Winkie Reading 2013 Part 2

Now for the rest of the books I read on my trip. There's a few others I've read since, but we'll get on them soon.

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Fwiirp in Oz: An Anthology by Nate Barlow, Jeff Barstock, Ryan Gannaway, Greg Hunter, Phyllis Ann Karr, R. K. Lionel, Marcus Mebes, Hugh Pendexter III, and Chris Dulabone. Surprisingly, this is a collection of non-Oz stories. A freak accident happens in Oz due to some living paper going to the outside world and a poorly-researched Oz story being written on it, the true Oz altering to match it! Many Oz characters wind up outside of Oz, while Fwiirp (a skeezique) and his friends find stories in the Mys-Tree of Oz and have to discover what the stories are telling them to help restore Oz as Jellia Jamb and her friends work towards the same goal.

Seemingly, the book began as Nate Barlow's Jellia Jamb of Oz and the Mys-Tree plot was added to flesh out the book. The main plot is rather thin, but the short stories are rather fine, if a few take some odd turns: a teddy bear who comes to life after being buried with his boy and a vampire who finds religion. Overall, a fun book that shows off many of the writers' strengths by letting them work outside of Oz.

Get your copy here.

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A Foolish Fable from Oz by Chris Dulabone and Marin Xiques. Going back to the time when the Wicked Witches of the East and West were still in power, two elephants from the Isle of Kenra are helped by some Orks to get to Oz to find more sugar cane. Meanwhile, the Wicked Witch of the East needs some ivory to finish a nasty spell, but someone has stolen her Silver Shoes! Can she and the Wicked Witch of the West (both sporting some very long names) recover them?

The cover shows photos of Chris and Marin goofing around with a large ceramic elephant who must have inspired the story. As you can guess, they also do not take a serious approach to this story, making for one of many of Chris and Marin's silly but fun Oz stories.

Get your copy here.

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The Haunted Castle of Oz by Marcus Mebes. A ghostly knight is spotted in the Emerald City's palace, and Dorothy and her friends investigate and discover Prince Terrence, his page Christian and a magician named Necronominus and a curse that's been placed over these three. Some surprising magic is at play here and our friends in Oz have to help save the day.

Marcus himself informed me that he isn't exactly proud of this book, but the story—though it makes rather a thin book—is very well-written. The pictures are very good as well.

Get your copy here.