And now for something completely different...

I just looked at what's in this blog, and there's been almost nothing but comics for the past two weeks! Let's do something about that!

I updated several pages on my site today, including the main bookshop page and aisle 3 with the newest from Tails of the Cowardly Lion and Friends, A Million Miles from Here Is Oz. This book has been in the works for about a dozen years, so it's nice to see that it's hit print at last.

I accidentally deleted my wish list from Amazon.com. Long story -- and long list! Probably just as well, but now I have to go through my shop and find out which Oz books I don't have and put them back on the list. Still, this time I'll try to keep it to just being an Oz wish list -- with one or two exceptions...

I also updated my site's events page. I found a few more places Gregory Maguire will be appearing on his book tour for Son of a Witch, the sequel to Wicked. And speaking of Wicked, I'm getting more and more excited about seeing the touring production when it gets to Seattle, even though it won't be for a year still. I'll be keeping an eye out for when tickets go on sale, and try to snag a pair online the moment they do. It worked a few years ago when I got tickets to "Weird Al" Yankovic: third row, right in the center! They were great seats, and we even got to meet Bill Gates' double from the "It's All About the Pentiums" video.

My latest Oz reading was The Giant King of Oz by Chris Dulabone, who may now be the all-time most proficient Oz writer. But was anyone ever really crying out for a sequel to "The Littlest Giant," which was an L. Frank Baum short story that was considered to be an Oz story only because someone wrote "An Oz Story" as a subtitle to it once? No Oz characters actually appear in it, and it really could take place just about anywhere. Heck, if it weren't for a near-cameo from Professor Wogglebug, this book might have had the same connection to the rest of the Oz books. Oh, well. I'm reading a Doctor Who novel right now, but my next Oz reading could be interesting: Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture by William R. Leach. Since L. Frank Baum had a surprisingly large impact on today's consumer culture, I'm interested in seeing how it all fits together in this book, since I gather Baum is a big player.

Confirmed on the Oz Club Message Board: Eric Shanower's graphic novels from the '80s are being reprinted in an omnibus volume next year. Excellent news! Oh, but that's comics, isn't it? Which means I'd better wrap this up now, I guess.