This Week's Oz Novella Extract

The second part of The Other Searches for the Lost Princess by Nathan DeHoff, the first of two novellas in The Lost Tales of Oz, is "The Enchanted Pigs of Oz", and it takes place in the Gillikin Country with the Shaggy Man, his brother Daniel, Jack Pumpkinhead, and Tik-Tok. Through the course of their search for Ozma, the party finds its way to Mombi's abandaned and overgrown house, and speculate as to what could have happened to all of her livestock. Eventually, they start running across her old pigs and, thanks to the magic-infused scraps Mombi fed to them, they've all become enchanted in pig-pun ways. Sue, for instance, is a pig pen, and can write with her tail. Roger is a road hog who can tell you where any road he is lying in can go. The search party decides to help their new pig friends find the rest of the enchanted pigs, and go to enlist the aid of the Good Witch of the North (they haven't forgotten about Ozma going missing, and hope to enlist her help for that as well.) The rest of the pigs are, naturally, eventually found, and the one who became a war hog is disenchanted. The pigs move in with the Good Witch of the North, and not long afterwards, the search party discovers that Ozma has been found and they can head home.

This was another fun little romp, and DeHoff really shows off his Ozzy knowledge with all his touches to Oz history and numerous puns. He even throws in the Jamb family who, like their cousin Jellia in the Emerald City, have punning names based on fruit preserves. And all the pigs are engaging personalities who cope with their enchanted afflictions with aplomb.