Category: Books
-
Ozblogging: The Emerald City of Oz, Part 5
The Grand Tour of Oz concludes with a visit to the two "Defensive Settlements" of Oz. These are the towns inhabited by the Flutterbudgets and the Rigamaroles, respectively. Flutterbudgets are the easily-panicked people of Oz, who go into fits of terror worrying about everything bad which might happen. Their neighbors the Rigamaroles are calmer, but…
-
Ray Bradbury
I never met him, but that's not important. Most writers aren't especially interesting in person. The most fascinating parts of their lives happen inside their heads. Flamboyant characters are good material for writers, but seldom make good writers themselves. (Example: Christopher Marlowe had a romantic and exciting life, and got knifed to death before he…
-
Ozblogging: The Emerald City of Oz, Part 4
Dorothy and her traveling companions camp for the night after visiting the Fuddles, and we get to see the Wonderful Wizard do some actual wizarding. Agent Diggs is evidently a quick study, for in just a year of Glinda's tutoring he has mastered some pretty impressive magic. He's still a humbug at heart, though. His…
-
An Old-Fashioned Science Fiction Gathering (Day 2)
On Sunday the 27th, most of the participants rose early (since both the Hartwell and Cambias households involve young children who think that sleeping past 7:30 is "late"). We breakfasted at one of the inns in Westport called The Inn In Westport, then gathered again at the bookstore to watch David Hartwell interview Gregory Benford.…
-
An Old-Fashioned Science Fiction Gathering (Day 1)
Over the weekend of May 25-27 I was a guest of David Hartwell and Kathryn Cramer at their bookstore in Westport, NY. The occasion was a "mini-con" devoted to Hard Science Fiction. The headliner on the card was Gregory Benford, who inspired the theme of the weekend with his famous remark about writing Hard SF…
-
Ozblogging: The Emerald City of Oz, Part 3
Since Aunt Em and Uncle Henry have come to Oz for good, it only makes sense for them to see some of the country. Accordingly, Dorothy, the Wizard, Em and Henry, Omby Amby (the commander of Oz's all-officer Army), Billina the Hen, and the Shaggy Man all set out aboard a wagon drawn by the…
-
Ozblogging: The Emerald City of Oz, Part 2
Ozma uses her magic to summon Dorothy's Aunt Em and Uncle Henry right into her throne room. They are, understandably enough, completely freaked out by the sight of such an opulent room crowded with strange beings — including a gigantic lion and tiger. Dorothy reassures them that they're perfectly safe before either one can drop…
-
Ozblogging: The Emerald City of Oz, Part 1
The Emerald City of Oz (1910) was L. Frank Baum's sixth Oz book, and marks a major departure from the stock plot he used in the previous three stories. Where all the books after Land of Oz involve Dorothy traveling to Oz and having adventures en route, Emerald City permanently installs Dorothy and her family…
-
Posthegemony Shows Why Rules Don’t Matter
Game systems are overrated. Roleplaying game designers spend a lot of time and effort trying to create rules which replicate a specific fictional reality — or they take on the impossible task of creating rules which replicate real reality. They do research on the probability of hitting your target with an unaimed pistol shot at…
-
Ozblogging: The Road to Oz, Part 6
Party Like It's 1909! The guests begin to arrive for Ozma's birthday party, and L. Frank Baum demonstrates an early mastery of the Superhero Crossover subgenre. All the guests are either characters from other Oz books, or from some of Baum's non-Oz fantasies. This book solidly cements all of Baum's fantasies into a single fictional…
The Cambias Digression 