Tumbling Down Rabbit Holes Trivia Quiz

Answer: The Looking Glass Wars

Frank Beddor wrote "The Looking Glass Wars" in 2006. The sequel, "Seeing Redd", was released in 2007, and in 2009, "ArchEnemy", the final novel of the trilogy was released.

The novels focus on Beddor's interpretation of what really happened in the world of Wonderland. For one thing, Alice Liddel's name was actually Alyss Heart, and she was a princess. She found a portal to our world, where she grew up as Alice Liddell. Beddor gave all the old characters new identities. The Mad Hatter was a milliner named Hatter Maddigan. Even Lewis Carroll was given a role in the novel. In the novel, he was not known as Lewis Carroll; but as his birth name Charles Dodgson. When Alyss found her way to our world instead of her own, she met a man, who turned out to be Dodgson, and she befriended him. She told him of her early childhood, which he believed to be made-up stories from this little girl's mind. He cheered her stories up a bit and published them as "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass". This actually quite upset those who really lived in Wonderland, and created an interesting twist in the novels.

Answer: Tad Williams

Tad Williams wrote the "Otherland" series, which was based on many novels. In this series, he writes his own interpretations of several classic novels. These include "Through the Looking Glass", "The Iliad", "The Odyssey", "War of the Worlds", and "The Wizard of Oz". His novels also bear a striking resemblance to the "Lord of the Rings" series of novels by J.R.R. Tolkien.

In the novel, the Red Queen is mentioned, the chess-board is often used, and the evil men often become Tweedledee and Tweedledum. The first in the series, released in 1996, was "City of Golden Shadow". In 1998, the second was released, entitled "River of Blue Fire". "Mountain of Black Glass" came next, in 1999, and finally, in 2001, "Sea of Silver Light" was released.

Answer: Wonderland Revisited and the Games Alice Played There

"Wonderland Revisited and the Games Alice Played There" is a novel by Keith Sheppard. He wrote the novel in 1993, but it was not released until 2009. The story begins with Alice waking up to discover her bed has become a boat, and she is floating downstream.

She finds herself in Wonderland (where else would she go?). She comes across many familiar faces from Lewis Carroll's original stories, but also meets a slew of new characters introduced by Sheppard. She plays many games with the people of Wonderland.

Answer: Golden Afternoon

"Golden Afternoon" was a short story written by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski in 1997. The story was yet another of the many retellings of "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland". He put a unique twist on it, however, as the story was told from the point of view of the Cheshire Cat.

Answer: Alice in Quantumland

In 1994, "Alice in Quantumland" was released by Robert Gilmore. It explores the world of physics, but he tells it as if it were one of Alice's adventures. He uses characters from Wonderland in the novel, but they represent quanta.

Answer: Alice Through the Needle's Eye

Though all these titles were real novels, Gilbert Adair's was called "Alice Through the Needle's Eye". It was released in 1984. In the novel, Alice travels through the alphabet over a long period of time, but later wakes up to find it was only a dream, and only a few seconds had gone by.

Answer: Alice in Orchestralia

"Alice in Orchestralia" was written by the American composer Ernest La Prade. The novel had a girl named Alice travel through a tuba's bell into Orchestralia. There she met a bass viol, who showed her around Orchestralia, teaching her about the symphony orchestra by introducing her to a wide variety of musical instruments (who were, of course, animated).

Answer: Audrey Mayhew Allen

Audrey Mayhew Allen wrote the parody "Gladys in Grammarland" in circa 1897. In this book, a schoolgirl meets "grammar imps" who try to educate her on her grammar. The story begins when Gladys starts to fall asleep after class, and so a "Verb Fairy" decides to take her through the door with "English Grammar" written on it so as to teach her about grammar. "Curiouser and curiouser!" (how could I not throw an Alice Liddel quote in this quiz somewhere?)

Answer: Alice Lee

In 1895, Anna Richards wrote a novel about Alice Lee, who was a girl who found her way to Wonderland. Of course, her name is Alice, but it is not the same Alice that Lewis Carroll wrote about. It is a "New Alice". It is the same place Carroll's Alice traveled to, though; an "Old Wonderland".

In the book Alice Lee meets many of the same characters Carroll used, but also meets new characters that Richards introduces.

Answer: Coraline Jones

"Coraline" was written by Neil Gaiman in 2002. The novel is about a girl, Coraline Jones, who discovers a secret passageway in her home that leads to an entirely new world. The book has even been directly compared to Lewis Carroll's books.

Wendy Darling, of course, took her two brothers with her to Neverland, which they accidentally discovered when Peter Pan entered their room and insisted he make them jump out their window... Dorothy Gale magically entered Oz when she went through the twister, and she also brought Toto with her. Lucy Pevensie went through the wardrobe, and returned to bring her three siblings to show her the wonderful world of Narnia she had accidentally discovered.

Admit it, you had never realized how similar "The Wizard of Oz", "Peter Pan", and "Chronicles of Narnia" were to "Alice in Wonderland", did you? I know I had never known they were inspired by Carroll's novels!