Sentence Sneak Peek - (re)Visions: Alice

(re)Visions: Alice has stories from:

Kaye Chazan
Amanda Ching
Hilary Thomas
C. A. Young

Featuring Lewis Carroll

The first sentence from each chapter of (re)Visions: Alice, it's a mini summary of what you can expect to read.

* ARC read/received from the publisher Candlemark & Gleam
* Spoilers are highlighted like so :)

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

"Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, “and what is the use of a book,” thought Alice “without pictures or conversation?”

"Curiouser and curiouser!”

"They were indeed a queer-looking party that assembled on the bank—the birds with draggled feathers, the animals with their fur clinging close to them, and all dripping wet, cross, and uncomfortable."

"It was the White Rabbit, trotting slowly back again, and looking anxiously about as it went, as if it had lost something; and she heard it muttering to itself “The Duchess!"

"The Caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time in silence: at last the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth, and addressed her in a languid, sleepy voice."

"For a minute or two she stood looking at the house, and wondering what to do next, when suddenly a footman in livery came running out of the wood—(she considered him to be a footman because he was in livery: otherwise, judging by his face only, she would have called him a fish)—and rapped loudly at the door with his knuckles."

"There was a table set out under a tree in front of the house, and the March Hare and the Hatter were having tea at it: a Dormouse was sitting between them, fast asleep, and the other two were using it as a cushion, resting their elbows on it, and talking over its head."

"A large rose-tree stood near the entrance of the garden: the roses growing on it were white, but there were three gardeners at it, busily painting them red."

"You can’t think how glad I am to see you again, you dear old thing!’"

"The Mock Turtle sighed deeply, and drew the back of one flapper across his eyes."

"The King and Queen of Hearts were seated on their throne when they arrived, with a great crowd assembled about them—all sorts of little birds and beasts, as well as the whole pack of cards: the Knave was standing before them, in chains, with a soldier on each side to guard him; and near the King was the White Rabbit, with a trumpet in one hand, and a scroll of parchment in the other."

"Here!"

________________________________________________________

What Aelister Found Here by Kaye Chazan

"4 June, Year of Our Lord 1888

The boy has managed, so far, to displace himself four meters off the ground."

"Six sturdy boughs higher, and a considerable amount of effort later, Aelister begins to wonder just how tall the tree grows."

"Three places,” Aelister’s mother proclaims, as the doctor doubtless did before her."

"Eight hours later, Aelister is climbing again, but this time the direction, though vertical, is down."

"Aboard the train, it is more crowded than Aelister expected: He finds himself in the company of some rather boisterous old ladies in terrifying hats, framed with silver mice running rampant through shimmering silk flowers, or feathers in colors so bright as to doom a bird as soon as it took flight."

"But upon arrival at Euston Railway Station, there is so much more to see."

"King's Cross Station looms even larger than Euston, and even as the buildings grow and grow, Aelister cannot help but see it as more of a trap over a gaping hole in the ground."

"Two kinds of sound fill Covent Garden: the kind that stops and starts, and the kind that does not."

"Four nights a week, the Duke is about, at parties or meetings or the devil knows what."

"As for the rules,” the Duke explains, later that day when the Mistresses Milliner and March have gone home with Aelister’s unfinished clothing, “come, boy, sit down."

"Leaves have been added to the dining table, so now it stretches all across the room, even if all the men are gathered at one end for playing."

"Going to bed is difficult after that, no matter how tired Aelister is, from talking and smiling and losing at cards."

"Morning brings with it a spectacular headache, the likes of which Aelister has never felt, in his head or anywhere else on his body for that matter."

"Over time, which Aelister has rather lost track of, he stops thinking about his house and his mother and his money in the country at all."

"Rain makes Covent Garden considerably worse."

"Three—no, four moves later, Aelister’s king is in check."

"You again!"

"Exceed, the headache seems to say, exceed!,"

"Twenty-four faces stare blankly at Aelister, and not a one of them is real, and all of them are mounted on pikes."

"Eighty-nine, he tries, by himself in the hansom, on the way home."

"Running up the stairs is no effort at all."

"Pieces fly across the board this time, as if both of the players already know how the game will proceed."

"September is already partway over, and most of the children of London are going to school."

"The night passes quickly, and the morning more quickly than Aelister would like it to, especially since the Actor isn’t there."

"Over at the Duke’s house in Islington, the chess table stands as they left it."

"Very few things can make a boy run as fast as Aelister runs now, very few indeed."

"Aelister wakes on a thin springy bed, as stiff and unyielding as the ones at school, and then he remembers he doesn’t go to school and doesn’t want to."

"Leamington nears, and the first signs of autumn are showing on the very edges of the leaves."

________________________________________________________

House of Cards by Amanda Ching

"Across the pasture, down the road, the gravedigger whistled as he made his way from his cottage to the grounds."

"The cheese cat on the cutting board had been picked at and nibbled on, starting with the tail, and as Mary Ann carried the next load of dishes to the sink, she glanced at the disembodied head grinning at her."

"As the birds all departed in squawking and general disarray, Alice cast about for someone to implore, but all that was left was a flurry of molted feathers and a few half-eaten comfits."

"The Queen of Hearts smacked the Knave’s hand."

"Who are you?"

"The Queen tried not to run as she made her way across the flat expanse of green."

"There hadn’t been any more ground-shaking, but that didn’t mean that there wasn’t a right mess to clean up."

"The Queen picked up her petticoats and rushed down the winding path, past the mome wraths and along the way to the edge of the forest."

"The sun filtered through the curtains of the day room."

"She could smell the pepper before she even saw the house."

"When given a choice between a mad Hatter and a mad Hare, Alice wasn’t quite sure what would be preferable."

"Mary Ann finished the last of the dishes and wondered how two little girls could make such a mess."

"The Queen wasn’t far down the path when the leaves began to shake, even though there was no wind."

"So he comes down when I’m out and you didn’t see fit to say anything, did you?”

"There was no point in going further."

"This was the third time she’d sicked up this morning."

"The hob was cleaner; perhaps it was new."

"She'd eaten the chicken and the eggs, and was saving the stotty for when she really needed it, as hungry and desperate as she was."

"The Queen stomped into her privy chamber in a foul mood."

"Oh, c’est l’amour, l’amour, l’amour,” the King whispered into her temple."

"Wake up, Alice, dear!”

"My notion was that you had been
(Before she had this fit)
An obstacle that came between
Him, and ourselves, and it.”
________________________________________________________

Knave by Hilary Thomas

"I didn't know the answers,” he says—just keeps saying it, half out of his mind with fear."

"Maybe I should back up a little bit; give you some context."

"You want to find someone in this city, you talk to me."

"Harry March used to be the numbers guy for the Queen."

"The minute I step into my building, I get the feeling that something’s not right."

"I lean against the faded brick wall and light up a cigarette, just a regular joe taking a smoke break in a regular alleyway."

"Now, I’m not the kind of person to waste his time thinking about a woman—never have been and never will be—but there’s something about Alice that won’t leave me alone."

"For all that I give Kingsley shit, he knows how to throw a fucking party."

"I wake up with my face against cold concrete, and an ache in my head that tells me I’m not the one who put it there."

"After the fight, Duchess crawled off somewhere to lick his wounds, the Rabbit reinstated at his side."
________________________________________________________

The World in a Thimble by C. A. Young

"The world in a silver thimble,
A girl's most precious thing."

"The crowd at Blue Monday was thick for a Thursday afternoon, and the line to the counter was long."

"Some time after midnight, the trill of his cell phone woke him."

"The city was peaceful as he biked into the arts district."

"The bed frame practically bounced and a cloud of dust puffed up from the long-disused coverlet."

"Alone, Toby tried to get his bearings."

"The path was dark and narrow, and the weird flat disc of a moon that shone in the Wonderland sky wasn’t as much help as it might have been."

"The forest was just as dark on the other side of the boards, but the trail opened out into a large, round clearing, ringed with striped canvas tents."

"Being a mouse changed a man’s perspective."

"The sky had begun to lighten by the time Toby reached the edge of the forest."

"When Toby burst out of the foliage and onto the road, the first thing he did was to run back in and wait."

"As far as Toby could tell, the city didn’t have a name."

"The shadows in the alley were deeper now as the afternoon sun dipped lower and oranger toward the horizon."

"The dark blue velvet curtain that hung at the end of the corridor was worlds apart from the one Toby remembered from The Amazing Brandy’s traveling show."

"I tell you what, boy,” the cowboy said. “You sure gave us one hell of a run.”

"The sewing box was ancient, and the flowery fabric that covered it was threadbare and worn."

"The tunnel was narrow enough that Toby’s whiskers brushed the edges of it on both sides as he hurried down into the pitch blackness."

"The room was familiar, somehow."

"The afternoon light through the front windows was blinding."

"Toby jolted bolt upright from his spot on the bench."