Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 (Tek) 9/28/84 based on 9/17/84; site shark.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!bonnie!akgua!whuxlm!harpo!decvax!tektronix!orca!shark!hutch From: hutch@shark.UUCP (Stephen Hutchison) Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Subject: Re: The Oz canon and the film Message-ID: <1452@shark.UUCP> Date: Tue, 2-Jul-85 21:29:42 EDT Article-I.D.: shark.1452 Posted: Tue Jul 2 21:29:42 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 5-Jul-85 05:24:49 EDT References: <2409@topaz.ARPA> Reply-To: hutch@shark.UUCP (Stephen Hutchison) Organization: Tektronix, Wilsonville OR Lines: 34 Summary: In article <2409@topaz.ARPA> jsweet@uci-icsa writes: >From: Jerry Sweet> > >Book 41: a few months ago, I saw a book named "A Barnstormer In Oz", by >Philip Jose Farmer (I think--it sounds right, since he's the >self-appointed chronicler/perpetuator of a number of "mythologies"). >Anyone read it? > >-jns Yes, I read the thing. This is a spoiler, in case anyone cares. Farmer presents the story of a barnstormer (test pilot?) who disappears through a "dimensional gate" which is a few hundred feet above ground, open when certain wierd electrical conditions are met. His pilot has no particular personal charm. This individual discovers that Oz is a besieged place ruled by the iron hand of a sex-witch (Glinda) who uses her powers to hold off the influx of the energy creatures from the desert regions which surround the oasis of Oz. Every once in a while one of the less malevolent energy creatures inhabits some mechanism, like the tin statue, or the Barnstormer's airplane. Dorothy is postulated to be a young girl who was accidentally thrown into Oz by a tornado, and that Baum was a neighbor who got the story from her when she returned later, and adapted it into a series of children's fairy tales. The majority of the story concerns the interaction between the other-dimensional Oz and the American military. As usual, Farmer completely destroys the character of the stories, making something cheap, tawdry, and mildly pornographic out of the mileau of Oz. Hutch