Other Histories of Oz

Parallel histories of Oz and other pastiches compatible with the Famous Forty

Artwork by John R. Neill. Other Histories of Oz chronicled by Joe Bongiorno.  Used only by permission.

Circa Late 1300's

Note: History of the titular character, particularly from the viewpoint of his studies in magic.  Hoffman's vision of pre-Wizard Oz indicates that it was run by a corporate Board of Directors in "New Oz City" (forerunner to the Emerald City) and is a land ripe with various universities and schools of magic.  An admittedly possible scenario for early Oz history, the tone and concept are not unlike the computer game world of Zork (which itself may have been derived from Oz), but the specifics are at variance with the history as detailed in Phil Lewin's The Witch Queen of Oz.  

1898

Note: Expertly written short story of how the Wizard came to Oz is at variance with indications that the Wizard arrived in Oz long before the dates cited in this story.

1902

Note:  This interesting tale of Ozma’s early adventures is difficult to reconcile with other histories of the same period, particularly Onyx Madden’s, Mysterious Chronicles of Oz (or Edward Einhorn’s Ozma Sees Herself).

Note: This brilliantly executed short story cannot be reconciled with the introduction of Hungry Tiger to Ozma as detailed in Onyx Madden’s Mysterious Chronicles of Oz (or Fred Otto’s Lost Emeralds of Oz).

The Forest Monster of Oz                                                                                 Chris Dulabone/Bob Evans                Buckethead Enterprises of Oz

Note: Chronicles the return of the giant spider that was defeated by the Cowardly Lion in the The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and his transformation to good.  This story utilizes Greek Mythology for Lurline's origins and follows the historicity established in Bob Evans in his book, Dorothy’s Mystical Adventures in Oz.  Also there appears to be a contradiction regarding Elephant’s first meeting with Ozma in Dulabone’s Lunechien Forest of Oz.  Note: This book is now available online to read.

The Magic Topaz of Oz                                                                Carol P. Silva & Marin E. Xiques w/ Bob Evans     TOTCLAF

Note: Sequel to The Forest Monster of Oz (see above).

1903

Note: Well written adventure of Dorothy trying to save a dying Aunt Em.  The tone of this story is a little darker than most and doesn’t seem to harmonize well within the framework of Baum's early works, but rather as an alternate or parallel universe, if one accepts that concept.

1904

Note: Unlike some of the other Random House adventures, this one incorporates concepts that are difficult to reconcile with later events in Oz history, namely Uncle Henry and Aunt Em's early discovery of Oz's existence, Nikidik's history, and the fact that Mombi is turned into an infant.

Note: This is a very cute story about Eureka’s return to Oz, how she came to be pink, and the titular incident.  This history differs from the one chronicled by David Hulan in Eureka in Oz.

Note: Interesting account of the origins of Eureka, the Pink Kitten.  The follow-up, Lunarr and Maureen in Oz brings back many of the characters from this book.  The history as presented in this book contrasts that of David Hulan’s Eureka in Oz which presents a different origin for Dorothy’s cat.  Reference to locales and characters in this book are made in Chapter 3: The Doonabeasts of The Seven Blue Mountains of Oz: Book 3: Zim Greenleaf in Oz.  Some fans may choose to simply omit the chapter (which is an incidental adventure anyway), however, the following should be considered: a) though events occur differently in different Oz-universes, places and characters may still exist, or: b) a parallel Oziverse was temporarily entered by Zim and his companions.

Note: Take off on Shakespearean play The Merchant of Venice, this well written account regarding the abolishment of money in Oz contradicts developments that were established in other post-FF histories, including the construction of the Tin Woodman’s castle and the identities of Nikidik and Dr. Pipt.  See Appendices for more information.

1910

Note: Alternate account of how Toto got his speech that differs from Oz-Story’s "Toto and the Truth”.  Also, for some reason Dorothy seems to be living in Oz, but not at the palace.

1913

Note: This 21 page pamphlet has been cited as one of several early attempts to cash in on the success of the Oz phenomenon.  Perhaps.  This is a story in which Dorothy (not Dorothy Gale of course - this one has a brother, Reginald), Tote (not Toto – this one is a child from Mars) and fairies called “Winkies” (who are considered bad fairies) play a part.  This short tale (written as a play) resolves with Santa taking the wandering children back to Earth, and is more akin to Baum’s Twinkle Tales but without any of the latter’s charm, character development or setting.

1918

Note: Competent short story presents an alternate history of the silver shoes and introduces the Greek pantheon into the Ozian framework.

1919

Note: Capable pastiche brings Lurline back to Oz in 1919 to conclude an adventure regarding the titular object. 

Note: Sequel to The Emerald Ring of Oz (above) takes place eighteen hours later.  Third book to come.

1920

Note: Back in the early ‘20’s, the young authors of this manuscript claimed they received this story from L. Frank Baum’s spirit through the use of a Ouija board.  Not likely.  First serialized in 12 monthly installments of Child's Garden for Cheerful and Happy Homes beginning in 1926, and was later reprinted in the Baum Bugle, Winter 1980 & Summer 1981.  The above claim was considered a hoax by many, and the story is said to be rather poorly written.

ca. 1920's

Note: Loosely connected, cleverly-written short tales by Margaret Berg detailing the underground stepping stone road, the Wizard's adventures in his balloon and the Shaggy Man's need for a vacation.  In 'The Royal Astronomers' the Nick and the Scarecrow discover another planet, which Albert Einstein later confirms to be Earth.  Planet Oz is said to be the tenth planet, which through a magical connection to the Earth, allows occasions whereby one may travel to the other.  Though Baum may originally have conceived of Oz being on another planet (see his Visitors from Oz), most believe that this conception changed early on and that Oz is connected to earth (whether physically, inter-dimensionally or in some other way is a subject of much debate).

1920 – 1997 Tales of the Cowardly Lion and Friends Mini-Series

Note: Seeking to offset the trend of some Oz novels which introduce characters that appear in one book and are never seen or heard from again, Chris and wife Marin, chose to embark upon an ongoing storyline.  Though each book could be read on its own, as a whole they make up a larger tapestry of events which utilize many of the same characters and locations from one book to the next.  This mini-series references characters from other Buckethead (and TOTCLAF) titles, including some listed in this section.

1925

Note: Written in 1941 by L. Frank Baum’s fourth son, this tale about an attack by the Nome King in a giant walking office building (the titular ‘dinamonster’), is a somewhat cute story and interesting from an historical perspective, but textually quite difficult to reconcile with the rest of the Oz series as numerous contradictions abound.  Footnotes at the bottom of the page attempt to aid in this endeavor, but thematically and quality-wise, this tale is very far in spirit from those of the elder Baum and the rest of the FF.

1931

Note: Barstock's follow-up to Song in Oz, this story concerns the adventures of a young fallen star and her friends who accompany her on her journey to the surface of Oz so she can get back home before her light goes out.  En route, they fall prey to a trap of the Nome King, Ruggedo, who wants to steal the young star’s life-force as a power source for a machine he’s built to conquer Oz.  Ruggedo’s presence as Nome King in this year (as defined in the text) stands in contrast to his history during this time.

1950 on…

Note:  The premise of these particular books from author James L. Fuller involves Dorothy returning to Earth after her dismay that she’s spent fifty years in Oz and is still a little girl.  Back in the mortal realms, she returns to school, grows up, enrolls in college and becomes a psychologist who serves to help certain others in distress find Oz.  Fuller has re-written some of these to make them fit a more traditional and younger Dorothy.  These latter tales feature yet another interesting and alternate vision of the Oz saga.

1951 

Note: Published in 1966, this is the earliest known Oz pastiche written after the close of canon in 1964, and also one of the earliest to violate copyright laws, not only Baum's (which had not yet entered public domain), but Cosgrove-Payes' (utilizing the character Jam from Payes’ Hidden Valley of Oz).  The identity of Wam the Wizard in this story contradicts the one established by Melody Grandy in her The Seven Blue Mountains of Oz trilogy.  This author begins the irritating trend of naming characters with the names of Oz authors spelled backwards (including himself -- Mossolb).

1955 

Note: Fascinating short mystery by historian Jack Snow involving Ozma and the return of her former alter-ego, Tip. This was written for Ellery Queen Magazine which solicited an Oz murder mystery from Snow, but in the end did not feel this story qualified as much of a mystery.  Though expertly written, this version of Tip may be at variance with Melody Grandy’s history of Tip in her Seven Blue Mountains of Oz trilogy, though an attempt to reconcile the two is in the works.

1967

Note: Powell’s dream of uniting Gruelle’s Raggedy Ann and Andy with Baum’s Oz saw fruition in this well-written, though hard-to-find manuscript about an evil magician that teams up with the freed Nome King to wreak havoc in Oz.  By tale’s end, Ruggedo is restored to the throne of the Nome Kingdom and Percy has been transformed back to an ordinary rat and sent back to the earth forbidden to ever again enter Oz!  These elements contradict later histories, including those of FF author Cosgrove-Payes (who created Percy).  Update: The second edition of this book published by the renewed Vanitas Press has removed Percy's death entirely as well as presenting a more accurate fate for the Nome King, bringing the book back into harmony with the later Oz books.

1968 

Note: Powell’s lackluster follow-up to The Raggedys in Oz (see above) contains an unlikely line of pre-Pastorian rulers (named after all the writers of the Oz stories spelled backwards) and contradicts the history of the Wizard, which in this story is given far more sinister motives in his dealings with Mombi than what was revealed in Hugh Pendexter III’s excellent Oz and the Three Witches.  This book also invents Ozma’s mother (and Pastoria’s wife), Ozette.

Note: Written by two members of the IWOOC, this is a wonderfully written fantasy about the adventures of two youths in a fairytale land.  Some Oz fans have claimed to have found the five colors representing the regions of the Land of Oz within Chapter 10.  While this may be true (I myself cannot find it), this is of no significance to Oz or the Oz stories.

1970

Note: Wonderful short story that brings Holmes and Watson to Oz!  Ruggedo's restoration to the Nome Kingdom, however, marks this excellent tale as historically unlikely.  This story also appears in the compilation volume:  The Game is Afoot:  Parodies, Pastiches, and Ponderings of Sherlock Holmes by St. Martin’s Press

1971 

Note: One of Laumer’s earliest forays into the world of Oz.  In this story, the Cowardly Lion becomes the Courageous Lion and betroths a wife.  Thus begins the pattern of marrying off characters which Laumer continued in his many later expansions of the Oz saga.  See his entry under ‘Beyond the Deadly Desert’.

Note: Originally serialized in fanzine form, this story has not yet been published to the author’s satisfaction, and may in fact be re-written and published as a Volkov sequel instead of Oz, or not...

Note: Two hippies and other mortals accidentally end up in Oz and discover they don’t like it.  Somewhat humorous tale that gives us a scene of the Tin Woodman transforming his tin castle into a tin motorcycle with which he drives the mortals to the Emerald City.

1972 

Note: Cute story by the illustrator of Harry Mongold’s two manuscripts.  Ozma and friends go back in time to meet with Tip who alone knows the whereabouts of the Wicked Witch of the West’s Doomsday Machine.

1976

Note: Unfinished (to Chapter 12) tale of the unknown history of Gaylette and Quelala.  Several others have been proffered in recent times, including Xiques' Enchantment of Oz, and Roger Baum's Dorothy of Oz.

1975

Note: Manuscript submitted in 1975 to Fred Meyer (then president of the International Wizard of Oz Club) was privately printed in 2006.  Two children receive a magic wish which they discover has to be undone when their parents are inadvertently turned into children.  With the help of Mrs. Pickering, they journey to Oz to find the solution.  Well written story with the exception that the author once again forgets that Button Bright is no longer "a little boy in a sailor suit" (Chapter 10) who only speaks few lines (like "I don't know.")

1976 – 1977

Note: These private printings, produced in Ada, Oklahoma, were part of a 10 or 11 manuscript series written between 1975 and 1984 and were never meant for public distribution.  The forerunner to these volumes (which are six and seven) is a Sherlock Holmes pastiche entitled, “The Adventures of a Mustard Jar” (with no Oz material.)  There is a follow-up to ‘Autocrats in Oz,’ however, the title is uncertain.  The author may one day choose to revise these publications and make them available to the public.

1977

Note: First published in Oziana 1978, this is a cute short story of the origin of the Woozy.  The narrative suffers from some anachronisms and  inconsistencies in its usage of Lurline, Glinda and the Sawhorse.

????

Note: Fun sequel to The Woozy's Tricky Beginning in which the Woozy and Scraps are kidnapped by the Dewan of the Deadly Desert.

????

Note: Enjoyable early pastiche that details the adventures of the titular terrapin and his friend Rick from the Outside Word as they search Oz and Ev for five enchanted figurines that the Wicked Witch of the East had long ago transformed out of Traleewu's friends.   The origin story of the silver shoes (spun by the singing spiders for Traleewu) and their recovery is at variance with other accounts such as The Silver Shoes of Oz and The Witch Queen of Oz.  Also the means by which Traleewu and the young protagonist get to Oz is highly suspect.  Date of this story and composition is uncertain but must be after the close of the FF.  Likely some time in the seventies or early eighties.

1979

Note: Conclusion to Fred Meyer's unfinished Oz story contest which appeared in the Winter 1979 Baum Bugle.  Meyer's own complete story appears in the Laumer compilation In Other Lands than Oz.

1982 

Note: Melody Grandy’s fun-filled short story was reworked and expanded for her second full length novel, The Seven Blue Mountains of Oz: Book 2: Tippetarius in Oz.

1984 

Note:  This fun, albeit silly comic series from DC is actually quite faithful to both Baum and Carroll’s characters.  Captain Carrot and friends join up with the Wonderland cast to free Oz from the Nome King’s clutches and disenchant its heroes which have been turned into bric-a-brac.  Interestingly, Martin Gardner’s Visitors from Oz and Ruth Berman’s short story In a Season of Calm Weather also introduces Wonderland into the Oz mythos.

1985 

Note: Zeb and Jim the Cabhorse (from Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz) return to Oz as Dorothy is abducted by a dust demon and Ruggedo is once more on the loose (this time as a giant cactus) in search of the mysterious ruler, King Onyx.  There are a few not-so-subtle insults aimed at Onyx Madden (author of The Mysterious Chronicles of Oz) scattered throughout the narrative as well as the Powell/Blossom's penchant for naming characters after Oz authors spelled backwards.

Note: This lighthearted adventure about the return of the Wicked Witch of the West -- the MGM version (!)-- is a sequel of sorts to Robert Evans’ Dorothy’s Mystical Adventures in Oz.  The metaphysical elements are present here, but are somewhat muted and more subtle than in his previous work.

1987 

Note: This early Buckethead title is meant to be used for educational purposes and is a pun-filled adventure revolving around an ancient Viking preserved through the ages.  These events follow the chronology established by Ray Powell in his book, Mr. Flint in Oz.

Note: Well written, action-packed adventure about the final return of Ruggedo and the discovery of Glinda’s long lost sister, Belinda.  This story follows the chronology established by Ray Powell in Mr. Flint in Oz and is contrary to Ruth Morris' excellent Dr. Angelina Bean in Oz

Note: First part of an as yet unpublished trilogy about those elusive flying monkeys.  Certain elements within the narrative are connected to Ray Powell’s work, Mr. Flint in Oz.

Note: Fantastic adventure of Gayelette and her impetuous attempt to become Good Witch of the North.  This enjoyable tale of the dis-enchantment of Oz continues a storyline set up in The Marvelous Monkeys of Oz (above) and includes an event from the spurious Dorothy's Mystical Adventures in Oz, although it is not necessary to have read either to enjoy Xiques' well-told and spirited tale. 

1989  

Note: Fun and fast paced tale that manages to bridge the gap between Susan Saunders’ Dorothy and the Magic Belt and certain events involving Mombi in the later FF.  This book also serves as a sequel to Acinad Goes to the Emerald City of Oz and The Magic Diamond of Oz, early Buckethead titles written by fourth and fifth graders.

Note: Sequel to The Colorful Kitten in Oz and Toto in Oz that brings together characters from several previous Buckethead entries.

Note: Several short stories make up this adventure that introduces the cuddly Skeeziques to Oz (Some of the short stories feature themes more suitable to a PG/PG-13 audience).  Many of the “Skeezique” books encompass the events told in Acinad Goes to the Emerald City of Oz, Magic Diamond of Oz and Enchanted Gnome of Oz.  Authors include Pam Baxter, Juan Reggiardo and Peter Sandbothe.

Note: Well-conceived sequel to Baum's short story, "The Littlest Giant in Oz."  Characters from Hurray for Oz and The Enchanted Gnome of Oz are mentioned.

1990  

Note: Considering the age of the author (11) at the time he wrote this story, it is a relatively well written adventure about Button-Bright, Trot and Cap’n Bill traveling with the Magic Umbrella.  There is a time travel scenario in which they rescue Ozma’s grandmother “Ozara”.  This story builds on the chronology established in Mr. Flint in Oz and includes references to Boz, Ozette and Belinda the GWN from The Enchanted Gnome of Oz.

Note: Rambunctious tale that follows the chronologies of Enchanted Gnome..., Acinad..., Magic Diamond... and Skeezik... and includes a time travel scenario where the characters meet up with all the witches in Oz back when they were teenagers learning magic in the same classroom together!

1991

Note: Ruggedo is back to conquer Oz again in this story that builds on the chronology of the 'Wiz Kids of Oz' books and Powell’s Mr. Flint in Oz.

Note: Well written tale starring Wooglet from Hugh Pendexter III’s Wooglet in Oz including characters and references from much of Buckethead’s output including Acinad..., Veggy Man..., Egor’s Funhouse Goes to Oz, Gannaway’s A Wonderful Journey in Oz and Baum’s A Short, Short Oz Story.  Excellent artwork by Marcus Mebes.

1991  

Note: Nice crossover tale of Perry Mason defending Ozma against the charge of practicing witchcraft in Oz.  This story contains situations and characters developed in the Wiz Kids of Oz books and Veggy Man in Oz.

Note: Zixi and some of the residents of the Lunechien Forest go on an adventure to save Oz.  Lurline and Santa play important roles as well.  Narrative incorporates textual histories of Acinad..., Magic Diamond..., and Mr. Flint in Oz.

1991 – 2896  The Umbrella Man in Oz

Note: Prequel to The Wooing of Ozma about a young Milo.  To read this story, you may email the author.  Click on the name above.

Note: First part of a series detailing the controversial subject of Ozma growing up and getting married.  Conceived around the same time as Hardenbrook's trilogy (above).

Note: Sequel to The Wooing of Ozma (above) finds Ozma and Milo battling to keep Oz and their love alive.

Note: Conclusion to the controversial trilogy involving Ozma's engagement and marriage. 

1992

Note: Building on the format of Skeezik and the Mys-Tree of Oz and The Magic Tapestry of Oz, this story continues the adventures of the Skeeziques and features several short stories within the framework of the main story.  PG/ PG-13 rating for some of these tales.  Authors include: Chris Dulabone, Rebecca Lumbert, Sarah Lumbert, Jason Gelt, and Derek Block.