Tag Archives: smith and tinker

Down on the Farm

Here are a few Oz things I’ve read recently. Dark Wind in Oz, by Tarl Telford – It’s been some time since I read the first two books in the Hidden History of Oz series, but now I’ve finally read … Continue reading

Posted in Animals, Book Reviews, Characters, Dreams, Eric Shanower, Games, L. Frank Baum, Magic, Melody Grandy, Music, Oz, Oz Authors, Phyllis Ann Karr, Plays, Ruth Plumly Thompson | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Pound of Man’s Tin

I didn’t get a chance to write about the 1993 Oziana last week, so I’m doing that now. I quite like the cover this time, Bill Eubank’s version of Mount Rushmore with the big four characters, drawn in MGM style. … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Authors, Characters, Eric Shanower, John R. Neill, L. Frank Baum, Magic, Magic Items, Names, Onyx Madden/Jim Nitch, Oz, Oz Authors, Plays, William Shakespeare | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Gone with the Northeast Wind

The 1988 Oziana has a game on both the front and back cover, derived by Fred Meyer and drawn by Bill Eubank. For each of fifty different transformations, the player has to guess who was transformed into what. I like … Continue reading

Posted in Art, Camilla Townsend, Characters, Conspiracy Theories, Eric Shanower, Games, L. Frank Baum, Magic, Magic Items, Melody Grandy, Oz, Oz Authors, Phyllis Ann Karr, Poetry, Relationships, Star Trek, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Conquest by Computer

The 1986 Oziana is the first issue I ever read, even though it was around 1993 when I did so. I just started out by ordering the earliest one the Oz Club was offering at the time. The cover here … Continue reading

Posted in Animals, Art, Characters, Christmas, Games, Holidays, Humor, L. Frank Baum, Magic, Magic Items, Melody Grandy, Nursery Rhymes, Oz, Oz Authors, Phyllis Ann Karr, Relationships, Ruth Plumly Thompson | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Jinnicky’s Body

We’re now up to the Oziana from the year I was born, 1977. The front cover shows the royal palace of Oogaboo, as drawn by Albert Chronic. The introductory page has a political cartoon by Bill Eubank that isn’t really that … Continue reading

Posted in Animals, Art, Characters, Comics, John R. Neill, L. Frank Baum, Magic, Magic Items, Melody Grandy, Monsters, Names, Oz, Oz Authors, Places, Poetry, Politics, Ruth Plumly Thompson | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Best of Inventions

If you’ve read the Oz books, you might remember Smith and Tinker as the creators of Tik-Tok, as well as the Giant with the Hammer and, as per Rachel Cosgrove Payes, the Hundred-Year Alarm Clock. I’ve written about them before … Continue reading

Posted in Characters, Chris Dulabone, Hugh Pendexter, L. Frank Baum, Magic, Magic Items, Melody Grandy, Onyx Madden/Jim Nitch, Oz, Oz Authors, Phil Lewin, Rachel Cosgrove Payes, Ruth Plumly Thompson, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Automa-Tons of Fun

During a discussion of Ozma of Oz at the most recent OzCon International, Lee Speth proposed that, while Tik-Tok was not the first mechanical man in modern literature, he was perhaps the first artificial intelligence. L. Frank Baum himself had … Continue reading

Posted in Characters, Eloise Jarvis McGraw, Eric Shanower, John R. Neill, L. Frank Baum, Magic, Magic Items, Oz, Oz Authors, Phil Lewin, Rachel Cosgrove Payes, Ruth Plumly Thompson, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

A Space Ozyssey

I’ve examined the possible location of the Land of Oz and its surrounding fairylands in the past. To sum up, the earlier books seem to place it in some hidden part of our Earth, while more recent ones tend to … Continue reading

Posted in Characters, Chris Dulabone, Gina Wickwar, L. Frank Baum, Oz, Oz Authors, Places, Rachel Cosgrove Payes, Ruth Plumly Thompson | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

You’ve Got to Hide Your History Away

The Hidden History of Oz, Book One: The Witch Queens, by Tarl Telford – This series is a prequel to the Oz books proper, an idea that’s been done a few times, from Hugh Pendexter’s Oz and the Three Witches … Continue reading

Posted in Book Reviews, Characters, Hugh Pendexter, L. Frank Baum, Oz, Oz Authors | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Living Arts

One of the more bizarre recurring themes in the Oz books, albeit not one without precedent, is that of painted material becoming real when it’s lifelike enough. We first hear about this in Ozma of Oz, in which Tik-Tok reports … Continue reading

Posted in Dick Martin, John R. Neill, L. Frank Baum, Magic, Magic Items, Oz, Oz Authors | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments