Oziana 2004 - The Twilight Issue

For the next few days, I'll talk about Oziana, the creative magazine of the International Wizard of Oz Club. The club launched the magazine in 1971 as a way for members to share their fictional work. It thus appeared near the beginning of the “fan fiction” movement (back when this form of writing might still be called “pastiche”).

Each annual issue of Oziana features the best available new Oz short fiction and poetry. Lately the magazines contain at least three original stories, fully illustrated in black and white, and a colorful cover.

As my bio to the right says, I’m currently the editor of the magazine. So while the Oz Club website is being revamped, I’ll use this blog as a platform to promote the authors and illustrators who’ve contributed their talents to recent issues.

Oziana 2004, “The Twilight Issue,” opens with “A Bungled Kidnapping in Oz,” an award-winning story by David Hulan with lively illustrations by John Mundt, Esq. Late one night, a mysterious figure breaks into the palace and renders Princess Ozma helpless; can the Glass Cat foil this villain?

“New Moon over Oz,” illustrated by Alexi Francis, is M. A. Berg’s a glowing prose poem about how different folks in the Emerald City view the crescent moon.

“Evrob & the Nomes,” which I wrote myself, follows a young prince of Ev down into the Nome Kingdom during a period of confusion after The Emerald City of Oz.

On the cover is “The Road through Oz,” wraparound artwork by Don Marquez portraying dozens of Oz favorites. So many he provided a key to all the characters for the magazine’s last page.

($5.00, 28 pages, 13,000 words. Order code O04 on the Oz Club order form.)