The (Second) Coming of the Queen

Way back in 1993, a little book called Queen Ann in Oz came out. The writers were my long-time Oz friend and second mom, Karyl Carlson, and Karyl's Ozzy bonus fifth son, me. It did well, it had its fans, but it went out of print a few years ago. Karyl and I got the rights back, and then we were approached by a new outfit, The Royal Publisher of Oz about putting out a new edition. Karyl and I jumped at the chance, and we've been working hard the last few months to not only whip it into shape, but also provide some extra material. Karyl had already been at work on a sequel novella, which is in the new edition, and we also uncovered the script for a little skit, "Another Adventure with Ann", which we performed at the 1988 Winkie Convention. Our editor and publisher, Joe Bongiorno, even got the original illustrators, WIlliam Campbell and Irwin Terry, to create new illustrations. Well, guess what? The new, expanded second edition of Queen Ann in Oz is now available for you to buy at Lulu.com. You can buy it in a standard paperback edition or a deluxe hardcover edition with color plates.

But if you're going to be at the Winkie Convention — which starts only three weeks from today! — I would advise you not to get it yet. Karyl and I will be selling copies at the convention, and of course we'll autograph them. But the best part is that William and Irwin will also be there, and they can autograph books, too. This will actually be the first time Karyl and I have met them, at least in person, and we're doing a four-headed presentation during the convention. So get a fresh copy at the convention, then have four people deface it. (Of course, if you do decide to buy a copy ahead of time, or have the earlier edition, and bring it to the convention, we'll sign that, too.)

This past weekend

We had a bunch of local Ozzies over this past weekend for one of our semi-irregular Oogaboo Rendezvous. It was pretty much a big slumber party, with lots of game playing and a visit to the local sites. Our one big Ozzy concession was a showing of the 1961 Shirley Temple version of The Land of Oz. It turned our house all higglety-pigglety for a while, but we seem to have weathered events well enough. Now, our next big Oz event is the Winkie Convention, in about three and a half weeks!

Oz Halloween Party

It's Halloween! So today, I'm off to an Oz party. No, not like this one:

That was one a bunch of friends put together in 2005. No, today I'm at an Oogaboo Rendezvous, one of our local Pacific Northwest events, which just happens to fall on Halloween this year. It should be fun, even if I'm not going in a costume (too little time to make one, too far to transport it). I'll tell you more later, if you ask nicely.

Oogaboo! Oogaboo!

For nearly thirty years now, I've been a part of a group of local Oz fans called the Oogaboos. We're named after the little country in the northwest part of Oz, since we're in the northwest part of the United States. We're a very laid back, casual group. About all we do is get together at someone's house every few months for dinner and conversation. About the only major Oz event we have any more is a quiz. Most of us come from the Seattle/Puget Sound area, but we have regulars from eastern Washington and Oregon, and we've even had visitors from California, Oklahoma, Utah, and New York. We've also become a bit of a group presence at the Winkie Convention.

Well, now we've gone high tech. We now have our own website, at oogaboo.org, although it doesn't have much up yet. We also have an announcements list going, so that we can quickly send out notices of upcoming meetings. So if you live in the Northwest and want to know when our meetings are — and the next one is coming up on April 14, I might add — please feel free to join our list. Go to oogaboo.org/announcelist.html and sign up. It's that easy, and we promise not to pepper your inbox with spam or sell your name to someone from Nigeria.

Oogaboo Rendezvous

Today was the New Y'Oz Oogaboo Rendezvous. As the party happened, I recorded the events of the day for the brand, spankin' new Oogaboo Review Website.

The Oogaboos hope that the website will be a source for inspiration for other groups who want to hold Oz Events, as well as a way to remember all the good times the Oogs have had together. Please feel free to share the link and check out how we run our parties.