Follow The Yellow Brick Road

Hello all, sorry for the screwy posting schedule this week, but I have been having issues scheduling stuff...but I think I have it under control.  Some times I wish I could just click me heels together and say "the blog post is done, the blog post is done", which brings me to today's rambling (did you like what I did there?).  I was feeling nostalgic and wanted to read something that did not require a lot of effort and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank. Baum fit the bill perfectly. As always SPOILERS AHEAD!

Dorthy is transported from her home in gray Kansas to the wildly colored land of Oz.  Dorthy, her little dog Toto, and her house all land on the Wicked Witch of the East who had been enslaving the blue loving Munchkins and in the process obtaining her magic silver shoes.  They are all happy, but Dorthy just wants to return home, a kindly old woman who turns out to be the Good Witch of the North tells her that the only person powerful enough to do that is the Wizard of Oz who lives in the Emerald City.  Off Dorthy and Toto go, following that famous yellow brick road.  They meet up with the Scarecrow who wants brains, a tragic Tin Man who wants a heart, and a Cowardly Lion who wants Courage.  The three stumble upon many adventures, and through their natural kindness make several friends who help them along their way.  They finally arrive in Oz which is all green, so very green, thanks to the green spectacles that are locked on to every person who enters the gates.  One by one the group finally meets the great wizard, each seeing

someone or something different, and each being tasked with killing the Wicked Witch of the West. Though none of the group want to actually kill anybody they go off to see what they can do about this pesky witch.  The witch seeing them coming uses her magic to conjure up numerous things to try and stop the group to no avail.  She finally uses her golden cap to summon the flying monkeys one last time (as you only can use it three times) to scatter the Scarecrow, lose the Tin Man and bring the Lion and Dorthy to her.  The witch keeps the Lion in a cage and Dorthy as a servant, but is secretly afraid of her as she has the silver shoes.  She tries to trick Dorthy into giving them to her, but Dorthy douses her in water, inadvertently melting her. Dorthy frees the Lion, and uses the golden cap to get the flying monkeys to help her find and reassemble her friends.  They head back to Oz, whom they discover is a fraud.  He finds a way to help them anyways and builds a balloon to take him and Dorthy back to Kansas.  Unfortunately the balloon flies away before Dorthy an get on board, leaving her trapped.  It is suggested that she go and visit the Good Witch of the South, Glinda, who can help her.  Off the four friends go and after a few more adventures the arrive at the Good Witches castle.  Glinda tells her that she had the power to send herself home all along, just by clicking her heels together and wanting to go home, she does this promptly, getting home, but losing the shoes in the process.  The Scarecrow becomes the king of the Emerald City, the Tin Man goes to rule the Winkies liked they asked him to, and the now courageous Lion becomes the King of the Beasts.  They all get what they wanted and live happily ever until the next book.

I have always loved this book for it's perfect simplicity and child like imagery.  This is not to say this is a simple book in a bad way, it is just nice to read a book that is fairly straight forward.  What strikes me the most about this book is how it feels like a story a little kid would make up...in a good way.  Hmmm I'm trying to think how to best explain what I love about this book.  Think of when you were little and you were making up games and the weirdly logical creatures and countries you would come up with and to me that is what reading this book feels like, playing a great game like I used to when I was little.  I know most people associate the story of Dorthy with the famous and wonderful movie, which I also love, but it loses so much of the little stories of all the side characters.  This is the other thing I love about this book, every single character mentioned in the book has a story and that gives an unexpected depth to the whole thing.  I like how the

different countries are all represented by a different color.  The Munchkins by blue, the Winkies by yellow, the Gillikans by purple, Quadling country by red and of course the Emerald city by Green.  There are also interesting little places like China Country and the field of deadly sleepy poppies.  Most of the places and people mentioned are used in the later books, eventually making a whole history and geography of this amazing and mythical land. This book has been reffered to as an American Fairytale, which is pretty cool, considering most of the older classic fairytales are European based.  If there are any downsides to this book it would be that the good guys are good, and the bad guys are bad.  It was first published in 1900 and is a bit of a morality tale for children, with the good and virtuous always winning over the bad and corrupt, not entirely surprising in a book written in this era, but still pretty black and white.  I love reading this book and the others (though I have yet to finish the whole series, but that will soon be remedied) because it reminds me of the pure imagination one can have. Also the wonderful illustrations by William Wallace Denslow add the perfect touch.  I give this book an 8 out of 10 silver slippers and recommend it to anybody who is need of a good imagination boost.
What book sums up childhood for you?  What is your favorite Oz character/race?  Where your childhood games as full of mixed up wonderful weirdness as mine were?

There Is No Place Like Home

Yay, after much swearing, pounding of the keyboard, and a ton of coffee, I have finally gotten my technology to behave again!  In celebration of this, let's take a look at a short story collection I have recently finished.  The book is Oz Reimagined: New Tales from the Emerald City and Beyond, by  John Joseph Adams (Editor), Douglas Cohen (Editor).  I picked it up because I love all things Wizard of Oz, and it had some great authors contributing to it.  Here are some of my favorite stories.

The Great Zeppelin Heist of Oz by Rae Carson and C.C. Finlay - The first story in the collection was a witty little bit of fun.  It puts the witches in the role of smart ladies and the wizard in a more bumbling, conniving role, loved it.

The Lost Girls of Oz by Theodora Goss - This story is all about girl power in its best form, making Oz a haven for abused girls and giving them a way to fight back.  Nell, the reporter and main character in this story is a perfect voice to let us all know what is going on.

The Boy Detective of Oz: An Otherland Story by Tad Williams - This was a strange and cool little story that placed Oz in a virtual world, making it a sort of program.  This scifi take was cool in itself, and makes me want to go pick up the Otherland novels, which is always cool.

Off to See the Emperor by Orson Scott Card - This was a twisty little story about a little boy and a girl and how the story of Oz came to be.  The idea of a snarky 9 year old girl was written to perfection, adding just the right note to this story.

The Cobbler of Oz by Jonathan Maberry - This is probably my favorite story in this collection.  It is a sweet story about a little monkey girl with stunted wings who gets a great reward after a great risk.  It also gives a potential origin for the coveted Silver Slippers.

Over all the collection was a bit meh, but a lot of the stories were really dark and I was not in the mood for dark, so that may have had something to do with it.  In the beginning they say that you do not have to have read the original books to enjoy this collection, but I must say, it definitely helps if you have.  It did make me want to read the originals again and since they are free or cheap on the e-reader you may be seeing some original ramblings pop up. Be warned that this collection is not for children, more for the over 15 crowd.  As much as I liked a few of these stories the over all feeling was a 6 out of 10 silver slippers, but your mileage may vary, depending on your style preferences.
What do you think of short stories based on classics?  Does it feel like professional fanfic?  What type of story would you write about Oz?