MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR
I am overjoyed to know there is still such kindness in Oz. Dorothy needs all the help and friends she can get. With reports of wickedness on the rise, we cannot be too careful. Let us take a lesson from our newcomer: Traveling in groups is best.
- Glenda, Good Witch of the South
READING UPDATE
I love spreadsheets! Who’s with me? No one? Okay, that’s cool. Well, I made a really simple one to show how many readers we have finishing chapters each week. If you haven’t ticked that “Like” button on a chapter that you’ve read, might I suggest going back and doing so? I’d love to see all these bars be equal each week! Otherwise, it looks like Chapter II is the most read chapter so far…by a lot!
Something else I’ve been thinking about is, I don’t know about you but reading just one chapter a week is making me itch for more! I already plan to ask a survey question when we finish reading this book about increasing the number of chapters we receive a week from one to two, but I’m just curious to know now, if I were to increase from one to two with this book, how many people might object? I would continue to deliver a chapter on Saturdays but then I would add Wednesdays to the cycle. If you can let me know in the comments (or hit reply to this email if you’d rather remain anonymous) as to your thoughts? Thanks!
FEBRUARY CHAPTERS ROUND-UP
On The Road Through the Forest Dorothy, Toto and the Scarecrow stop for a while to rest. During this stop the Scarecrow tells Dorothy about his first memory of existence, when his creator put him together.
In The Rescue of the Tin Woodman the following question is pondered: which is better to have, if you could only have one, a heart or brains? I wonder what it means for Dorothy who has both? Does her focus wander because she is a child and that is what children do. For, even after hearing the tragic story of the Tin Woodman she cares more about her own survival and the fact that she and Toto are running out of food and might starve to death.
Have you heard about The Cowardly Lion? He might talk a big game, but Dorothy is able to bring him down to size with one small whack, so he’s not as tough as he might seem. Nothing wrong with being vulnerable and owning your limitations, but this cowardly lion really doesn’t have what is required to be the king of the jungle. Like the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow, he requires assistance from the Wizard of Oz. So, off they go along the yellow brick road to the Emerald City.
The Journey to the Great Oz isn’t an easy one. Our four characters (and Toto, too) must spend many nights in the outdoors, braving whatever might come their way. On one such occasion they encounter the ferocious Kalidah’s. This pair stand tall like a bear but have the head of a tiger. Strange looking things, I must say. But soon, with the strength of the lion, the skill of the Tin Woodman, and the brains (ironic, isn’t it) of the Scarecrow, they are able to outwit the Kalidah’s and make it to safety. But, we are still far from the Emerald City.
UPDATES WORTH NOTING
With so many new subscribers arriving every day, I just want to point out some important posts and pages worth taking a second (or third) look at:
The Books of Oz - Updated to include links to Gutenberg where you can download the ebook if you were looking for each book in its entirety right now. There are also links to the audio files that are included with each chapter as posted week-to-week. And lastly, a publishing house, SeaWolf Press, has taken it upon themselves to do a reprint of the first editions of all the books for a 100th Anniversary. Links to those books available on Amazon (mostly $8.95 each) are there as well, all the way through the Ruth Plumly Thompson books. I have purchased the first three and I think I’m going to purchase the rest:
The Style - I have been working on tweaking the color palette for the Substack. If you should ever visit Beyond the Wizard on your computer or mobile phone you’ll see it, otherwise it’s the regular black/white in e-mails. My goal with the site version is to make it legible but make the colors make sense. The background is more of a subdued yellow to represent the yellow brick road, while the accent color is an emerald color for the central part of the land of Oz.
Logo & Banner - Another change I wanted to make was to the logo and banner. Any image I use outside of the chapters (which come from the original text) I want to have a hand in creating them, even if it’s just tiny tweaks here and there within Photoshop and Canva. Therefore you’ll notice the logo has black added to make the emerald city and yellow brick road pop:
I’ve also updated what Substack called the “word mark” which is basically just the way the name of the Substack is displayed when viewed on a computer. I’m also using it as the new header for all e-mails sent as well. I am using a font that is synonymous with The New York Times, the letters B and W are emerald in color and I added black along either side of the yellow brick road, again to make it pop more:
I am not an artist by any means so you’ll excuse me if I could’ve done a better or neater job. Until I can afford to pay out of pocket for a professional logo, I think these are two pretty decent updates.
Writing for the Oz Gazette - That 1-page document I promised is now available. Click here to read it. This will be updated as the need arises. Also, here is the FORM to fill out should you have something written that follows the guideline and would like it to be featured in next month’s issue.
ALL THE RESOURCES
The Illustrators of Oz - As I work my way through prepping all of the books we’ll be reading together in the future I wanted to find out more about the illustrators of the Oz books and their rather interesting style.
THE OTHER YELLOW BRICK ROAD
The twist on a classic is truly coming together. The picture becomes more and more clear day-by-day. And to prove it I present a brief outline that will hopefully whet your appetite to want to find out more. I hope to have unedited chapters to share before we start reading the 2nd Oz book. Yay!
First, let me apologize for releasing this issue of the Oz Gazette and it was clearly not complete. I have since gone back and added a short synopsis for chapters 6 & 7. I'm also working on providing a link to the outline I have at the ready, to start writing the twisted tale coming (hopefully) this Summer on the story of Oz.
Oh, and I've updated the chart of "Chapters Read" to reflect the most up-to-date numbers as that chart is from EOD Sunday and should've been updated as of EOD yesterday. Mea culpa.
Thank you all for giving me your feedback about going from once a week to twice a week with the first book. I know what it's like to read multiple Substacks. I'm also reading multiple classics via Substack (wonderful thing, isn't it?) as well as other magazines and articles of interest. It can become too much. Luckily, these chapters are fairly short as I am able to read them in one sitting, usually under 30min.
You might not be a professional artist, but I think the logo is perfect and I can't imagine a professional doing better!