conventional though often eerie ghost story, while
The Model(1987) is an adaptation of a Russian
fairy tale with mildly supernatural overtones that
might almost be dismissed as delusions. Among the
best of his short stories are “Ringing the Changes”
(1971), “Bind Your Hair” (1971), “PAGES FROM A
YOUNG GIRL’S JOURNAL” (1973), “The Wine Dark
Sea” (1976), and “The Fetch” (1987). “Pages from
a Young Girl’s Journal” won the World Fantasy
Award in 1975.
Aickman’s reputation was always greater in
England than in the United States, almost cer-
tainly because the ghost story form is held in much
greater esteem in Europe than in America. The
fact that Aickman did attract a considerable fol-
lowing in America while most writers of similar fic-
tion in Great Britain remain unknown outside that
country is a testimony to the power of his prose
and his ability to project his readers into the minds
of his characters.
Alexander, Lloyd (1924– )
Lloyd Alexander made his debut as a writer of chil-
dren’s fantasy with Time Cat(1961), the slight but
amusing adventure of a cat who can move back
and forth through time. It was with The Book of
Three(1964), however, that he established himself
as a major new talent. The novel was the first of
the Prydain sequence of five novels, to which he
also added three minor peripheral titles loosely
based on Welsh legends. The protagonist is Taran,
a young assistant pig-keeper whose destiny is to
change the future of his people. Despite the fact
that the series is clearly aimed at younger readers,
Alexander sometimes uses very dark imagery to
add a distinctive color to his stories. Although he
simplifies the characters from the original legend
to make them more clearly good and evil, he de-
scribes Taran’s self-doubts and indecision in ways
that make him come alive for even more sophisti-
cated readers, and in some of the subsidiary char-
acters, temptation and virtue contend even more
openly. An evil sorcerer raises an army of zombies
in THE BLACK CAULDRON (1965), and a young
princess is kidnapped in The Castle of Llyr(1966),
requiring a complex rescue operation. Taran learns
the secret of his own destiny in Taran Wanderer
(1967) and triumphs over the villainous magician
in the conclusion, The High King(1968). As a unit,
the five-volume series is one of the enduring clas-
sics of children’s fantasy, one that still commands
an audience among adult readers. The books were
the basis for the animated Disney film The Black
Cauldron(1985).
Unfortunately, Alexander’s later novels, while
uniformly competent and sometimes quite amus-
ing, never achieved the level of the Prydain series.
Most of these are set in alternate versions of one
historical period of another. The most interesting
sequence consists of The Illyrian Adventure(1986),
The El Dorado Adventure(1987), The Drackenberg
Adventure (1988), The Jedera Adventure(1989),
and The Philadelphia Adventure(1990). The young
Vesper Holly saves the day when her alternate ver-
sion of our Victorian era is menaced by magical
armies and other dangers. The Remarkable Journey
of Prince Jen (1991) is a low-key Arabian
Nights–style story. In The Iron Ring(1997) a king
loses all of his possessions except for a magical ring.
Two early novels are also of interest. A young
boy finds himself in a magical world where he is
declared king in The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha
(1978), only to discover that he is the object of a
complex set of conspiracies. In The Marvelous Mis-
adventures of Sebastian(1970), a youngster uses
magic to solve a variety of problems before learn-
ing to deal with matters in more ordinary ways.
Alexander’s lesser books are invariably entertain-
ing, and the Vesper Holly series is actually quite
good, but his name will always be associated pri-
marily with the Prydain series.Alice in WonderlandLewis Carroll(1865)
Lewis Carroll was the pseudonym Charles Dodgson
used as the author of what is possibly the best-
known children’s novel of all time. An earlier ver-
sion was later discovered and subsequently
published in 1886 as Alice’s Adventures Under-
ground,and the more familiar version has appeared
with several variations of the title, including The
Annotated Aliceand Alice’s Adventures in Wonder-
land.It is one of the best-selling children’s fantasies
of all time, with editions from at least a score of
different publishers. There have also been a numberAlice in Wonderland 3