Dorothy is... a Bad Ass? - Oz Gazette #03
She's melted the Wicked Witch of the West
MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR
Our travelers have overcome a lot along the yellow brick road. But I am afraid their journey has only just begun. The Wicked Witch of the West is dead. Taken out by the fearless Dorothy. What will the Wizard do? After all, promises must be kept. All of Oz is watching.
- Glenda, Good Witch of the South
READING UPDATE
First, I want to apologize for sending an incomplete issue last month (missing catch-up synopsis for each chapter). That was definitely unintentional and should hopefully never happen again.
Second, thank you all for doing two things in the beginning of March in such an awesome way that I am truly overwhelmed. They may seem small but to me it just continues to prove just how many of us are here and participating and reading together.
The first is going back to hit the “Like” button on chapters you’ve read. Trust me, I get an email for each one so I see when I get 7+ Likes from the same subscriber! It’s so great to see. Keep it up and let’s see if we can get every chapter to 100+ Likes/Readers.
And second is the Poll. No surprise the results came down to more “Yes” votes and therefore you may have noticed two chapters happening per week, right as we were 1/3 of the way through the book. The poll received nearly 100 votes! I’m still in shock.
A bit more on the poll and what that means as we move forward. Basically, we cut reading time per book in half. What would’ve taken us six months to get through book one (end of June) will now take us to the end of THIS month. Subsequently, book two will be a 12 week (3 month) read instead of 24 weeks (6 months). There will be additional poll questions coming after we finish book one so be on the lookout for that on April 29th. It’ll ask things like length of break time between completion of each book, satisfaction with how our first read-along went, and other housekeeping things to make this experience as filling and meaningful as possible for everyone.
Here is an update on how many are logging their completion of chapters every week: (Don’t forget to hit the LIKE button on a chapter that you’ve read. Totally okay to go back, if you want. Use THIS LINK to easily see them all on one page.)
One more update you may have noticed already, every single chapter will now contain the following information at the very top: READ TIME: & WORD COUNT:
I am using the Stats feature in Scrivener to determine what the most accurate read time is for each chapter as well as to calculate the word count. I’ve gone back in time as well to put this information on all chapters. I hope this will help you know how long it might take you to read each chapter (whether or not you’re a speed reader)…
And for those who might be interested in facts and figures like I am, here is a breakdown of each chapter length and word count for all 24 chapters. In the future I will include this along with the Table-of-Contents so it’s easily seen and accessible.
MARCH CHAPTERS ROUND-UP
At The Deadly Poppy Field things go a bit pear-shaped for Dorothy, Toto, and the Lion. Luckily, the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman are unaffected by the poppy’s and are able to at least rescue Dorothy and her little dog. Unfortunately, they have to leave the Lion behind as he’s much too heavy to carry out of the field.
When the Tin Woodman saves a mouse from getting eaten by a cat (we’ll gloss over the fact that he does it by chopping off the head of the cat) it turns out to be The Queen of the Field Mice! And wouldn’t you know it, she’s got hundreds (no, thousands) of mice at her disposal. Good thing the brainless Scarecrow comes up with the idea to use the mice to rescue the Lion.
The Guardian of the Gate seems to be there just to direct traffic mostly. When Dorothy and her group finally reach the Emerald City they aren’t stopped at all. They are simply retro-fitted with goggles (for the extreme light, of course) and directed to the Wizard who agrees to see them, only one at a time, each day. Quite picky, isn’t he…
The Wonderful City of Oz isn’t as wonderful, at least, not if you’re visiting the Wizard. He appears as whatever he thinks will surprise/terrify you and he will ask you to do the damndest thing before he’ll grant your wish. Say, to kill the wicked witch of the west and bring proof.
The Search for the Wicked Witch was fairly simpler than you might think. Dorothy literally was led right to her. Granted, the time spent with the Wicked Witch was longer than even I expected and took awhile before (spoiler?) the bucket of water moment happened. But with this marking the halfway mark, I can’t wait to see what happens next.
After Dorothy melts the Wicked Witch, she realizes how much she misses the friends she made along the way. The Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman were both harmed in ways that made it difficult for them to continue to exist. The Rescue comes when Dorothy and the Lion decide they want to bring their friends back. With the aid of the Winkies they are able to undo the dents in the Tin Woodman and put even better stuffing back in the Scarecrow.
The Winged Monkeys are an interesting species. They can talk and fly for starters but they are also beholden to the one who wears “the cap” that originally was held by the Wicked Witch of the West. But now that she’s perished, Dorothy has taken possession of it. There is much more to their story of how they became enslaved to a cap, but I’ll let you read the chapter to find out more.
The Discovery of Oz, The Terrible didn’t take very long. After our fearless travelers did as they were asked and killed the Wicked Witch of the West, the time has come for Oz to fulfill his end of the deal. Except, he’s not exactly who he says he is. SPOILER ALERT: He’s a humbug! Think of it as a conman, if you will. And now he must follow through on his promises, even if they discover he is nothing but a small old man. Can he do it? The next chapter will answer all.
NEWLY DISCOVERED RESOURCES
A dedicated website and community forum experience is coming in 2024. I’ve been working on building https://beyondthewizard.com as well as a Discord server. As I am a perfectionist by nature I don’t want you to see the multitude of iterations before they go LIVE.
BUT, the reason I’m mentioning what I’m building this early is because I want you to be a part of what I’m looking to create. As always I do these things to lead me closer to writing the best possible twist and keeping that in mind, I’m wondering: What you would like to see out of an OZ website that would make you even consider visiting it?
Of course I will be incorporating having easily accessible chapters with images and audio (like we get with each email). I’m also looking to create an encyclopedia for locations and characters. We meet so many “along the yellow brick road” (possible name for the encyclopedia?) that I feel it already getting difficult to keep track and it’s only the first book! But what else can I do? Leave a comment or hit reply and let me know your thoughts.
OTHER WRITING PROJECTS
Okay, by now you must already know I’m crazy. I say this because when I tell you what else I’m doing alongside reading the Oz books you might say to yourself, “what?!” or “why?!” And you might be logical in asking those questions.
There are few things I love enough to find ways to incorporate it into my daily life. One of those things is Star Trek. Yes, I am a trekkie. And because I am a trekkie I randomly decided (on February 26th to be exact) I wanted to watch each and every tv show and each and every movie and review each and every single one each and every single day. As of your reading this I am on Season 2, Episode 6 of The Original Series (TOS). If you’re interested in getting an email from my daily (at random times throughout the day) / watching along with me (you’ll need Paramount+) then I present to you:
Welcome, fellow Trekkies.
COMING MAY 1st
To celebrate the end of one book and start of another, we’ll take a peek at the history behind the sequel. What brought it about? What new characters can we expect to meet? The continuing story of Dorothy and her friends? And more!
COMING JUNE 1st
Let’s take a look at the history of what’s considered the most watched movie, The Wizard of Oz. I’ll have links and facts you may already know but some you may not know. Why June? The film returned to theaters on June 5 and 6, 2022 to celebrate Judy Garland's 100th birthday. So, let’s celebrate her 101st birthday together.
The website and discord sound pretty cool! I'd like to have a section with adaptations and similar works, and maybe the story of the author and publication? Like what you're doing for the sequel
Thank you for all your hard work!! You've built such a great community here. I'm especially excited for the Discord. (Also, Star Trek?? Sign me UP 🖖🏻)