The Trailer
Inside Random Magic: Reader Notes - Trivia
* The name of the artist, Rasa Oddvilla, is an anagram for Salvador Dalí.
* The Floating City can be considered to be allegorical.
* Only 2000 copies of the first edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland were printed, then discarded as waste paper.
* “Two fathoms” refers to Mark Twain.
* Anagrammatic homage to Douglas Adams in -- Ch. 42, of course.
* Ergot-tainted rye can cause hallucinations. Historians suggest that ergot-tainted rye was the spur for the Salem Witch Trials in 1692.
* Guédé is a voodoo entity; he guards the gates of the cemetery, and is privy to all the secrets of the dead. He's also known as Baron Samedi. Although he is a much-feared entity, he has a wicked sense of humor. He is fond of children, and will sometimes intervene to spare the life of a dying child.
* The invention of the word game of "doublets" is attributed to Lewis Carroll.
* Hypatia of Alexandria was a mathematician and the victim of a political assassination -- she was torn to pieces by a mob in 415A.D.
* Professor Literati's eyes are the color of absinthe, a drink which was popular with artists, writers and poets in the 19th century. Absinthe is also referred to by the moniker "The Green Fairy."
* Gone is the feline retort to the paradox of Schrödinger's Cat. He's rumored to be related to the Cheshire Cat, but we can find no definitive proof.
* The nickname "Wiggy" refers both to Beethoven and to Ludwig II of Bavaria, a/k/a the Swan King, the Dream King, and, natch, the Mad King of Bavaria.
* Mort = la mort (death, Fr.)
* Nyx is the goddess of night.
* Charon is the ferryman of the dead. The ancient Greeks buried loved ones with a silver coin under their tongues for Charon, to ensure safe passage.
* Moirtha the cook (one of the Wyrd sisters, related to the Norns) is one of the Moirai.
* Nevermore is named for the well-known poem, "The Raven," by Edgar Allen Poe.
* The book Winnie and Henry read in the library is Der Struwwelpeter, a ghastly/funny children's book of cautionary tales published in 1845. Mark Twain translated the book into English in 1891.
* The woman in the Garden of the Nine Muses is actually a tarot card representing hidden knowledge.
Is it just me or does the picture on that cover look like Nicole Kidman?
ReplyDeleteI know...right?! I'm actually trying to find out if that's really her or not. If it's not supposed to be, it certainly is uncanny!
ReplyDeleteHey, love the Xmas background. Is Random Magic an advanced reader? I can't find it in the library search, and it looks so good, the trailer is very cool. Let me know what you think when you are done. Also, the cover really does look like Nicole Kidman! Look at the cover on my blog for currently reading, the girl on the cover of that book looks like Kate Winslet! Weird! love you!
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