The Lost Oz's Journal (original) (raw)

The Gender Ninja of Oz	[08 May 2010\|01:30pm]
Title: The Gender Ninja of OzRating: PG-13 (light sexual content)Characters/pairings: Ozma/Dorothy, Tin Man, Scarecrow, Toto, Jack PumpkinheadContents: Major spoilers through The Emerald City of Oz (book 6); minor ones through Tik-Tok of Oz (Book 9).Disclaimer: I didn't create these characters...not that it matters. Public domain FTW!Prompt: lgbtfest, prompt 3782: Wizard of Oz series, Ozma, Ozma's gender identity is complicated - zie wasn't fully satisfied as a boy when zie was Tip, but isn't fully satisfied as a girl when zie is Ozma. On top of that zie is in love with Dorothy. Is there any resolution to this?Notes: Ozma/Tip's pronouns will be going all over the place; sometimes they match hir physical body at the time, sometimes not. Most of this sticks to Baum's canon, though I have pulled one detail from Ruth Plumly Thompson: rather than staying at the same age forever, characters can choose on their birthdays whether to grow that year. Title nabbed from Genderfork. I do plan on giving this illustrations; they'll show up with my other Oz fanart eventually."I might try it for awhile,—just to see how it seems, you know. But if I don't like being a girl you must promise to change me into a boy again.""Really," said the Sorceress, "that is beyond my magic. I never deal in transformations, for they are not honest, and no respectable sorceress likes to make things appear to be what they are not."—The Marvelous Land of Oz( 'You never talk about your life before they let you be Princess again,' says Dorothy crossly. 'I s'pose being a farm girl isn't very exciting next to being ruler of all of Oz...but I'd like to hear about it some time, all the same.' )
1 comment\|post comment

[08 May 2010|01:30pm]

Title: The Gender Ninja of OzRating: PG-13 (light sexual content)Characters/pairings: Ozma/Dorothy, Tin Man, Scarecrow, Toto, Jack PumpkinheadContents: Major spoilers through The Emerald City of Oz (book 6); minor ones through Tik-Tok of Oz (Book 9).Disclaimer: I didn't create these characters...not that it matters. Public domain FTW!Prompt:

lgbtfest, prompt 3782: Wizard of Oz series, Ozma, Ozma's gender identity is complicated - zie wasn't fully satisfied as a boy when zie was Tip, but isn't fully satisfied as a girl when zie is Ozma. On top of that zie is in love with Dorothy. Is there any resolution to this?Notes: Ozma/Tip's pronouns will be going all over the place; sometimes they match hir physical body at the time, sometimes not. Most of this sticks to Baum's canon, though I have pulled one detail from Ruth Plumly Thompson: rather than staying at the same age forever, characters can choose on their birthdays whether to grow that year. Title nabbed from Genderfork. I do plan on giving this illustrations; they'll show up with my other Oz fanart eventually."I might try it for awhile,—just to see how it seems, you know. But if I don't like being a girl you must promise to change me into a boy again.""Really," said the Sorceress, "that is beyond my magic. I never deal in transformations, for they are not honest, and no respectable sorceress likes to make things appear to be what they are not."—The Marvelous Land of Oz( 'You never talk about your life before they let you be Princess again,' says Dorothy crossly. 'I s'pose being a farm girl isn't very exciting next to being ruler of all of Oz...but I'd like to hear about it some time, all the same.' )

1 comment|post comment

	[13 Jan 2010\|07:00am]
PopWrap Exclusive: Lea Michele & Kristin Chenoweth reunite on the big screenIn news sure to make every musically minded man, woman and child gleek out with delight, PopWrap has learned that "Glee" stars Kristin Chenoweth and Lea Michele will be reuniting on the big screen!In 2011's "Dorothy of Oz" Lea will bring the title character to life while Kristin will lend her unmistakable voice to the role of China Doll Princess. For this animated adventure, the producers have looked to the "More Adventures of Oz" novels that L. Frank Baum's great-grandson, Roger S. Baum wrote.This story focuses on what happened to Oz after Dorothy left and the action kicks off as she returns to Kansas, which has been decimated by the twister that transported her to the technicolor world. But before she can even think about helping her family rebuild, she's sent rocketing back to the equally destroyed, no longer merry old land of Oz.With the Scarecrow (voiced by Dan Aykroyd), the Tin Man (voiced by Kelsey Grammer) and the Cowardly Lion (voiced by James Belushi) all MIA, Dorothy makes some new magical friends -- including a man made entirely of Mashmallows and Kristin's China Doll Princess, described as a woman who uses bossiness to cover her fragility. They team up to bring down Oz's newest villain, a Jester (voiced by Martin Short) who thinks all of Oz should be under his control.-sourceThis whole thing seems fake but I thought I'd share.
2 comments\|post comment

[13 Jan 2010|07:00am]

PopWrap Exclusive: Lea Michele & Kristin Chenoweth reunite on the big screenIn news sure to make every musically minded man, woman and child gleek out with delight, PopWrap has learned that "Glee" stars Kristin Chenoweth and Lea Michele will be reuniting on the big screen!In 2011's "Dorothy of Oz" Lea will bring the title character to life while Kristin will lend her unmistakable voice to the role of China Doll Princess. For this animated adventure, the producers have looked to the "More Adventures of Oz" novels that L. Frank Baum's great-grandson, Roger S. Baum wrote.This story focuses on what happened to Oz after Dorothy left and the action kicks off as she returns to Kansas, which has been decimated by the twister that transported her to the technicolor world. But before she can even think about helping her family rebuild, she's sent rocketing back to the equally destroyed, no longer merry old land of Oz.With the Scarecrow (voiced by Dan Aykroyd), the Tin Man (voiced by Kelsey Grammer) and the Cowardly Lion (voiced by James Belushi) all MIA, Dorothy makes some new magical friends -- including a man made entirely of Mashmallows and Kristin's China Doll Princess, described as a woman who uses bossiness to cover her fragility. They team up to bring down Oz's newest villain, a Jester (voiced by Martin Short) who thinks all of Oz should be under his control.-sourceThis whole thing seems fake but I thought I'd share.

2 comments|post comment

Neill vs. Herring, Part 2	[09 Dec 2009\|10:49pm]
[ mood \| sick ] Since my last cover-comparing post seems to have gone over pretty well, I might as well continue with another one. This time, we look at the rest of the Baum books. With these, Herring still often copied poses and such from Neill illustrations, but had more freedom to do what he wanted with backgrounds and such. With some exceptions, Neill often made his covers portraits, while Herring liked to bring in more action. Let's see how well they stacked up.( Read more...Collapse )Next time, the first of the Thompsons.
6 comments\|post comment

Neill vs. Herring, Part 2

[09 Dec 2009|10:49pm]

[ mood** | sick ] Since my last cover-comparing post seems to have gone over pretty well, I might as well continue with another one. This time, we look at the rest of the Baum books. With these, Herring still often copied poses and such from Neill illustrations, but had more freedom to do what he wanted with backgrounds and such. With some exceptions, Neill often made his covers portraits, while Herring liked to bring in more action. Let's see how well they stacked up.( Read more...Collapse )**Next time, the first of the Thompsons.

6 comments|post comment

When I'm in the mood for Neill, you're in the mood for Herring	[16 Nov 2009\|11:11pm]
[ mood** \| tired ] So, here's an idea I'd been considering for a while now, but I've only just gotten around to actually doing it. As might be the case for some of you, when I was first reading through the Oz series, the Del Rey editions were the standard ones at bookstores and such. These had the Michael Herring cover illustrations, and sometimes I didn't even see the original Neill ones until considerably later. So I'm going to do some comparison between the Neill and Herring covers for various books. This is Part 1, with Land (Wizard, after all, was never illustrated by Neill) through Tik-Tok.( It begins under the cut.Collapse )**Next time, the rest of Baum, and probably the first few Thompsons.
15 comments\|post comment

When I'm in the mood for Neill, you're in the mood for Herring

[16 Nov 2009|11:11pm]

[ mood** | tired ] So, here's an idea I'd been considering for a while now, but I've only just gotten around to actually doing it. As might be the case for some of you, when I was first reading through the Oz series, the Del Rey editions were the standard ones at bookstores and such. These had the Michael Herring cover illustrations, and sometimes I didn't even see the original Neill ones until considerably later. So I'm going to do some comparison between the Neill and Herring covers for various books. This is Part 1, with Land (Wizard, after all, was never illustrated by Neill) through Tik-Tok.( It begins under the cut.Collapse )**Next time, the rest of Baum, and probably the first few Thompsons.

15 comments|post comment

The YouTube videos of Oz	[20 Sep 2009\|12:28am]
The entry about a new Oz movie reminded me of this video I found on YouTube.It's bigger when played at the YouTube site itself.I always find fake trailers like this really neat, more so than real trailers, oddly enough. I think it's because real ones have the taint of reality, and even as you're watching, there's part of you that realizes the script will likely be bad and even if it isn't, it'll still be just a good movie. While for an imaginary movie, there are no limits.Hmm. Okay, I just watched it again right now, and it's not as good as I remember it being (though it's still a heck of a lot better than I could ever do). Ah, well.If you know of any cool Oz-related YouTube videos, please share them. One of the frustrating things about YouTube is that there's so much neat stuff there but a lot of it is really hard to stumble onto unless someone else has already told you about it.
5 comments\|post comment

The YouTube videos of Oz

[20 Sep 2009|12:28am]

The entry about a new Oz movie reminded me of this video I found on YouTube.It's bigger when played at the YouTube site itself.I always find fake trailers like this really neat, more so than real trailers, oddly enough. I think it's because real ones have the taint of reality, and even as you're watching, there's part of you that realizes the script will likely be bad and even if it isn't, it'll still be *just* a good movie. While for an imaginary movie, there are no limits.Hmm. Okay, I just watched it again right now, and it's not as good as I remember it being (though it's still a heck of a lot better than I could ever do). Ah, well.If you know of any cool Oz-related YouTube videos, please share them. One of the frustrating things about YouTube is that there's so much neat stuff there but a lot of it is really hard to stumble onto unless someone else has already told you about it.

5 comments|post comment

Possible Ozma sighting	[30 Jul 2009\|08:12pm]
I believe I've mentioned the comic book series FABLES, about various fairy tale characters living together in modern day New York, once or twice here before. The series also uses characters from public domain children's books, although the Oz presence, with the exception of a winged monkey in the supporting cast, is minimal.Well, during Comic-Con International this year, there was a FABLES panel, and they gave out a one-page story to the people who attended. I think the little girl in this story is supposed to be Ozma. Maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part, but I really think it looks like her. Is this the Ruler of Oz?This character, the girl witch, has actually had minor speaking roles scattered throughout the series, but since her name's never been mentioned, the readers don't know who she is. It wasn't until I saw the belt buckle in the image above that it clicked for me, if indeed I am right.
6 comments\|post comment

Possible Ozma sighting

[30 Jul 2009|08:12pm]

I believe I've mentioned the comic book series FABLES, about various fairy tale characters living together in modern day New York, once or twice here before. The series also uses characters from public domain children's books, although the Oz presence, with the exception of a winged monkey in the supporting cast, is minimal.Well, during Comic-Con International this year, there was a FABLES panel, and they gave out a one-page story to the people who attended. I think the little girl in this story is supposed to be Ozma. Maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part, but I really think it looks like her. Is this the Ruler of Oz?

This character, the girl witch, has actually had minor speaking roles scattered throughout the series, but since her name's never been mentioned, the readers don't know who she is. It wasn't until I saw the belt buckle in the image above that it clicked for me, if indeed I am right.

6 comments|post comment

But why pick us to revolute?	[03 May 2009\|01:09pm]
I came across this on the back of a T-shirt in Atlantic City. Look familiar?When I eventually got a glimpse of the front of his shirt, I noticed that it said, "Stop bitching, start a revolution." Not a particularly Ozzy sentiment, unless the shirts were made by Jinjur. Anyway, I found out through the power of the Internet that these shirts are made by a group called Zendik, who refer to themselves as an "arts commune," but a lot of other people call a "cult." No Oz connection as far as I know, although the leader of the commune is named Arol, which is also the setting of the Baum short story "The King Who Changed His Mind." Weird, huh?Anyway, here are a few links to some recent Oz posts I've made to my own journal:On the Guardian of the Gates and the Soldier with the Green Whiskers On Ozian military forces in generalAnd here's a story that I wrote not too long ago. Please let me know if you have any comments on it. This is a story set in Ev in the era before the Oz books, during the reign of the grandfather of the King Evardo who is rescued in Ozma. I have to admit that I have never read or seen Gone with the wind, but it seemed an appropriate choice to play on for my title, as it takes place during a civil war of sorts.( Gone with the Hurry-Cane Collapse )
2 comments\|post comment

But why pick us to revolute?

[03 May 2009|01:09pm]

I came across this on the back of a T-shirt in Atlantic City. Look familiar?

When I eventually got a glimpse of the front of his shirt, I noticed that it said, "Stop bitching, start a revolution." Not a particularly Ozzy sentiment, unless the shirts were made by Jinjur. Anyway, I found out through the power of the Internet that these shirts are made by a group called Zendik, who refer to themselves as an "arts commune," but a lot of other people call a "cult." No Oz connection as far as I know, although the leader of the commune is named Arol, which is also the setting of the Baum short story "The King Who Changed His Mind." Weird, huh?Anyway, here are a few links to some recent Oz posts I've made to my own journal:On the Guardian of the Gates and the Soldier with the Green Whiskers On Ozian military forces in generalAnd here's a story that I wrote not too long ago. Please let me know if you have any comments on it. This is a story set in Ev in the era before the Oz books, during the reign of the grandfather of the King Evardo who is rescued in Ozma. I have to admit that I have never read or seen Gone with the wind, but it seemed an appropriate choice to play on for my title, as it takes place during a civil war of sorts.( Gone with the Hurry-Cane Collapse )

2 comments|post comment

My thoughts on The Enchanted Island of Yew	[17 Apr 2009\|04:18pm]
Continuing my trek through Baum's non-Oz fantasy works (which is going more slowly than I originally thought), I just finished THE ENCHANTED ISLAND OF YEW.Unlike Baum's other fantasy lands, he never established that Yew exists in the same continuity as Oz. The book features ryls and knooks, which do exist in the Oz continuity, by way of THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF SANTA CLAUS (and possibly other works), but that doesn't necessarily mean something. John Munch appeared in an episode of X-FILES, but that doesn't mean we should expect aliens to appear any day now in LAW AND ORDER: SVU. I have to wonder as to why Baum excluded Yew this way. It could simply be that he never found an opportune moment to bring it up in the Oz books, but I wonder if he wasn't dissatisfied with it in some way. Is it possible he didn't want it to be set in the same world as Oz?I liked the book well enough, though it's a bit uneven. It fizzles out towards the end, during the encounter with the Red Rogue, but most of the preceding material was delightful. The story seems to exist at some midpoint between the Oz books and more traditional, European fairy tales. There are dragons, knights, swordfights, that sort of thing, but it also defies and plays around with conventions in interesting ways here and there. However, maybe it was because of the more traditional setting or maybe it was something else, but the final product feels somewhat lacking, in some indistinct way, in comparison the the Land of Oz. The world of Yew is just lacking a certain "oomph" or spark that Oz has.The main character, Prince Marvel, can be seen as a precursor to Ozma of sorts, with his/her gender-switching transformations. (And as an aside, I also see echoes in Ozma and the preternaturally perfect High Ki.) I thought he was a very interesting character, with the way he treated mortal life as such a novelty. He enjoys it so much, that he's almost constantly cheery and laughing, which actually becomes unnerving and disturbing in certain scenes. It's one thing to laugh at the excitement of danger, but when you see him doing it while cheerily discussing executing a bunch of thieves he's just caught, it turns into something creepy. It brings to mind some deranged Joker-like serial killer. "Hahaha, I think I'm going to hang you. Oh, my side!" This isn't a criticism; it added to the amusement value.Incidentally, I noticed that while Marvel promises his esquire Nerle that he'll tell him the truth about himself (that he's really a fairy) at the end of their time together, that plot point gets dropped and he never does. That disappointed me. That and a few other small things here and there give the book a bit of a "first draft" feel.If I'm to identify one flaw in the book as a whole, it's that the various incidents the characters run into are a bit too similar. There's one too many encounters with iron-fisted tyrants who wish our heroes harm. Also, like I mention earlier, the Red Rogue episodes fizzles out. Baum gives him a nice backstory, but in his actual dealings he's just "generic bad guy."Wow, I'm voicing a lot of criticisms, but I really did like the book.Has Yew or any of its characters appeared in post-Baum Oz books?
8 comments\|post comment

My thoughts on The Enchanted Island of Yew

[17 Apr 2009|04:18pm]

Continuing my trek through Baum's non-Oz fantasy works (which is going more slowly than I originally thought), I just finished THE ENCHANTED ISLAND OF YEW.Unlike Baum's other fantasy lands, he never established that Yew exists in the same continuity as Oz. The book features ryls and knooks, which do exist in the Oz continuity, by way of THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF SANTA CLAUS (and possibly other works), but that doesn't necessarily mean something. John Munch appeared in an episode of X-FILES, but that doesn't mean we should expect aliens to appear any day now in LAW AND ORDER: SVU. I have to wonder as to why Baum excluded Yew this way. It could simply be that he never found an opportune moment to bring it up in the Oz books, but I wonder if he wasn't dissatisfied with it in some way. Is it possible he didn't want it to be set in the same world as Oz?I liked the book well enough, though it's a bit uneven. It fizzles out towards the end, during the encounter with the Red Rogue, but most of the preceding material was delightful. The story seems to exist at some midpoint between the Oz books and more traditional, European fairy tales. There are dragons, knights, swordfights, that sort of thing, but it also defies and plays around with conventions in interesting ways here and there. However, maybe it was because of the more traditional setting or maybe it was something else, but the final product feels somewhat lacking, in some indistinct way, in comparison the the Land of Oz. The world of Yew is just lacking a certain "oomph" or spark that Oz has.The main character, Prince Marvel, can be seen as a precursor to Ozma of sorts, with his/her gender-switching transformations. (And as an aside, I also see echoes in Ozma and the preternaturally perfect High Ki.) I thought he was a very interesting character, with the way he treated mortal life as such a novelty. He enjoys it so much, that he's almost constantly cheery and laughing, which actually becomes unnerving and disturbing in certain scenes. It's one thing to laugh at the excitement of danger, but when you see him doing it while cheerily discussing executing a bunch of thieves he's just caught, it turns into something creepy. It brings to mind some deranged Joker-like serial killer. "Hahaha, I think I'm going to hang you. Oh, my side!" This isn't a criticism; it added to the amusement value.Incidentally, I noticed that while Marvel promises his esquire Nerle that he'll tell him the truth about himself (that he's really a fairy) at the end of their time together, that plot point gets dropped and he never does. That disappointed me. That and a few other small things here and there give the book a bit of a "first draft" feel.If I'm to identify one flaw in the book as a whole, it's that the various incidents the characters run into are a bit too similar. There's one too many encounters with iron-fisted tyrants who wish our heroes harm. Also, like I mention earlier, the Red Rogue episodes fizzles out. Baum gives him a nice backstory, but in his actual dealings he's just "generic bad guy."Wow, I'm voicing a lot of criticisms, but I really did like the book.Has Yew or any of its characters appeared in post-Baum Oz books?

8 comments|post comment

Oz turned him to a life of crime	[29 Mar 2009\|03:52pm]
Astro City is a long running comic book series. More relevantly, Issue 17 is all about the life story of a man who is inspired to become a supervillain by his love for the Oz books. I thought that might be of interest to some of you, so here are a few of the more Oz-pertinent scenes from the issue, along with some of my thoughts on it.( Read more...Collapse )
23 comments\|post comment

Bizarre Oz video on YouTube	[24 Mar 2009\|07:05pm]
What in god's name...? This is apparently a trailer someone made for their Oz book. It starts out normal enough, but then you reach the 2:40 mark, and all of a sudden, it gets really weird and your brain can't quite process. I'm hardly one who has a right to criticize others for their tastes, so I won't. If this sort of thing floats your boat, more power to you. But still, this is just bogglingly bizarre. The world really is made up of people of all types, I guess.
10 comments\|post comment

Bizarre Oz video on YouTube

[24 Mar 2009|07:05pm]

What in god's name...? This is apparently a trailer someone made for their Oz book. It starts out normal enough, but then you reach the 2:40 mark, and all of a sudden, it gets really weird and your brain can't quite process. I'm hardly one who has a right to criticize others for their tastes, so I won't. If this sort of thing floats your boat, more power to you. But still, this is just bogglingly bizarre. The world really is made up of people of all types, I guess.

10 comments|post comment

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus	[24 Mar 2009\|12:47am]
Continuing my journey through Baum's non-fantasy works, I read THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF SANTA CLAUS a while back. It was a mixed bag for me. I really liked the first third of the book, dealing with Claus's growing up period. The very first chapter, in fact, is probably one of the most beautifully written passages (and it is just a passage, covering less than two pages) I've ever seen Baum write. It has this elegant, dream-like quality to it that's just captivating. "Have you heard of the great Forest of Burzee? Nurse used to sing of it when I was a child..." "...Civilization has never yet reached Burzee. Will it ever, I wonder?" Seriously, it sends chills down my spine. The rest of the first third's very good, too. It's Baum's take on the whole orphan-raised-by-non-humans idea that shows up here and there in fiction. Examples off the top of my head include Mowgli from THE JUNGLE BOOK, Romulus and Remus from Roman myth, and Aquaman. I'm sure there's some fancy name for this trope, given how frequently it shows up, but I don't know what it is. Anyway, Baum's take is Santa Claus being an abandoned infant raised by fairy creatures, and its certainly an original, not to mention imaginative, spin on the character. Here we have a person whose claim to fame is delivering toys to children, but Baum manages to make that seem grand and the stuff of legend. This whole segment of the book has a different feel from all of Baum's other fantasy work that I've read, including OZ. There's this neat epic, mythic quality to it. And there's a rather pessimistic outlook towards existence on display too, depicting suffering and misery as the unescapable fate of every single human who ever lives. That was kind of unusual to see, too.The book goes downhill in the second third, which covers his adulthood, unfortunately. We get a bunch of origin stories for various things Santa's associated with, like the reindeer and stockings above the chimney, but most of them aren't particularly interesting or imaginative. For example, the origin of the reindeer is that ... he decided to put reins on some deer. Stuff like that.But things pick back up somewhat in the final third, as the story returns to the atmosphere of the first.All in all, like I said, it's a mixed bag. When the book's good, though, it's really good -- top-notch stuff.On a more directly Oz-related note, I'm sure I wasn't the only person who took notice of the Gnome King (with a G) who appears briefly in this story. If we assume the Gnomes and the Nomes are the same race (and c'mon, isn't that the more fun option), two interesting factoids pop up: One, the (G)nomes have children, and, two, they used to be good. Have there been post-Famous Forty books that explored this discrepancy, maybe come up with a story behind it? I'm especially curious if anyone's tried to create a explanation for the dropped letter. I suppose Point 1 isn't really a discrepancy, though. There's nothing to say the Nomes didn't have children, right?
9 comments\|post comment

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus

[24 Mar 2009|12:47am]

Continuing my journey through Baum's non-fantasy works, I read THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF SANTA CLAUS a while back. It was a mixed bag for me. I really liked the first third of the book, dealing with Claus's growing up period. The very first chapter, in fact, is probably one of the most beautifully written passages (and it is just a passage, covering less than two pages) I've ever seen Baum write. It has this elegant, dream-like quality to it that's just captivating. "Have you heard of the great Forest of Burzee? Nurse used to sing of it when I was a child..." "...Civilization has never yet reached Burzee. Will it ever, I wonder?" Seriously, it sends chills down my spine. The rest of the first third's very good, too. It's Baum's take on the whole orphan-raised-by-non-humans idea that shows up here and there in fiction. Examples off the top of my head include Mowgli from THE JUNGLE BOOK, Romulus and Remus from Roman myth, and Aquaman. I'm sure there's some fancy name for this trope, given how frequently it shows up, but I don't know what it is. Anyway, Baum's take is Santa Claus being an abandoned infant raised by fairy creatures, and its certainly an original, not to mention imaginative, spin on the character. Here we have a person whose claim to fame is delivering toys to children, but Baum manages to make that seem grand and the stuff of legend. This whole segment of the book has a different feel from all of Baum's other fantasy work that I've read, including OZ. There's this neat epic, mythic quality to it. And there's a rather pessimistic outlook towards existence on display too, depicting suffering and misery as the unescapable fate of every single human who ever lives. That was kind of unusual to see, too.The book goes downhill in the second third, which covers his adulthood, unfortunately. We get a bunch of origin stories for various things Santa's associated with, like the reindeer and stockings above the chimney, but most of them aren't particularly interesting or imaginative. For example, the origin of the reindeer is that ... he decided to put reins on some deer. Stuff like that.But things pick back up somewhat in the final third, as the story returns to the atmosphere of the first.All in all, like I said, it's a mixed bag. When the book's good, though, it's really good -- top-notch stuff.On a more directly Oz-related note, I'm sure I wasn't the only person who took notice of the Gnome King (with a G) who appears briefly in this story. If we assume the Gnomes and the Nomes are the same race (and c'mon, isn't that the more fun option), two interesting factoids pop up: One, the (G)nomes have children, and, two, they used to be good. Have there been post-Famous Forty books that explored this discrepancy, maybe come up with a story behind it? I'm especially curious if anyone's tried to create a explanation for the dropped letter. I suppose Point 1 isn't really a discrepancy, though. There's nothing to say the Nomes didn't have children, right?

9 comments|post comment

winged monkeys	[14 Mar 2009\|03:53pm]
Obscure query brought on by a friend's question:Is there any apocryphal Oz material -- novels, stories, what have you -- wherein we're introduced to one or more Winged Monkeys by name?I have a vague recollection of running across Winged Monkey back story somewhere (not just the tale of Gayelette and Quelala, but something more monkey-centric), but I can't for the life of me recall where. (Sherwood Smith's The Emerald Wand of Oz is a possibility, but I have mislaid or loaned out the copy I had.) I think there may also be a reference or two in Maguire's Wicked, but for the moment I'm looking for more canon-friendly resources.
9 comments\|post comment

winged monkeys

[14 Mar 2009|03:53pm]

Obscure query brought on by a friend's question:Is there any apocryphal Oz material -- novels, stories, what have you -- wherein we're introduced to one or more Winged Monkeys by name?I have a vague recollection of running across Winged Monkey back story somewhere (not just the tale of Gayelette and Quelala, but something more monkey-centric), but I can't for the life of me recall where. (Sherwood Smith's The Emerald Wand of Oz is a possibility, but I have mislaid or loaned out the copy I had.) I think there may also be a reference or two in Maguire's Wicked, but for the moment I'm looking for more canon-friendly resources.

9 comments|post comment

Sky Island	[12 Mar 2009\|03:07pm]
Continuing my efforts to read through Baum's various non-Oz fantasy works...I got my copy through interlibrary loan. It's the Books of Wonder edition; lots of pretty pictures. Though an unusually high percentage seem to have little or anything to do with anything that actually happens in the book. Did anyone else notice that? In the illustrations, there's a sky policeman, Trot and Button-Bright being lifted by the giant hands of a cloud or water creature, and a bunch of other similarly random things. Were there color illustrations in the original version?I definitely liked this book more than THE SEA FAIRIES. Everything that bothered me about that book are fixed in this one. The fantasy element's louder and more prevalent, and conflict's established right from the beginning and never tapers off, thanks to the early encounter with the Boolooroo. It's every bit as good as the Oz books, in my opinion, and has a very similar flavor. After reading it, part of me is actually sad that Baum went back to Oz instead of writing further Trot and Cap'n Bill adventures, something I would never have imagined possible for me to feel beforehand.I was surprised at how Baum seemed to definitively close the book on further adventures with the Magic Umbrella in the last chapter. Button-Bright's letter makes it clear that he thinks he'll never get his hands on it again, and that he'll never see Trot or Cap'n Bill. The umbrella would've been the perfect vehicle for future adventures in weird places, so I expected Baum to keep it more open-ended. Did he already know he wouldn't be writing any more Trot and Cap'n Bill books by the time he wrote that?Also, I thought it was odd how both of the characters borrowed from Oz, Button-Bright and Polychrome, act quite differently than they do in ROAD. Button-Bright's almost a completely different person, retaining pretty much nothing from his previous appearance. I doubt anyone would even recognize him as the same guy if not for the name. Polychrome's a less drastic departure, but she seems wiser and more worldly, whereas the one in ROAD is very much a wide-eyed innocent. I wonder if Baum hadn't originally intended those two roles to be original characters... possibly changing them to Oz characters for marketing reasons? And interesting how Button-Bright apparently has Arabic blood in his background. Would that make him the closest thing to a hero of color the Oz books ever come?Have any stories by later authors played with how Trot is technically still absolute ruler of Sky Island? It seems like a set-up rife with potential.
14 comments\|post comment

Sky Island

[12 Mar 2009|03:07pm]

Continuing my efforts to read through Baum's various non-Oz fantasy works...I got my copy through interlibrary loan. It's the Books of Wonder edition; lots of pretty pictures. Though an unusually high percentage seem to have little or anything to do with anything that actually happens in the book. Did anyone else notice that? In the illustrations, there's a sky policeman, Trot and Button-Bright being lifted by the giant hands of a cloud or water creature, and a bunch of other similarly random things. Were there color illustrations in the original version?I definitely liked this book more than THE SEA FAIRIES. Everything that bothered me about that book are fixed in this one. The fantasy element's louder and more prevalent, and conflict's established right from the beginning and never tapers off, thanks to the early encounter with the Boolooroo. It's every bit as good as the Oz books, in my opinion, and has a very similar flavor. After reading it, part of me is actually sad that Baum went back to Oz instead of writing further Trot and Cap'n Bill adventures, something I would never have imagined possible for me to feel beforehand.I was surprised at how Baum seemed to definitively close the book on further adventures with the Magic Umbrella in the last chapter. Button-Bright's letter makes it clear that he thinks he'll never get his hands on it again, and that he'll never see Trot or Cap'n Bill. The umbrella would've been the perfect vehicle for future adventures in weird places, so I expected Baum to keep it more open-ended. Did he already know he wouldn't be writing any more Trot and Cap'n Bill books by the time he wrote that?Also, I thought it was odd how both of the characters borrowed from Oz, Button-Bright and Polychrome, act quite differently than they do in ROAD. Button-Bright's almost a completely different person, retaining pretty much nothing from his previous appearance. I doubt anyone would even recognize him as the same guy if not for the name. Polychrome's a less drastic departure, but she seems wiser and more worldly, whereas the one in ROAD is very much a wide-eyed innocent. I wonder if Baum hadn't originally intended those two roles to be original characters... possibly changing them to Oz characters for marketing reasons? And interesting how Button-Bright apparently has Arabic blood in his background. Would that make him the closest thing to a hero of color the Oz books ever come?Have any stories by later authors played with how Trot is technically still absolute ruler of Sky Island? It seems like a set-up rife with potential.

14 comments|post comment

navigation
[ viewing \| most recent entries ] [ go	earlier ]