T.K. Wade -- Author: June 2023

Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Forbidden Fountain of Oz [Book Review]

[Contains spoilers for a book nobody reads anymore.]

"The Forbidden Fountain of Oz" is the forty-third book in the Oz series founded by L. Frank Baum. It was written by Eloise Jarvis McGraw and Lauren Lynn McGraw. The book was published in 1980. Oh, how far I've come.

The story here details how a lemonade accident causes Princess Ozma to drink from the Forbidden Fountain which contains the Waters of Oblivion. Anyone who drinks this water ends up losing all of their memories. They can't even remember who they are. Once this happens, she ends up fleeing the Emerald City and changes her princess outfit for a shepherd boy's. Interestingly enough, this ends up making her look just like Tip which was a boy she had once been transformed into.

Once she goes missing, everyone thinks she has been kidnapped, including Kabumpo the elephant. A rescue attempt is made by Kabumpo which ends up leading to one of his best adventures yet. I really do love that character, and this was a great representation.

Ozma also makes two new companions. She finds Toby who is a witless highwayman who turns body guard. She also finds a white lamb named Lambert who would rather be any other color than white.

From here, we have a hilarious story with a comedy of errors and misconceptions. Kabumpo thinks Ozma has been kidnapped and enchanted by Toby and has to try and kidnap her back, while the senseless Ozma thinks the elephant is trying to capture her and steal her away from her friends. Nobody quite knows what is going on, and that is what makes this story so much fun. The only person who truly gets it is the reader.

This is the very last canon Oz story that was written before I was born, and it is a huge recommend. Everything about it was satisfying. There was even a creepy toymaker that captures people and turns them into clockworks. Really good stuff, and I liked everything about it. A must read.

This blog was written on June 5, 2023.

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Monday, June 26, 2023

Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Thing [Book Review]

"The Thing" is a novel written by Alan Dean Foster. It was published in 1982 alongside the movie of the same name. It is far more based on the film's story than the original story "Who Goes There?" which got this whole thing started. I've already written a review of "Who Goes There?" so I won't dwell too much on it.

This book was a teeny bit difficult to get ahold of. It's considered a collectable now, and that is mainly because the movie it was based on is considered one of the best horror movies ever made. Whenever that happens, the literature adaptation tends to get bought up by collectors. I did find a way to read it digitally though with the help of a friend.

This version is so much better written then "Who Goes There?" which tended to lean too heavily on dialog to make its point. Alan did a great job in just telling the story though an equal mix of narrative and dialog which brought the whole story to life. Really quite good.

The story is something you may already know, but I'll summarize it like this: a extraterrestrial creature that can copy living beings is hiding among a group of people in Antarctica. It's very selectively trying to kill and copy them with the end goal to get into the main body of the human race and essentially replace them over time. The idea that any one of your companions might not be himself leads to paranoia, and that concept is the very core of what makes "The Thing" so interesting.

The book is very well written, and I am so happy I had the chance to read the adaptation of my favorite horror movie. I had a difficult time separating the different people apart in the original short story, but Alan did this amazing repetitious thing where he would constantly mention the profession of each man so you could tell them apart. It was a brilliant idea, and he deserves so much credit for it.

If you can get a hold of this book, I would highly recommend you go for it. It's a bit of a rarity these days, but that happened for a reason. It's probably the best literary version of this phenomenon and it may also be based on an early version of the script too. I noticed some interesting callbacks to the old 50's movie (which wasn't very good) that added a nice touch to the telling. Definitely check this one out if you can.

This blog was written on May 24, 2023.

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Wednesday, June 21, 2023

Fairy Tale Spotlight: 2010: Odyssey Two [Book Review]

"2010: Odyssey Two" is a novel written by Arthur C. Clarke. It was published in 1982. It also got it's own movie, but I haven't seen it yet. I plan on seeing it soon though.

Apparently, Arthur had no plans on making a sequel to "2001: A Space Odyssey" originally. He even called it "impossible." I'm glad he finally did though, because this one ended up exposing even more of the atheistic viewpoints of the world elitists.

Oh, but yes, this book is a science fiction. It's hard science fiction. The whole story is about trying to figure out what happened to David Bowman in the first book, who basically turned into a higher form of life, what we call today "transhuman." And like the first book, much of it is just very cool descriptions of speculative deep space flight. All this is great and makes the book a lot of fun to read.

But probably the most shocking thing about this story is how shamelessly the author owns both atheism and Satanism at the very same time. And in many ways, this book even acknowledges that there is a God while rejecting it at the same time. I could almost see the author grinning proudly as he wrote that absolutely wonderful final chapter (which I had to show to all my friends.)

I was already thinking this, but this book has further convinced me that the elitist people in this world really are just serving Lucifer, while almost jokingly denouncing that there is a God. At the very least, they see Him as an annoying meddler that only gets in the way of real human advancement.

Oh, and by the way, I actually do recommend this book. It's very good. Some of the best science fiction content I have ever read. It is well worth your time regardless if you are a Christian or an atheist. It will, at least, show you how these people think. At most, you will end up with a great scifi story that will challenge the imagination in all the right ways.

Kudos to Arthur C. Clarke for completely owning his beliefs in this book. I am actually proud of him for doing so, where so many people in his field beat around the damn bush!

This blog was written on May 20, 2023.

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Monday, June 19, 2023

Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Swiss Family Robinson [Book Review]

[This blog spoils a few things about the book.]

"The Swiss Family Robinson" or "Adventures in a Desert Island" is a book written by Johann David Wyss. It was published in 1812. I did my best to find the earliest translation of this. There's been a lot of versions of this story that have been abridged and re-written, some of which was done to make it more politically correct. I am more than sure I got the right version.

The story is about a family that gets shipwrecked on a desert island and have to survive alone for a number of years. This family is intensely Christian. In fact, I believe the father, who writes the narrative, is a Christian pastor. Throughout the book, everything is put through a Christian filter, and that really isn't a bad thing. I wasn't really offended by any of it.

The Robinsons really made out pretty well, I gotta say. After all, they started off with a ship full of stuff. On that, the ship did not just sink. It got wedged between two rocks. All they had to do was keep going back and forth for supplies. Not a bad start actually. There was also the issue of them being amazingly educated. Both the father and the children were more than prepared for this adventure. In four years, they were running that dang island.

Kids are so stupid today. I remember that my school tried there best to fill my head with knowledge, but I just didn't want any of it. If I end up on a desert island, I am so screwed. I really should have paid more attention. I can barely survive outside of air conditioning.

The wonderful thing about this book is, though they are constantly hit with trials... everything really worked out great. And bad things happened all the time. The point is that they gave themselves to God... and God never challenged them beyond what they were capable of. In the end, they made that island so much of a great place to live that they ultimately just decide to stay there. Imagine that.

All in all, I liked "The Swiss Family Robinson." I recommend it. Just keep in mind that this book is the opposite of politically correct. Like if you are looking for something that is politically correct, this is absolutely the wrong book. It is an absolutely shameless pro-Christian book, and I loved it.

This blog was written on May 10, 2023.

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Wednesday, June 14, 2023

Fairy Tale Spotlight: A Murder in Oz [Short Story Review]

[This blog contains spoilers for a story nobody reads anymore.]

"A Murder in Oz" is a short story written by Jack Snow. It was published in 1958 after the man's death. Although it is not a complete book, it is considered one of the few canonized Oz stories falling into the timeline between "The Hidden Valley of Oz" and "Yankee in Oz."

The story opens with the main cast of Oz characters discussing the idea of murder and if anyone could actually be murdered in Oz. There has never actually been a murder in Oz since all living parts continue to keep living separately, even in a destroyed state.

Soon after this discussion commences, Ozma literally dies, which is unprecedented in the whole of Oz canon. After the Wizard checks on her, he claims that she did not just die... she was murdered. This leads into a sort of "who-dun-it" scenario.

Now, after a small investigation, the Wizard figures out that the only way Ozma could have been murdered was if she had done it herself... a sort of fairy suicide. However, it is soon realized that it was not particularly her who did it... but Tip. In "The Marvelous Land of Oz," the second book in the series, Tip was an adventurous boy who gets transformed into Ozma, who is absolutely female in every way. Tip's spirit finally rejects being female and kills her, taking his place as a boy once more.

After realizing the truth of this, The Wizard makes plans to make it so that both people can live separate lives in the land of Oz, although the story ends before any of this is realized.

The weird thing that happened to Tip/Ozma in the second book has been a thing of controversy and contention ever since it happened. Baum never really bothered to deal with the issue that a character who clearly existed was suddenly and completely another very different person. It was almost as if Tip himself was murdered. I admit to being one of those people who felt this way. It has been on my mind for over a decade.

Jack Snow was a very miserable and depressed person who became so obsessed with the Oz universe that it ended up leading to an early death. He drank himself to death. He died at 48. Many believe that he had some sort of gender dysphoria where he may have been either gay or saw himself as a female trapped in a male body. In the age he lived in, he must have felt trapped with nobody to listen to him, and so he dove headlong into the world of Oz where transformations were commonplace.

Believe it or not, this is actually a fairly common thing. Oz has been a sanctuary for people with upset minds like Jack Snow. I found out about this some time ago. Oz seems like it has near infinite possibilities and naturally a solution for all problems. Heck, the Wizard himself invented an actual wishing pill that can solve any problem by simply swallowing it.

I know this is kind of a sad way to end this review. I just wanted you to know Jack's story. As far as "A Murder in Oz," I do recommend it, but it is very hard to find. I had to pull a lot of strings just for the privilege of reading it. It goes down as one of the best Oz stories ever written and ultimately ties up an open end that was lingering in the series for far too long.

I do also want to say that, even though he has not written many Oz stories, Jack Snow is the only author I have read so far that is every bit as good if not better than L. Frank Baum himself. The man obsessed so much over Baum's universe that he ended up being the perfect spiritual successor to the original man who created it. The quality and love is so clearly there, and I am so incredibly thankful for what very little he did for the franchise.

This blog was written on May 9, 2023.

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Monday, June 12, 2023

Fairy Tale Spotlight: 'Tis the Season to Be Jelly [Short Story Review]

[I spoil the main points of this story.]

"'Tis the Season to Be Jelly" is a short story written by Richard Matheson. It was published in 1963. It is also the last of his stories I will be reading for a while.

Honestly, I didn't know what was going on for most of this story. I think it was by design. The story is written in extreme hillbilly dialect. It was very hard to translate what was being said in the dialog.

Much of it was the bickering between a mother, father, and an uncle. There is a son there too who has the same speech impediment. From what I can understand, the son was talking about how much he loved his girlfriend and how they might end up getting hitched. There was mixed approval for this it seems.

Now the very first thing that happens in the story is that the father's nose falls off into his food, and he gets ridiculed for it. I also noticed that the son had a problem with his leg falling out of joint. They were also all eating mushy food, basically jelly. At the end of the story, when he finally meets his girlfriend, he dances for joy which causes his legs to just fall off completely. "What the heck is going on here?" I said to myself.

And then it hit me. They don't have teeth. I don't think they have hair either. Their bodies are all failing and falling apart. That's not a hillbilly dialect; it's a toothless dialect. They have no teeth. This is a family friendly love story set in a post nuclear holocausts. Matheson was incredibly subtle on this point, but there are enough clues to pick up on it. He barely talks about the world they are in. He mainly sticks to the people. I do think its interesting that he leaves it up to the reader to solve this odd puzzle.

As to a recommendation, I am not sure what I should do with "'Tis the Season to Be Jelly." On the one hand, it is kind of clever in its construction, but you might find the toothless dialect annoying. You might want to decide for yourself on this one. Anyways, that's enough Richard Matheson for me. Time to move on.

This blog was written on May 7, 2023.

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Wednesday, June 7, 2023

Fairy Tale Spotlight: The Jazz Machine [Short Story Review]

[The basic plot points of this story are spoiled.]

"The Jazz Machine" is a short story written by Richard Matheson. It was published in 1963.

So... I'm just going to spoil this story. It details how a black man who plays the trumpet gets an offer from a white man who claims to have invented a machine that can translate "jazz" as if it was its own language. And it very well may be it's own language when you consider how expressive it is. So this part is actually interesting.

But after testing the invention out, the black man destroys the machine in a fit of rage. He does it because it works. The machine was essentially none of the white man's business for poking around in a language that wasn't his own. There are other nuances here, but I just don't care enough to explain them to you.

The real problem with the story isn't the story itself... it's how it was written. "The Jazz Machine" is 100% written in beatnik lingo. I hate it. It was nearly impossible to read. I actually got a headache from it. What might have been an interesting story was stunted by a language that was outdated. People might have read this in the 60's and saw something in it, but I care nothing for it today.

I think it is safe to say that I do not recommend "The Jazz Machine" at all. Skip it. Matheson is actually a great writer deserving of your respect. I am pretty sure he has proven that by now. But this one... no. He clearly made a mistake. It's garbage.

This blog was written on May 6, 2023.

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Monday, June 5, 2023

Fairy Tale Spotlight: Clothes Make the Man [Short Story Review]

[This blog spoils the main points of the story.]

"Clothes Make the Man" is a short story written by Richard Matheson, and it was published in 1951. It is a very short one from the author, and I was able to finish it in one sitting.

This one felt like a sillier take on "Shock Wave," with Matheson obsessing about inanimate objects becoming sentient. In the case of "Shock Wave" it was a church organ. In this story, it was a suit of tailored clothes.

The idea here is that a man is not a man unless he is dressed well. The strange thing that happens in this story is that his wonderful clothing becomes sentient and abandons him, causing the poor guy to be left a complete loser. It even steals his wife away from him, leaving him completely cucked by his own outfit. Very droll, but also very silly.

That's really the whole thing. I found it a bit too hard to explain the story without talking about what actually happens. It's also a bit too difficult to avoid just up and saying that a guy gets cucked by the clothing he wears. That's pretty funny, you have to admit.

Even so, I do recommend "Clothes Make the Man." It was pretty funny and doesn't outlive its welcome. It's not to be taken seriously though.

This blog was written on May 5, 2023.

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