#beyond the wizard

[pedanther]

Currently amusing myself with the idea of a crossover where Sherlock Holmes investigates a sudden spike in the number of workplace accidents in the Munchkinland lumber industry.

It's a case involving a young woman whose guardian goes to elaborate lengths to prevent her marrying and gaining her independence, and we've seen how much he loves those.

[quailfence]

[Image description: a lineart drawing of General Jinjur and Tip from The Land of Oz that has been colored in by OP. They are marching together. Jinjur is looking at Tip, who is holding a picnic basket and eating a sandwich. Jinjur is wearing a blue-green hat with a green button, a blue-green shirt with green collar and blue, red, and purple buttons, and green gloves. She also wears a green belt, a green double sash, a blue, yellow, and red skirt, and blue-green boots with green trim. She has brown skin and curly black hair that goes to her chin.

Tip is wearing a blue coat with yellow buttons, a green-gray and red hat, a red bow tie, green-gray shirt and shorts, long red stockings, and blue shoes. He has pale skin and straight black hair that goes to his ears. The basket he is carrying is covered by a blue-green cloth. End description.]

I’ve been reading the Oz books with the Beyond the Wizard substack, and when we got to this illustration I decided to color it in. I used a foundation pen brush on Sketchbook. Feel free to use for icons/banners/headers, just give me credit

[heroofthreefaces]

Have there been Substack emails for Monte Cristo, Sherlock, Moby Dick, and/or Oz in the last forty-eight hours? Cuz I haven’t got any since the 29th at 20:00 EST

EDIT Turns out my email had suddenly decided stuff from Substack is spam. The filter is chastised now.

[krinsbez]

Random Oz Thoughts

So, either nobody is talking about Beyond The Wizard on Tumblr, or so many people are tagging things with other combos of “Beyond“, “Wizard“, and “Oz“ that they’re being drowned and I can’t find them.

 Verra frustrating.

[enterradoentrelibrosycontento]

La verdad no se cual es el tag que usa todo mundo.

I don't know which tag everybody else is using.

[pedanther]

Enter the Land of Oz

The Ozian Balloon Departs January 2023

Another of those literary substack things, this one reading through The Wizard of Oz and its sequels.

The Wizard of Oz is one of those novels where, if you only know the common cultural knowledge or have only seen the movie, there's a lot to be surprised by in the original novel. A few details from the first few sequels might be familiar, and then most of them are uncharted territory, pop culture wise.

Starts this week. I only just found out, or I'd have been spreading the word earlier, sorry.

[pedanther]

One striking thing about The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, if you're mostly familiar with the adaptations, is how little of the novel is spent in Kansas. The famous film version spends a good amount of time, before whisking Dorothy away to Oz, establishing her home and the people she's going to be homesick for while she's away. So does the animated TV version that was my main touchstone for Oz when I was a boy. Baum, on the other hand, is all about the strange adventures in distant places, and we've barely arrived in Kansas and had a chance to look around before it's time to be off.

That said, Baum does make good use of the time, and efficiently gives evocative descriptions of the land and its inhabitants. (The word "gray" comes up a lot; one can see why the film opens the way it does.)

[krinsbez]

Random Oz Thought, Jan. 14th

Having discovered this exists, I tried to convince myself I didn't need to sign up, and failed.

As with Dracula, I have long bemoaned that the superior original has been supplanted by the adaption, which I have BEEF with. More so than with Dracula, because while I am not a serious fan (I only read, like, three of the post-Baum books) it is one of my faves.

Fortunately, it started late and is a Weekly, so catch-up is easy.

Anyways, I am choosing to comment on the second installment, featuring the ToC and the Author's Note, because it's here that L. Frank Baum states his intent to create a "modern" fairy tale without the "bloodcurdling" elements, and I need everyone to keep in mind that, when it comes to that last point, Mr. Baum is a lying liar who lies.