Oz Outside the Famous Forty

Date & Title                                                                                     Author                                       Publisher/Publication

1845

Note: Alternate history of the Lion and the Wizard who in this telling know one another intimately prior to the start of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Otherwise, a nice Oz adventure. Roger Baum is the great grandson of L. Frank, and author of other Oz books (including Dorothy of Oz).  See Munchkinland for more titles. An animated full-length feature is based on this book.

1865 

Note: Sadly, this otherwise fun story is spoiled by a lack of continuity with the early FF.  The histories of Pastoria, Tip/Ozma, Mombi and the Wizard are all at variance with canonical sources.

1898 

Note: This 44 page story, geared towards the youngest of children, about the Wicked Witch of the East banning birthdays, features several contradictions with the FF, including a nine-year old Glinda, the origin of the Wicked Witch and the arrival of Dorothy.

1899 

Note: This amusing short story from Oziana magazine is a take-off on MGM’s version of Dorothy’s start down the Yellow Brick Road.

Note: Taking place shortly after Dorothy starts off on the Yellow Brick Road, in the MGM film, the Wicked Witch of the West pays Glinda a visit.

1900

Note: This book has been labeled an Oz pastiche, and on the surface it may seem so.  The layout resemble Denslow’s work on Wonderful Wizard of Oz:  There is a little girl from a dusky Midwestern town who goes on an adventure to a fairy land with her pet.  There is even a Good Witch who wields a wand with a ‘Z’ on it, remarkably like the ‘OZ’ wand seen held by the Good Witch of the North.  The similarities end there, however, as this is a surprisingly well written and enjoyable story that is set in the Black Hills of South Dakota in what could be termed “nature’s fairyland”.  Thus, it more closely resembles Baum’s ‘Twinkle Tales’ and ‘Policeman Bluejay’ (‘Birds in Babeland’) than any of his Oz tales.  Incidentally, there is even a megalomaniacal “Gnome King” with his underground dominion, but as this book was written in 1900, Gibson's Gnome King actually precedes Baum’s by at least 3 years.  All in all, a nice book to add to any Oz fan’s collection.

1901

Note: First book in the Alpimar series of Oz books which immediately follow Baum's original Wonderful Wizard of Oz.  This series will borrow from some of Baum's later books, but will not follow them. The intention is to craft a more developed fantasy series along the lines of Harry Potter.  The novel will explore the mystery of Dorothy's parents, explain why her house landed where it did and forge new territory into the alternate earth realm called Alpimar.  Christmas in Oz will follow.

1902 

Note: Well-meaning attempt to relate the above incident, however, as per Baum’s Magic of Oz, it is clear that Gugu and the Cowardly Lion had never met one other prior to the events of that book.

1903 

Note: This children’s book is based on the1980 made-for-television cartoon, Thanksgiving in Oz, aka. Dorothy in the Land of Oz, Christmas in Oz, and Dorothy and the Green Gobbler in Oz.  This animated production featured characters from Baum’s Marvelous Land of Oz, although, the story differs considerably from Baum's books.

1904 

(Presents eleven episodes of ‘Queer Visitors from...Oz’ w/ a rewritten script and new illustrations by Dick Martin)

Note: This book is an entirely different publication than the one of the same name published by Hungry Tiger Press in 2005 (or from Martin Gardener's book of the same name). Written in 1960, this book features rewrites of 11 of Baum's stories from Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz newspaper strips. Kellogg introduces an element that wasn’t featured in the syndicated strips which proves contradictory to the remaining book series, where Aunt Em and Uncle Henry meet the Scarecrow and friends years before Emerald City of Oz.

Note: Reprinted as Chapter 13: "The Scarecrow and Tinman Escape" by Hungry Tiger Press in The Scarecrow and Tin-Man of Oz.  This early book, used by Denslow as his 13th and 14th installment for the newspaper strip thematically employs the titular characters as the performers of the 1903 stage play.  Scarecrow mentions that they've been performing for two years and by story's end are sentenced to perform an additional year! 

1914

Note: (from the website) It has taken fifteen years for author David Anthony to finish his trilogy sequel to The Wizard of Oz, due to the fact that it was written primarily from his nighttime dreams—dreams that were sometimes so vivid that he felt he was living his days in Kansas and his nights in that magical land beyond the rainbow. Over the years, countless generations of fans of this classic tale have wondered, What if it wasn’t a dream? What if Dorothy’s trip over the rainbow was real? It’s twenty years later and we’re about to find out. Travel over the rainbow once again to the Land of Oz. Join the Scarecrow as he plans to transport himself, along with the Tin Woodman and Lion, to the land of Kansas to find Dorothy. But beware as the Wicked Witch of the West is back and she has plans to finally get her sister’s magic shoes and then destroy all the good in Oz. Whoever gets to those Ruby Red Shoes first controls the fate of Oz. With time running out, everyone is In Search of Dorothy.  Two sequels are forthcoming.

1940

Sequel to the MGM film takes place five months later when Dorothy discovers her trip to Oz wasn't a dream after all.

1950 

Note: The original first chapter of Hidden Valley of Oz that Reilly & Lee had rejected. In it, Jam gets to Oz by means of his father’s rocket ship, a plot device used earlier for Speedy’s arrival in Yellow Knight of Oz.

1958 – 1975 Volkov’s Tales of the Magic Land

Note:  If anything qualifies as an alternate or parallel Oz universe, this series by Russian-born Alexander Volkov does. With the exception of the very first book, which is a Russian adaptation of the The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Volkov took this series in an entirely different direction than Baum, calling his version of Oz, the “Magic Land” or Goodvinia. Although the characters bear certain similarities to Baum’s, they are also unique creations all onto their own. March Laumer, under his Opium Press label, had translated the entire series into English, but the most well known and well regarded are Peter Blystone's translations, of which the first four stories were originally published as Tales of the Magic Land (volumes 1 and 2), under Red Branch Press publishers, with all the stories later reprinted by Lulu.com. (Note: former Buckethead Enterprises of Oz also published the final two, but these are long out-of-print). 

Some confusion had at one time arisen with Laumer's earlier translations, as he substituted the name Oz for Goodvinia, when in fact the two are a quite distinct fairylands from one other. Blystone has corrected this in his more accurate translations.

Dates preceding the titles are estimates.  Dates in parentheses following the publisher are the original publication dates.  For further information on these stories, there's a great website that discusses them: The Emerald City.

Note: The story of this coloring book incorporates Volkov's Oorfene Deuce and his wooden soldiers and brings them into his version of Baum's Oz.

Note: This is a prequel to the "Emerald City" series describing how Goodwin arrived in the Magic Land and constructed the Emerald City. 

Note:  Following on the success of Volkov’s Magic Land series, Sergei Sukhinov has taken the alternate Oz universe into yet a third branch.  With only Volkov’s first book, the adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Sukhinov has forged a different series, one that is more of a Tolkeinesque-styled saga for his ten volumes of the Magic Land.  As of yet, these have not been published in the US although translations are being worked on by Peter Blystone. For further information on the Russian "Oz" books, head over to The Emerald City website.  Note: You may be able to purchase the untranslated editions here, but be warned as they are known to take a long time to deliver (and you will need to know Russian). Update: New translations will be available some time in the near future as an omnibus edition!

Note:  These titles by Sergei Sukhinov features a take on the Magic Land that differs from both Baum and Volkov.  These particular volumes which are part of an ongoing series are aimed at a younger audience than his ten book saga mentioned above.  For further information on the Russian "Oz" books, head over to The Emerald City website.  Note, you may be able to purchase the untranslated editions here, but be warned as they are known to take a long time to deliver (and you will need to know Russian). English translations of these will also be available some time following the publication of Sukhinov's first omnibus. This will include two stories that were written, but never published!

Further Tales of the Magic Land

Note: These works continue Volkov's Magic Land series, many of which were published in former East Germany, where Volkov had a following. 

You may be able to find the untranslated German titles at Amazon.de.  For further information on the Russian "Oz" series, head over to The Emerald City website.

1908 – 1999 March Laumer’s Oz

1977

1994

1996 

1999

2006

N/A

 Note: See this entry under Patchwork Parodies & Poems