(No, you didn't miss my mention of the Autumn 2008 issue, as somehow, copies of that one were sent to me but never arrived. Not yet, anyways. But by the time I get it, any mention of it would not be timely at all.)
Sean Duffley opens the issue with the Editor's Note, announcing that this is his next-to-last issue. He announces that Scott Cumming will be taking over.
I was a little surprised to see a mention of my fan fiction site The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Writer's World in the Oz and Ends section. Many of the other things brought up I'd heard of, but some were news. These four pages are always a fun reminder that something Ozzy is always happening...
The main focus of the issue is the centennial Oz book: Dorothy & The Wizard in Oz. J.L. Bell offers a nice analysis of the book's narrative (and in a sidebar, offers a way the story could have been more dramatic). Robin Hess also refutes the commonly thought idea that the earthquake that sent Dorothy, Zeb, Eureka, and Jim to the land of the Mangaboos was the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, and offers alternative solutions.
Bill Thompson adds to Bibliographia Baumiana by examining the publication history of The Christmas Stocking Series, a set of picture books published by Reilly & Britton, each one offering an introduction by L. Frank Baum.
Rounding out the issue are reviews. I got a review of the DVD of Tin Man in. (It's not the same as the one I posted on my blog last year. I'd like to think this one is better written...) Joe Bongiorno looks at Oz in Perspective by Richard Tuerk, Michael Gessel reviews The Road to Oz: Twists, Turns, Bumps and Triumphs in the Life of L. Frank Baum by Kathleen Krull, and Marin Elizabeth's The Bouncy Bunnies in Oz is reviewed by Suzanna E. Henshon.
The recipients of the L. Frank Baum Memorial Award are summed up, and a little bonus from Bill Campbell's blog, The Oz Enthusiast, make up two of the remaining three pages, but one is headed "In Memoriam," offering memorials of Clarence Swenson, a Munchkin soldier from the MGM movie, and Philip Jose Farmer, author of A Barnstormer in Oz.
The front cover is from a Japanese edition of Dorothy & The Wizard In Oz, and looks rather nice, except that Zeb resembles a young British boy from the eighteenth century, Dorothy has an odd shawl on, and a Dragonette is seen in the same scene as the Mangaboo Princess. The back cover features John R. Neill-influenced art for this story by Rob Roy MacVeigh.
(Thanks to the folks who pointed out my pre-edit errors and gaffes...)
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1 comment:
I think Sean said this was his "penultimate" (next to last) issue, not the last and that Scott Cummings would be the next editor.
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