I have always been fascinated by the story of Alice
in Wonderland, and have re-read it many times over the years. Both Alice’s
adventures in Wonderland, and the chronicles of her trip through the Looking
Glass. I read the books to my kids when they were little, too. What an imagination the Reverend Dodgson, aka
Lewis Carroll, must have had. One could even say of the psychedelic variety!
Caterpillars with hookahs, food and drink that made you grow or shrink,
depending on what you ingested. A horrible creature known as the Jabberwock.
Dodos and talking rabbits. And a great deal of poetry that is now inextricably
tied up with my memories of this book. To this day, I can still recite
Jabberwock, which I memorized back in grade school. (Trust me, that was a very
long time ago!)
I’m also very fond of some of the movies that have
come from the stories. Two, in particular, that caught my fancy were SyFy
Alice, which features a very handsome Mad Hatter, and Malice in Wonderland. In
the Sy Fy version, we have Colm Meaney as the Red King, and guest appearances
by Tim Curry and Harry Dean Stanton. In this, Alice is a very independent young
woman who, because of her fiancé, tries to save him and ends up going into
Wonderland, where people are drained of their emotions in the Red Queen’s
casino. It’s a fascinating twist.
So is Malice in Wonderland, which starts out with
Alice almost being run down by a cabby in the streets of London. He turns out
to be the Rabbit, and the adventure begins. The Rabbit is the cute one in this
version. I watched it with a friend of mine and we seriously wondered if the
writer was tripping when he wrote it. Especially the Cheshire Cat, driving
around in his pot smoke-filled car, and speaking in rhymes.
There’ve been a couple of manga made from the
stories, one of which is also a video game—Alice in the Country of Hearts. In
the manga, Alice falls asleep while waiting for her sister, and finds herself a
player in a strange game in a strange land, and the only way she can get out is
to play. I haven’t finished reading the series yet, but I love it, and the Mad
Hatter, aka Blood Dupre, is very easy on the eyes!
Having this great love for Alice, is it so
surprising that I decided to write my own twist on the tale? In the m/m genre,
of course. No surprise there! Alice became Dallas, and I wrote it as part of a
series on my flash fiction group, the Wednesday Briefs. I never knew from week
to week what the prompts would induce! It was a fun trip, though, and I enjoyed
it. I self-published it briefly, when it was done, but then I pulled it from
the market when I subbed it to eXtasy Books and they accepted it.
The rest is history! Dallas was released on May 1st
and is available at eXtasy here.
Going
down the rabbit hole has never been so sexy!
Blurb:
After finding his lover in the arms of another man,
Dallas Crosby moves to a Victorian-style apartment building to begin a new
life. A chance encounter with the mysterious and sexy Dr. Samuel Levi has
Dallas in a tailspin. But the man comes and goes unexpectedly and Dallas
doesn’t know what to make of him. Just when he thinks he’s getting somewhere
with the unusual man, he finds himself in an unbelievable situation, and he has
to struggle both to find the man he’s fallen for, and to get back to where he
belongs.
Can Dallas find a way to leave Wonderland or will he
be lost forever?
Excerpt:
The apartment building was conveniently
located near the bus line, the grocery store, and the park. School, food and
relaxation all within walking distance. What more could a guy ask for? Moving
off campus was the best decision Dallas Crosby had ever made. Well, second best
decision. The first had been getting rid of his lying cheating boyfriend. Right
after he caught him in their dorm room with the RA’s cock rammed up his ass.
And then he’d had the nerve to claim
nothing had happened. How stupid did he think Dallas was?
Never mind.
The last thing the jerk had said, as
Dallas had removed every last trace of himself from their shared bedroom, was,
“Dallas, please, don’t go breakin’ my heart. You can’t do this to me.”
He was so very wrong. Dallas could and
he did. Right after he broke the cheating bastard’s nose.
The building was old, a converted
Victorian mansion whose owner had fallen on hard times; she’d had to divide it
into six units, two per floor. Dallas lived on the third floor, just beneath
the attic. Sometimes he swore he heard rats scrabbling about, and he’d offered
to place traps there for the landlady, but Mrs. Persepolis had laughed off his
concerns. He was hearing things, she said. There was nothing there, she
insisted. Hadn’t been rats in the building for many years.
Although Dallas wanted to believe her,
one time he decided to see for himself that the attic was indeed rat-free, as
she claimed. When he dropped the stairs leading to the attic, and then mounted
them, broom in hand, he’d found the door at the top locked, and he gave it up
as a lost cause, all the while thinking that rats didn’t use keys, so who was
she locking out?
The basement contained limited amounts
of storage space, as well as laundry facilities for the use of the tenants. Only
two washers and two dryers, but that was enough to cover the needs of those
that lived there. With their disparate schedules, there never seemed to be a
conflict among the residents over the use of the facilities, for which Dallas
was grateful. He juggled culinary classes during the day with working in the
restaurant of a four star hotel at night. Usually the only time he had to do
his laundry was in the wee hours, when the house was still, and there was no
competition for the few machines.
Dallas would bring down either whatever
Stephen King novel he was currently reading, or one of his cooking textbooks.
While the washing machine agitated and rinsed, he’d prop his feet against it,
his chair tilted back on two legs, the back of his head scraping the wall, the
rhythm of life vibrating through his soles. It was a comforting feeling, and
more than a little sensual. He sometimes daydreamed about what it would like to
be fucked there, while the machine was going, either leaning against it or
lying on top of it, while a big strong hotter than hell guy rammed into him.
With an imagination like that, he could
have chosen to write porn for a living.
One of his favorite Stephen King novels
was the Shining. He didn’t even care that they’d fucked up the movie, he loved
them both. Jack Nicholson was sure hot. In a totally crazy kind of way. Maybe
that was Dallas’ problem. He had an irresistible attraction to psychopaths. Or
was that sociopaths? To paraphrase Doctor McCoy, I’m a chef, Jim, not a psychiatrist.
Dallas was also a big Star Trek fan.
What was that? He cocked his head,
listening. Although, to be fair, with the washing machine thrumming the way it
was, hearing anything outside of this room was rather difficult. Plus he had
his iPod blasting in his ear. Bach. Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. Phantom of
the Opera music. The movie, not the musical.
He turned the page, losing himself in
Jack Torrance’s troubles. All work and no play…
He heard it again. This time he was
sure. Footsteps. Coming his way. He hastily brought the chair back onto all
four legs, placed his bookmark inside and closed the book. The hairs on the
back of his neck began to bristle, in the way that they sometimes did just
before a storm, when the air’s full of static electricity and mischief.
The
quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
If he didn’t get his mind off of men
with axes, he’d never be able to go to sleep tonight, and then he sure as shit
wouldn’t be able to function tomorrow. Probably one of the other tenants coming
home. Maybe wanting something out of storage. The storage area was separate.
Each tenant had a key to the room. Dallas didn’t keep very much there himself.
He didn’t have very much.
Slipping
back into his book, he was very much surprised to hear a cultured voice ask, “Pardon me, but is that seat taken?”
A slender figure stood in the doorway. At first glance, Dallas
made his age to be somewhere in the forty-five to fifty range, not from his
appearance, which was completely toned and fit, but something in his eyes
seemed to hold the wisdom of the ages. Startling eyes they were. He wasn’t
aware that copper existed in the palette of the human eye. But here it was. Copper with hints of green.
Hair of a muted red, pulled back from his forehead, and tied into a long plait
which fell over his shoulder.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you.”
“Um… um… no, you didn’t.” Too late, Dallas realized he’d
inadvertently dropped his book onto the floor. Guess he was more rattled than
he let on. With a deft movement, the newcomer bent to retrieve it, his
movements sure and graceful. He presented the volume to Dallas with a smile.
“Allow me to introduce myself. Dr. Samuel Levi, at your service.”
He made a slight obeisance with his hand, rolling it from his forehead to his
chin, in a graceful gesture.
“Oh, a medical doctor?”
“Alas, nothing quite so useful.” His laughter was soft, cultured.
“An honorary title given to those whom the world cannot decide what it wants to
do with.”
Dallas thought this man looked more than useful. The back of his
neck was tingling again.
“I’ll bid you good night, Dallas, I hope we meet again.”
Only after he’d gone did Dallas wonder how he knew his name.
Thanks for having me, Michelle! This is like my home away from
home lol
