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vovatI had a dream last night where I was riding around a city on some kind of vehicle that, as far as I can remember, was like a flying cushion. A goose was riding with me, but when I stopped, the goose got mad and flew away. I don't know what the significance of that dream was (or if there even was any), but my animal encounters sort of continued into real life, when squirrels kept running out in front of my car this morning.
My sinuses have been kind of bad in the last few days. Since they tend to be worse outside, I'd suspect it was due to allergies. While I usually have really bad allergies in the spring, though, I can't recall ever having them in the fall. Regardless, if it keeps up, I should probably see if I have any sinus medicine. At the moment, though, there's no apparent congestion.
Also, I have two more reviews of Oz books by March Laumer:
The Ten Woodmen of Oz is a very ambitious book on Laumer's part. It was written in 1987, but takes place in the then-future of 1998, in a world where air pollution has gotten so bad that many countries make it illegal to go outside without a gas mask, and war breaks out when the Soviet Union declares the sale of Alaska to the United States null and void. When the pollution reaches Oz, it causes the Tin Woodman to corrode and plants to wilt, so several Ozites travel to the Outside World to try to propose solutions to the problem. I get the impression that Laumer was more interested in trying to create his future world than in telling a compelling story. It introduces too many story elements, and further confuses matters by featuring characters from both the regular Oz AND the alternate Russian Oz (based on the books of Alexander Volkov, and otherwise known as "Magic Land"). The ten woodmen aren't particularly interesting characters, and as for the Careleaver Kids and the Sticky Twins, well, cute characters aren't really Laumer's thing. It's interesting as far as the futurizing goes, but less successful as an Oz book.
A Farewell to Oz has March himself visiting Oz, and conversing with Ozma, Dorothy, L. Frank Baum, Ruth Plumly Thompson, and his late brother Keith. The book has March dealing with the deaths of both his brother and his father, which makes it more personal and melancholy than Laumer's other Oz books (or pretty much all other Oz books, for that matter). While I've never been too keen on books in which the author puts himself (or herself) into the story or Oz stories in which people go to Oz after they die, Laumer having conversations with his characters and predecessors makes for an interesting plot device. In fact, it might have worked better if the whole piece had been made up of these conversations, rather than mixing it in with a plot that solves the problems introduced in Ten Woodmen, as well as trying to do for Oz what The Last Battle did for Narnia (as well as what Baum himself unsuccessfully tried to do at the end of The Emerald City of Oz). A revived and reformed Mombi plays an important role in Oz's own Last Battle, and there's also a visit to Patch (first introduced in The Gnome King of Oz). I don't see the book it as a particularly grand conclusion to the Laumerian Oz saga, but it's definitely worth reading for the conversations. I wonder if Thompson really did tell Laumer that The Lost King of Oz was her least favorite of the Oz books she wrote. I agree with Laumer that it's one of her best.
And speaking of Oz, I found my copy of The Hungry Tiger of Oz, but it's not in very good shape. Sometime when I have the funds, I should replace my copies of the early Thompson Oz books. It looks like Books of Wonder is still offering Royal Book in hardcover, but their Kabumpo looks as if it's gone out of print. I probably should have bought it when I saw it at the store in Manhattan, but it's too late for that now.
My sinuses have been kind of bad in the last few days. Since they tend to be worse outside, I'd suspect it was due to allergies. While I usually have really bad allergies in the spring, though, I can't recall ever having them in the fall. Regardless, if it keeps up, I should probably see if I have any sinus medicine. At the moment, though, there's no apparent congestion.
Also, I have two more reviews of Oz books by March Laumer:
The Ten Woodmen of Oz is a very ambitious book on Laumer's part. It was written in 1987, but takes place in the then-future of 1998, in a world where air pollution has gotten so bad that many countries make it illegal to go outside without a gas mask, and war breaks out when the Soviet Union declares the sale of Alaska to the United States null and void. When the pollution reaches Oz, it causes the Tin Woodman to corrode and plants to wilt, so several Ozites travel to the Outside World to try to propose solutions to the problem. I get the impression that Laumer was more interested in trying to create his future world than in telling a compelling story. It introduces too many story elements, and further confuses matters by featuring characters from both the regular Oz AND the alternate Russian Oz (based on the books of Alexander Volkov, and otherwise known as "Magic Land"). The ten woodmen aren't particularly interesting characters, and as for the Careleaver Kids and the Sticky Twins, well, cute characters aren't really Laumer's thing. It's interesting as far as the futurizing goes, but less successful as an Oz book.
A Farewell to Oz has March himself visiting Oz, and conversing with Ozma, Dorothy, L. Frank Baum, Ruth Plumly Thompson, and his late brother Keith. The book has March dealing with the deaths of both his brother and his father, which makes it more personal and melancholy than Laumer's other Oz books (or pretty much all other Oz books, for that matter). While I've never been too keen on books in which the author puts himself (or herself) into the story or Oz stories in which people go to Oz after they die, Laumer having conversations with his characters and predecessors makes for an interesting plot device. In fact, it might have worked better if the whole piece had been made up of these conversations, rather than mixing it in with a plot that solves the problems introduced in Ten Woodmen, as well as trying to do for Oz what The Last Battle did for Narnia (as well as what Baum himself unsuccessfully tried to do at the end of The Emerald City of Oz). A revived and reformed Mombi plays an important role in Oz's own Last Battle, and there's also a visit to Patch (first introduced in The Gnome King of Oz). I don't see the book it as a particularly grand conclusion to the Laumerian Oz saga, but it's definitely worth reading for the conversations. I wonder if Thompson really did tell Laumer that The Lost King of Oz was her least favorite of the Oz books she wrote. I agree with Laumer that it's one of her best.
And speaking of Oz, I found my copy of The Hungry Tiger of Oz, but it's not in very good shape. Sometime when I have the funds, I should replace my copies of the early Thompson Oz books. It looks like Books of Wonder is still offering Royal Book in hardcover, but their Kabumpo looks as if it's gone out of print. I probably should have bought it when I saw it at the store in Manhattan, but it's too late for that now.
