Yesteryear Fiction

Hunt for the Bandersnitch
By Michael Burnside


Today I hunted for the bandersnitch in a darkened field of ripened taffy. A cousin to the fearsome jabberwock and a misguided uncle of the bandersnatch, the bandersnitch has teeth made of spite and wings crafted from regret.

Listen to me carefully young man and listen to me well. Purge from your thoughts that this place is a but a dream or that all you see here is naught but delirium for though I am alone now, there were others with me once. They came to me as you did and like you their minds refused to accept what their eyes did see. They are all gone now, a mere repast for the hungry mouths of this place.

Your mind will rebel at the thought that this place is real when you traverse through a field of licorice and gaze out over a lake of cream. Perhaps you will think that you have died and your soul has gone to either heaven or hell. Believe what you wish but believe from me this, you can die in this place even if you think yourself already dead.

Think back to the moments before your arrival. A giant gaping hole in the sea you saw. It swallowed up your ship, your crew, and you. And now you are here standing on a beach of legumes having run from a jubjub bird that did eat your men.

You are stranded now in a very strange world but I ask you is it any stranger than the place from whence you came? No doubt you could tell me tales of water so cold that it has become solid, of massive creatures with curling trunks, of cats with fangs as long as your hand, and of mammals longer than any ship that swim in the sea. It's all nonsense I say, from your grass covered hills to your lakes of melted rock, none of it makes the least bit of sense.

Toss all you know aside and embed within you a new purpose in this place. The only way to survive here is to stop acting like prey. Give into your killer instincts and brandish your sword. Make all that dwell here fear your name. Do what you wish and decide what you may, but I say you would do well to join me tomorrow when I again go hunting for the bandersnitch.


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Michael Burnside is a graduate of Ohio University with a Master’s degree in International Relations. His inquisitive nature has led him to study and work in a wide variety of fields. His interests include gaming, science, computer technology, history, politics, and, of course, writing. Michael’s interest in history and gaming led him to develop the d20 game, Baptism of Fire: World War Two Role Play. He is now branching out into the world of writing fiction. One of his works in the steampunk genre has recently been accepted by Nevermet Press.