Sunday, November 18, 2018

This Week's Oz Short Story

I only have a handful of stories to go in The Lost Tales of Oz. Unfortunately, some of them are quite long, including the collection's second novella. Since my time is limited, I'm going to skip around a bit and read the shorter ones when I don't have so much time, and te longer ones when I do. Ii's even possible that I may start in with Oziana again before I'm done with this book. So, this weekend the story was "Quiet Victory" by Marcus Mébès. It's another little slice-of-life story about Allegro da Capo, better know to readers of The Road to Oz as the Musicker and now living in the Quadling Country. He's learned to control his breathing in a way that he doesn't make as much music now, and he has befriended a kindred spirit in Victor Columbia Edison, the phonograph accidentally brought to life in The Patchwork Girl of Oz. This story hints at Edison having a lot of adventures after we last saw him, including an extended stay with the Red Jinn. When he meets the Musicker, he's in sad shape. But da Capo repairs him, replaces one of his legs, and puts a new record on that proves to be much more palatable than what he had before. There are hints at future adventures for the pair as the Musicker hopes to replace his lungs and larynx with ones that make him sound normal, and he also hope to integrate Edison back into society again. It's a fun little tale, but I'll be honest, I think I would have preferred something about some of the hinted back stories for both characters.

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