Looks as if I could be writing a magazine article or two about Alice and Carroll this autumn and so I've been checking out Tim Burton's Alice movie and also the Burton retrospective in New York .

The show is looking back over the whole of Burton's career to date, and so "Alice" will only be a part of it. In fact, Ron Magliozzi, who is curating it, tells me that Alice doesn't feature heavily because a lot of the material comes from early on in Burton's career.

Still, it should be interesting, and the movie should be a must too for anyone who loves the "dark" take on "Alice." That doesn't include me but I still can't wait, because I've been taking a look at some images from the movie, courtesy of WIRED, and it looks as if it will be amazingly beautiful and visually fantastic.

I'm always intrigued at the way that some people can see a reassuring fantasy for little children, and others can see a gothic horror story in the "Alice" books. I think it's because Carroll wrote both the "Alice" books to cheer himself up and calm himself down when he was in a state of despair and fear.

Therefore, they give out both messages.

I go into this more in my book, of course.