Our Strange and Wonderful House (novel)
Our Strange and Wonderful House was an experimental collaborative prose work created on Ficly by a large number of writers, starting from a premise and format established by Zxvasdf. Although not conceived of as a novel at its inception, but was termed one by the foreword of the 2022 ebook edition of it, edited by Aristide Twain. Although she was not the main character, Jenny Everywhere, in several incarnations, recurred several times through the book.
Instead of any singular narrative, Our Strange and Wonderful House was made up of a series of vignettes describing, or centering on, various areas of the titular sentient, impossibly vast, shifting House. Many, though by no means all, of its Chapters and Appendices were written in the second person, putting the reader in the shoes of an otherwise-unseen visitor exploring the house. We have elected not to give character pages to these figures, so as to avoid having to make judgment calls about the degree to which the "Yous" of various individual parts should be considered the same continuous character.
Contents
Plot
Welcome!
An individual welcomes a group of writers who have gathered to participate in a “challenge”. They explain that what they are actually to do is to participate in the creation of a Strange and Wonderful House, whose blueprints, infinite in proportions, are currently blank.
Chapter 1: The Courtyard
After stepping through a portal of some sort, an individual finds themself in the Courtyard of the House, facing the gates of the estate proper, which appear to be made of a glowing golden metal, but are actually made of transparent tubing containing a multitude of luminous insects milling about, fulfilling unknown tasks. The gates open of their own accord and the visitor steps through as the portal sings behind them.
Chapter 2: The Anteroom
The visitor reaches the Anteroom, lit by a chandelier on which small groups of fairies dance. A pillar of cold light, burning fairy dust, occupies the centre of the circular room, a portal that will transport whoever steps into it to the room of their choice. The visitor steps into the light.
Chapter 3: The Pleasure Pad of Federico Ruiz
The Pleasure Pad of Federico Ruiz, the decadent domed leisure area overseen by Federico Ruiz is described.
Chapter 4: The Catamaran Loos of Oceania
The Catamaran Loos of Oceania, the House's bathroom, which contain an entire ocean, with the actual plumbing in the centre of a boat sailing the quiet nightly sea, are described.
Chapter 5: The Library
The lady Elshanor returns to Hawk Manor after a lengthy absence. Walking through the incredibly dusty corridors, she makes her way to Hawk Manor's Library, where she finds a strange, shimmering portal which appears to lead to another library, that of a mysterious infinite house.
Appendix 5-I: The Other Side
In Hawk Manor's library, Alastair is skulking in a dark corner, bemoaning Elshanor's absence. He suddenly sees the portal shimmer; though he gets his knife up, he quickly sees that the woman stepping through is in fact Elshanor. However, almost as quickly, he realises it is not quite the Elshanor he knew. The two stare at each other in shock.
Appendix 5-II: The Bathroom (of the Library)
Elshanor steps into the Library of the Strange and Wonderful House, immediately noticing that the floorboards are as creaky as the doors of Hawk Manor's library. She walks through the Library to find a metallic door curiously ill-fitting for the decor of the room, which turns out to be the gleaming library bathroom, impossibly spotless, in stark contrast to the dust of the library. She notices a paperback copy of Les Misérables and debates taking it back to its proper place, but her musings are interrupted by another creaking sound in the room behind her.
Chapter 6: The Theater Room
The Theater Room is described. It is a haunting place where the unwary visitor may lose their freedom and sanity as they find themselves drawn into the dance of the inhuman “players” wearing human faces, with them soon performing for the players' amusement instead of the players for the visitor's — and in more permanent terms, the players are “always looking for fresh blood”.
Chapter 7: The Coat Room
The coat room allows visitors to entrust their outdoor garments to dwarves (or possibly giants), allowing them to move about the House unhindered and retrieve their gear upon departure. To venture into the storage areas alone is… unwise.
Chapter 8: The Closet in the Sitting Room
The narration promises that inside the closet is a portal to Narnia – and indeed that one could get to Narnia from any closet in the House. Perhaps it is true.
That in the writings of C.S. Lewis the entry to Narnia was a unique item, and a free standing wardrobe rather than a closet, is not addressed.
Chapter 9: Hallway – PI3
Served by a lift – not an elevator, just a vertical shaft with a very forceful updraft – this organically curved hallway provides access to the Observatory.
Chapter 10: The Observatory
Overseen by an AI, this high tech space allows residents of the House to observe “space and time.” Perhaps that means looking at objects in other locations and eras; perhaps it means observing spacetime itself.
What they do with the lasers is never explained.
( Chapter synopsis still in progress )
Worldbuilding
Jenny Everywhere
Not being limited to a single sequential human lifetime, various incarnations of Jenny Everywhere both passed through the House and settled down to live within it.
Readers should take in the entire work – but some may want to specifically look up where instances of Jenny Everywhere appear.
Chapter 18: The Jenny Everywhere Museum
Jenny Everywhere is named before she appears in person. The eighteenth chapter briefly describes a Jenny Everywhere Museum, where various incarnations of Jenny have stored mementos or dangerous artifacts.
Chapter 46: The Maids
Readers are given background information about the staff of the house, in the form of an interview with Jenny Everywhere.
Chapter 15: The Doorbell?
Jenny is mentioned but does not appear.
Chapter 52: The Guardian of the Ink Wells
No name is given for this person but she’s described as “a small teenaged girl ... dressed in a robe and aviator goggles.” Sound like someone we know?
Chapter 55: Teleporting Beach
The Guardian of the Ink Wells and a friend have a teleportation misadventure.
Chapter 60: The Fall of the Strange and Wonderful House
At the end, Jenny Everywhere ensures that not everything of the House is lost...
Epilogue: Overgrown
...and years later Jenny finds out what Lara Dar-Ek did with her souvenir of the House.
Laura Drake
Laura Drake never appears directly in any of the entries.
In the Jenny Everywhere Museum there is a lock of red hair which could be hers, but we never find out why it was saved or which Jenny brought it in.
In the Epilogue Jenny arrives at the wrong time and told that Lora Dar-Ek passed away long ago, of old age – but also that she used her life well.
Universes
- Most of the story takes place in the Strange and Wonderful House, which is “larger than most universes” and seems to connect to a number of alternative realities, though its exterior is physically located in a universe.
- Elshanor and Alastair are from another universe.
Other
- Will-o'-wisps are found in the Courtyard.
- The Pleasure Pad of Federico Ruiz is compared to “a pearl on the red rock of Mars”.
- The wealthy and decadent residents of the Pleasure Pad relax on “large cushions embroidered from the silk of mutated spiders”.
- According to the author's comments of Chapter 3, the Pleasure Pad is not actually “the seedy underbelly of the House” because that name is better applied to “the illegal underground greenhouse”.
- Among the books kept in Hawk Manor's library are various Ficlets works and the Ficlinomicon, which needs to be kept in a case wrapped with chains.
- Walking back into her dusty, long-abandoned home makes Elshanor feel “like Pip in Great Expectations”.
Continuity
- PROSE: Overgrown served as an epilogue to the story (and is incorporated as such into the 2022 edition). It did not take place in or near the Strange and Wonderful House, but revealed the fate of the House seed introduced in The Fall of the Strange and Wonderful House as the last remnant of the House after its destruction.
Behind the scenes
Read online
The original prose pieces making up Our Strange and Wonderful House can be found on Ficly, although a number of Appendices and a handful of Chapters are not listed as part of the Challenge and must be sought out individually. The 2022 annotated, collected ebook edition of Our Strange and Wonderful House can be read online for free on Issuu or downloaded for free as a PDF or an ePub.
