This Week's Short Story

The second story of the 1987 issue of Oziana is going to wait a week, for both timing and seasonal reasons. So let's look at the third tale, one of the shortest stories Oziana has ever published, "The Two Peters", written and illustrated by Eric Shanower. Unfortunately, I can't say very much about it without giving too much away. Besides, this is one where you definitely need the illustration to get the whole picture. On the surface, it's a simple little slice of life look at a grandfather reading Pirates in Oz to his grandson, Peter. Peter (the grandson) really likes the story, because the hero has the same name as him. Peter's grandfather confides to Peter that he knows other people named Peter before tucking his grandson into bed. And that's about all I can say! I do remember first reading this on the research table at a Winkie Convention (1986 or 1987, most likely), and enjoying it even then. I'm really glad it was published in Oziana.

Since it was so short, I may as well also use this chance to look at the non-story contents of this issue:

• An attractive cover by Melody Grandy, highlighting a proposed Quadling flag.
• An Oz quiz, over the Baum books, by Fred Meyer. Retaking it this past week, I got them all right, but I had to confirm one of my answers by looking at the key.
• And a contest to design a flag for the other countries of Oz. (I'll talk about the winning entry when it comes up in my reading.)