win a prize pack from the future hit movie ‘The Looking Glass War’ (now closed)

In the vein of Harry Potter and Eragon comes The Looking Glass Wars, by Frank Beddor, an intriguing new fantasy novel that tells the “real” story about Alice and the realm of Wonderland... a story that Lewis Carroll got totally wrong. As with the Harry Potter books, it’s pretty dark, as kids’ books go, with surprising levels of violence and plenty of death -- though there’s nothing terrible explicit in the depiction of any of it, it doesn’t pretend that the world (ours or that of Wonderland) is a particularly pleasant place to live. With lots of action and clever twists on the Wonderland characters we’ve known forever, this is an entertaining read, and is sure to make a terrific movie.

The book has also spawned a graphic novel, Hatter M., about the gentleman-warrior who is Princess Alyss Heart’s bodyguard -- you can learn more about that, and about the world of The Looking Glass Wars, at the book’s official site. (There’s also a MySpace dedicated to Alyss.)

The celebrate the book’s release this week, I’ve got two copies -- as well as two copies of the CD soundtrack, a collection of songs based on the book -- to give away, courtesy of Penguin Publishing. Here’s what Penguin says about the book:

A little girl named Alice tumbled down a rabbit hole and proceeded to have a charming adventure in the delightful, made-up world of Wonderland...Now discover the truth behind Alyss of Wonderland . . .

Alyss Heart, heir to the Wonderland throne, was forced to flee through the Pool of Tears after a bloody palace coup staged by the murderous Redd. Lost and alone in Victorian London, Alyss is befriended by an aspiring author to whom she tells the violent, heartbreaking story of her young life only to see it published as the nonsensical Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Alyss had trusted Lewis Carroll to tell the truth so that someone, somewhere would find her and bring her home. But Carroll had gotten it all wrong. He even misspelled her name! If not for royal bodyguard Hatter Madigan's nonstop search to locate the lost princess, Alyss may have become just another society woman sipping tea in a too-tight corset instead of returning to Wonderland to fight Redd for her rightful place as the Queen of Hearts.

Meet the heroic, passionate, monstrous, vengeful denizens of this parallel world as they battle each other with AD-52's and orb generators, navigate the Crystal Continuum, bet on jabberwock fights and travel across the Chessboard Desert.

The Looking Glass Wars unabashedly challenges our Wonderland assumptions of mad tea parties, sleepy dormice, and a curious little blonde girl to reveal an epic battle in the endless war for Imagination.

If you don’t want to wait to win, buy the book at Amazon.

WINNERS: Buddy and Dancer

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