This Week's Oz Short Story

I am still working my way through the 2021 issue of Oziana. Due to OzCon International being this past weekend, however, I didn't have a lot of time to read, so I thought I'd skip the longer third story (don't worry, I'll tell you about that one next week) and go on to the fourth, which is "Heartless" by Templeton Moss, with illustrations by Darrell Colt Sprandlyn. It's a brief retelling of the Tin Woodman's origin (the version from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, not the later, slightly revised version from The Tin Woodman of Oz), but adding some background details. For instance, the old woman Nimmie Amee works for is a minor witch herself, which is why she can get an audience with the Wicked Witch of the East and persuade her to help kill Nick and Nimmie's love. We are also privy to a lot more of Nick's internal thoughts and feelings (while he has them). It's a good extrapolation from what we already know, yet doesn't embellish so much as to make the story unrecognizable. True, it adds very little to the mythos of Oz. either, but it is a very short little tale.