Frank Beddor has been in the news this week. First there was that awful, awful premise for Ridley Scott’s movie version of Monopoly that Beddor wrote and explained to the LA Times. Now he’s taken to television to promote his latest book, and while there mentioned that Chuck Roven, one of the producers on The Dark Knight, is working on an adaptation of Beddor’s novel series The Looking Glass Wars. I haven’t read the books, perhaps they’re wonderful, but the revamped approach to Alice in Wonderland sounds just as terrible as the Monopoly pitch.

When asked about a film version of The Looking Glass Wars, what Beddor specifically said today on Good Morning America, as related by ComingSoon, was:

I am working with the producer of ‘The Dark Knight’ Chuck Roven, so we’re putting it together, and it’s pretty exciting to think about it as a movie. It’s a really visual world so we’ll see.

What is this visual world? Here’s the Booklist rundown, via Amazon:

Alyss Heart, heir to the Wonderland throne, is forced to flee when her vicious aunt Redd murders her parents, the King and Queen of Hearts. She escapes through the Pool of Tears to Victorian London, but she finds she has no way home. Adopted by the Liddells, who christen her Alice Liddell and disapprove of her wild stories about Wonderland, Alyss begs Charles Dodgson to tell her real story. Even though he writes Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, she knows no one believes her. Years go by, with Alice repressing her memories. Then royal bodyguard Hatter Madigan, determined to start a war for Wonderland’s throne, crashes her wedding. Beddor offers some intriguing reimaginings of Dodgson’s concepts (such as looking-glass travel) and characters (the cat is an assassin with nine lives), but his transformation of Wonderland’s lunacy into a workable world sometimes leads to stilted exposition on history, geography, and government.

First there was the video game American McGee’s Alice (and the potential movie adaptation of same) and now this? Luckily Carroll’s material is strong enough to stand on its own. So, if this is actually a wonderful development, tell us why in the comments below. Something more than ‘the books are awesome!’ would be helpful.