Audiobook:  ALICE in Cinderland

ALICE in Cinderland – when weather changed the world is black comedy about our surreal denials of climate change, from fires to power outages, from surveillance to mind control. Alice in Wonderland meets The Matrix, and zombies who won’t wake up. Four sample chapters narrated by Alan Reinhardt:

Chapters 31, 34, and 35 with music by Martin and Peter Wesley-Smith excerpted [with permission] from their rock opera BOOJUM!, performed by the Sydney Philharmonia Motet Choir. 

Chapter 31.

Chapter 34.

Chapter 35.

Chapter 37. Theme Song: I’m the Messiah!  
Lyrics by Zann Gill, composed by Joe DeCicco (Operator Error). Citations from John Lennon and Yoko Ono “Imagine.” Donnie McClurkin “Don’t Give Up” performed with The Howard Gospel Choir.  [draft]

Audiobook Sound Design by Joe DeCicco (Operator Error). 

BOOK TALK AND PODCAST DISCUSSION TOPICS  

What are the

• parallels between ALICE in Wonderland and ALICE in Cinderland, between a surreal story for children and the surreality that we’re all living in today?
• ways to follow one’s rabbit – to live a creative life;
• challenges to free speech and freedom of the press that we face today?
• risks of the bandwagon effect and crowd control tactics turning us all into conformists.

Questions:

1. What do you see as the urgent message of ALICE for today?
2. What was your biggest surprise in writing the book ALICE?
3. ALICE is black satire. How was writing this story uplifting for you?
4. How do you, and your invited chapter authors, believe that ALICE can empower change-makers in the domains of climate change, equity, and free speech?

Black satire is a powerful lens: I first wrote ALICE as a screenplay: Alice has set her table for a luxury dinner party. Before her guests arrive, lightning ignites wildfires in ghost forests, causing a power shutoff to millions of homes. We plummet down a rabbit hole to Cinderland where we’re bombarded with media assaults, from deep fakes to lobbyists. The Horsemen of the Apocalypse zoom in on motorcycles. From the 1% to the 99%, we’re in this together.

Questions:

1. How does ALICE enable us to look at the present through another lens? 
2. How do you see story-telling as a powerful lens to shed light on problems that would be polarizing if debated from facts?
3. How is story-telling like designing a puzzle to highlight problems that we do not want to face today? 
4. How would you, and your invited chapter authors, ideally like for these podcasts, book talks and discussions to spark next steps that have impact?

More on Zann Gill.  For reviewer copies of the book, see press release and contact Alex Young-Davis.