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Author Jenn Thorson joins the lads for a discussion of the classic children’s story, Alice in Wonderland.

Jenn has written humor, humorous science fiction, and her latest work is set in the wonderland world. She writes about Mary Ann Carpenter, the White Rabbit’s former housemaid, who has to solve various mysteries.

Jenn explains her lifelong love of the Alice in Wonderland books, which began when she saw Peter Sellers and Michael Crawford in the 1966 BBC TV version of the show. That movie led her to the books.

Jenn recaps what happens in the first book — Alice gets bored and sleepy and she dreams about chasing a white rabbit down a rabbit hole and finds herself transported to a garden that’s owned by the Queen of Hearts. Trials and tribulations ensue before Alice finally awakes from her dream.

Jenn makes the case that it’s really worth going back to the original text. “People might be surprised how different Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass are,” she says.

The books have had a huge impact on Jenn and her work. The word-play and whimsy in the books are still worth experiencing, she says, comparing Carroll’s poems to the parody of Weird Al Yankovic.

Joe, Mark and Jenn discuss the history of the books, including the original John Tennial illustrations [one seen to the left] and the impact it’s had on our culture, and go on to have a fascinating conversation about the nature of writing with a “dream-like” quality.