This Week's Oz Novella Extract

The third and final extract from The Other Searches for the Lost Princess by Nathan DeHoff (the first of two novellas in The Lost Tales of Oz) is "The Cookywitch Coven", and follows the adventures of Ojo, Unc Nunkie, and Dr. Pipt in the Munchkin Country. Enlisting the help of Jinjur, they learn about a coven of cookywitches who, while not technically magic workers, can do some amazing things with food. There isn't quite so much story here as in some others, it's more of a character study, as we see a lot of politicking and arguing among the magic workers, including Dr. Pipt. But there are some fascinating ideas and plot threads in here, some of which would later (from this story's viewpoint) show up in The Lost King of Oz, The Giant Horse of Oz, and Ojo in Oz. A couple of living cakes and the origin of the China Country also enter into the narrative. This may be the weakest story of the three segments, but it also holds together very well.

I'm going to be busy enough the next couple of weekends that I may not get to blog the next couple of stories, but I'll do my best, of course.