So, Bizenghast: The Novel is officially on shelves as of mid-August, and things are going swell. Of course, the folks at Nielson Ratings may notice a curious surge in sales within the NY area; my wife and I have big families who are incredibly supportive, and who could make furniture fashioned from copies of B:tN at this point. But it's also nice to hear reviews from peeps across the country, and to see some readers posting quotes from the book on their sites (thanks, Baeacnkgi!)as well as from reviewers. Here's one I loved, in part because I'm also a teacher: [link]

I had a great time writing for Biz, and I hope readers catch the loads of Alice in Wonderland references hidden in Chapter Six, "The Weeping Jester." (I embedded Alice references because there are already plenty in the manga series; Dinah's name, for instance, is the name of Alice's cat.)Here are a few:

1. The Weeping Jester's name is "Little" Charley Lapin. "Lapin" is french for "rabbit," as in white rabbit. "Charley" comes from Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, Carroll's real name, and "Little" is an alteration of the real Alice's last name, Liddell.

2. Lapin recites a poem, which he calls "an illusion, or an allusion, or likely a confusion. . . ." It actually is an allusion. In the invocation to Through the Looking Glass, Carroll writes a poem with the starting line: "Child of the pure unclouded brow." If you take the first word from each line of Lapin's poem, that's exactly what you get!

3. All of the nonsense words uttered by the audience members, who can't speak because of their masks, are taken from Jabberwocky, which is a poem within Looking Glass.

4. In the beginning of the chapter, Vincent is reading books and Dinah is growing bored. That's precisely how Alice wanders off (her sister was reading books) to find the rabbit hole. In fact, once Dinah uncovers the portal to the Weeping Jester's realm, she remarks that it looks like a hole "dug by a giant rabb--." (Those of you who guessed she meant "rabbi" were close. . . .)

There are others, but one that DIDN'T make it, much to my dismay, was likely removed by one of the editors by accident--it would have looked like an error, but it wasn't. Within Lapin's poem, he says, "Pure, fair Cate, 'tis thee I cherish." In the original manuscript, I'd capitalized the C in "cherish," and hinted at its meaning later when Lapin says, "Why does life jumble so?" Why? Because if you mix "Cate" and "Cherish," you get "Cheshire Cat." Ah well!

Anyway, thanks for checking out my page, and stay tuned for future books!

- Shawn