rosemarie confesses the story of her husband’s decline and disappearance to her therapist. This story is so lovely as a meditation on loss and how we grieve. Sometimes stories find us when we need them, and I needed this story this week after we lost our beloved next door neighbor to cancer. Even losses that can be somewhat anticipated never fail to take us by surprise. Rest in wonder, Larry.
“Black Kitty” by Catriona Ward is a total gem of a story, with spectacular writing. This story is as delightful as taking an actual trip to Wonderland yourself. Here we see the darker side of Wonderland through the perspective of Kitty, one of a pair of twins who are coming of marital age in Wonderland and whose youth and privilege has exempted them from the game.
“On the plain below, beyond the palace walls, the game stretched out in every direction as far as the eye could see, shifting and revolving like a carousel. The game made a sound, a kind of hum, as the land spun at dizzying speed. Trees and houses and rivers whirled. In the game, it takes all the running you can do to keep in the same place.”
Kitty’s twin, Snowdrop, was selected by the king to be his future wife. Her marriage will mean joining the game. The game isn’t just running.
“I saw a small figure stagger across a forest clearing, weeping. It was a young boy in a round hat. As I watched, a tall man strode out of the trees and clubbed him. He struck the boy again and again until he stopped moving. The man dragged the body into the shadow of the woods and the game kept turning and they were gone from view again. If you watched the game for more than a few moments, you always saw death. My favourites were the knights with their great horses and gleaming wicked swords. Snicker-snack The boy with the round hat will be back tomorrow, though, running with lips drawn back from his teeth in fear. Death doesn’t stick, down there. The game never lets you go.”
Snowdrop hatches a plan to escape her fate but she has to convince Kitty to use the magic that they swore off of when they accidentally killed their mother when they were young. At some point in this story you will think you know where it is headed, but Ward has so many tricks up her sleeve you will be surprised.
“How I Comes to be the Treacle Queen” by Cat Rambo has a distinct storytelling voice because the point of view character is a miner in the treacle mines when Alice comes to Wonderland to dethrone both the Red and White Queens of Wonderland. The opening sentence is pure magic,
“When we grimbled, how we grambled, children, down in those treacle mines, with a slow syrup slurry that clung to your boots, your hands and every bit of skin, so you’d lick your lips, vicious-like, and taste gritty burned sugar and wonder what was happening up in the blue-sky world.”
In some of these stories the joy comes from seeing the writer’s imagination working in a way that makes sense to you—the delight comes from recognition. In others, like Rambo’s story, the mystery of how they came to deploy the Wonderland characters and themes and turns of phrase are a true delight.
This collection is a must have for the Wonderland lover in your life. It doesn’t give any free passes to the original Wonderland or its creator. Wonderland will complicate your understanding of the original story in a worthwhile way. This book is available now from the evil empire but more importantly from your favorite book store or mine.
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