Saturday, January 28, 2017

This Week's Oz Short Story

I have wrapped up my reading of the 1974 issue of Oziana with "The Mysterious Palace of Voe" by Jay Delkin, a story inspired by an illustration of Voe on page 114 of Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz. There's a palace in the background of the picture, but it's never mentioned in the text. So Delkin created this little tale of someone waking up in the Valley of Voe with no memory of who he is or why he's there. A voice warns him about the valley's invisible bears, and he escapes into the palace, where another voice tells him that he Wizard of Oz can give him all the answers he is looking for. So he wanders through the palace, trying to find his way out, but it's not as easy as it looks. This was a fun little read, and I enjoyed the journey of self-discovery our protagonist went through. Of course there's a nice little twist once he does meet the Wizard, and all ends satisfactorily.

And with that, I am done reading Oziana from reprints. The 1975 issue was the earliest original issue I was ever able to buy (as a back issue when I joined the International Wizard of Oz Club in 1977), so I am really looking forward to reading those old issues again.

1 comment:

Nathan said...

There was a hint at the end that Glinda and the Wizard might visit the castle again, but as far as I know no one's ever written about that. I've been wondering if it should be combined with his helping to rebuild the Gargoyles' city after setting it on fire.