Not All of my Associates Write Potterfic

There are innumerable works which have inspired the writing of fanfic. Which has a long, and not necessarily dishonorable history. Most of the producers of medieval romance were spinning off what was effectively fanfic. The invention of the printing press only encouraged them further. And even the general adoption of the concept of copyright slowed them down only slightly. Especially whenever events coughed up an author, such as Mr A. Conan Doyle, who gave a blanket approval to the writing of fanfic based on his work. You could fill a library with the further adventures, exploits, and general carryings-on of Mr Sherlock Holmes.

Very nearly as old as Mr Holmes’s London is the World of Oz, created by Mr L. Frank Baum, in his classic American fairy tale; ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’, elaborated upon in dozens of official — and even more numerous unofficial — sequels. The “world” of Oz has been loved by millions of children (and ex-children) throughout the 20th and 21st centuries.

Two stories in the Red Hen Publications collection are set in the world of Oz. Both are by the same author; Mr David Hulan who is also the author of the novel; ‘The Glass Cat of Oz’ (Books of Wonder 1995). Mr Hulan also wrote several serialized stories published by Books of Wonder in ‘The Emerald City Mirror’. He has kindly given me permission to post these two stories on my site.

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Volume 1: Eureka In Oz

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How did Dorothy’s naughty kitten Eureka manage to get back to Oz, after Ozma banished her?

This paticular project was an exercise in trying to duplicate the overall “look and feel” of Reilly and Lee’s “official” series of Oz stories. The illustrations are adapted from public-domain work by John R. Neill, who illustrated every book in the series from L. Frank Baum’s ‘The Marvelous Land of Oz’, in 1904 until his own death in the 1940s. Accounting for 35 of the 40 “official” Oz books.

The Magic Carpet of Oz

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As we all know, the land of Oz is surrounded by a deadly desert. The touch of this desert’s poisonous sands will destroy all living flesh.

One of the magical treasures of Oz is Ozma’s magic carpet, which enables a party of any size to cross the desert (or any other hostile terrain) in safety.

However, what is likely to be the result if the carpet should be stolen while that party is on the other side of the desert? Why, they would need to get it back in order to get home, wouldn’t they?

And therein lies a story. This story.

The story was written for the Oz Centennial contest, and it was one of the five finalists.

Note: This is a 2nd edition of this publication. The graphics were extensively reworked and most of the illustrations replaced with new ones. The tale of why this was done is over in the Graphics collection.