Tuesday, December 27, 2022

The Latest Oz Reading

Yup, another roundup of Ozzy things I've read this year.

  • Queen Ann in Oz by Karyl Carlson and Eric GJovaag. Yeah, I read my own book. Well it has been a long time now, and I don't think I've ever read it just for the sake of reading it. Every time I've read it, it's with an eye towards publication. But it still stands up well, even if the story structure is a little too linear, some of the characterizations needed a little more fleshing out, and some of the revelations are telegraphed a little too much. I'm still proud of it, though, and I think we did a good job. I also got to enjoy Karyl's follow-up novella, Jodie in Oz, once again. The final chapter of Queen Ann, which brings Jodie Button's quest to an end, was excised from the original publication, so rather than restore it for this new edition, Karyl expanded it into a whole new story, which brough Ozma, Trot, and Cap'n Bill into things. Predating everything else in this book, though, is my own solo contribution, "Another Adventure with Ann", a skit I wrote for the 1988 Winkie Convention. It was all very silly, but we did allude to a few events from it in Queen Ann, so it made a nice bonus, and brought back some fond memories. (But has it really been about thirty-five years now???)
  • The second Dorothy Must Die novella, "The Witch Must Burn" by Danielle Paige. This one is told from the point of view of Jellia Jamb, and tells the tale of how Dorothy wormed her way into a leadership role in the Emerald City, and not in a nice way. Jellia also ends up working for Glinda the Good for a while, and that ends up being a harrowing experience as well. In the end, Jellia sees no choice but to join the resistance movement and act as a spy in the palace.
  • Book 2 of the Royal Explorers of Oz series, The Crescent Moon Over Tarara by Marcus Mébès, Jared Davis, and Jeff Rester. The ship picks up a few more passengers, most notably Princess Truella of Mo and her Ork escort, as it heads towards Tarara. Tandy is looking forward to seeing his homeland again, but he is surprised to find that he has been away so long that Tarara has moved on with new leadership, and he's been all but forgotten. Nevertheless, the crew is welcomed and sets off to explore the continent. They encounter the flying lizards and creeping birds first mentioned in Captain Salt in Oz, and discover some unpleasant secrets as well, before hitting the seas again, where they meet up with some characters from Ruth Plumly Thompson's non-Oz books before finally preparing for their next adventure, which may take them back to Oz.
  • I've also been reading some shorter stuff. The February 12, 2022 issue of Closer magazine has a big "Secrets from the Set!" article about the making of the 1939 film version of The Wizard of Oz, which I suspect was reprinted from an earlier issue.
  • I also read the two latest issues of Dunkiton Press, compiled by Ruth Berman. She finds public domain pieces of Ozzy interest in old newspapers and packages them in annual theme issues. The 2021 collection is the second "Yuletide" set, while the just-released 2022 volume is a collection of some of Ruth Plumly Thompson's Perhappsy Chaps stories that haven't been reprinted anywhere else yet. (I can't help but think that there could be a market for a print-on-demand edition of The Complete Perhappsy Chaps.)
  • Finally (for now) comes The Art of Oz by Gabriel Gale and John Fricke, a spectacular album of Gale's artistic interpretations of Oz characters. He delves into the anatomy of such characters as the Winged Monkeys, the Hammerheads, the Hoppers, and the Scoodlers in spectacular detail. Gale also creates some contemporaries of Tik-Tok who are powered by means other than clockwork. With Fricke's knowledgeable text putting the art into context, it's a terrific overview of Baum's Oz raised to a new level for the twenty-first century.
I have a few more books to get through this week, so stay tuned for more!

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