Sherwood was the only Oz author that had been officially commissioned by the Baum Family Trust. Basically she was paid by the Baum estate to keep the Oz series going for a bit longer. She was intended to write four books, but due to publishing problems, it only ended up a trilogy.
Her additions to Oz were "The Emerald Wand of Oz" (2005), "Trouble Under Oz" (2006), and finally "Sky Pyrates over Oz" (2014). The three books took place in three different types of places: on land, underground, and in the sky. At the end of the third book, it is suggested that she might have wanted to do one that was underwater, but that, sadly, will never happen.
Sherwood Smith was not the first Royal Historian of Oz to make a multi-part Oz series. John R. Neill did it first with four books, all staring his personal character Jenny Jump. So what Sherwood did here was not completely unheard of. And yes, there was something that was far more grounded happening here. Having two sisters who were the descendants of Dorothy going to Oz for a number of adventures was very welcome.
Where Eric Shanower showed us that a horror story could work within the Oz universe, Sherwood Smith dared to show us the juxtaposition between our world and Oz. Life in this very real world is rough, and bad, unwanted things happen to us all the time. On top of that, it tends to be very boring and sad. The very fact that we have to read these books to get some of our enjoyment is a part of that aspect alone. Whereas in Oz, there are still bad things, but through the help of magic and strange friends, anything is possible. There is always hope in Oz.
The latter point seemed to be the crux of what made Sherwood's three stories so special. Many people have likely already thought this themselves. I did too when I wrote "Fairyland Detectives." But now this very real concept is a canon part of the Oz experience. The fact of the matter is that people who read Oz books generally do it because it tends to be more interesting than real life. This surly can apply to many other fantasy or science fiction books, but I think few other franchises have ever lasted as long as this one.
That's all I wanted to say on this matter. Sherwood Smith well-deserves to be listed as one of the great Royal Historians of Oz. The series may have ended with her, but she ended the series reminding us why Oz is so important to our lives. In some small way, these books give us hope that things may someday get better, or at the very least, a lot more interesting.
This blog was written on December 30, 2023.
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As a writer of weird fiction, I am mindful that the weirdness can be normalized. I try to emphasize the real world to keep the weirdness special. I embellish the interesting aspects of reality because they are not really that interesting. Sherwood Smith understands what I do, but she decided to overtly contrast fantasy and reality. Rather than embellish our world, she wrote, "This other world is better." I commend her for glorifying what is truly interesting.
ReplyDeleteI think we all have the ability to make our world a fairyland, but we are simply too unbelieving to do so.
DeleteIt's a shame Sherwood Smith couldn't get that fourth book published; But it's great that Smith contributed so much love and hope. Her contributions have done well to keep Oz alive.
ReplyDeleteI think she accomplish enough with the three she had. It still would have been interesting to see more.
DeleteHope is a precious thing. When it is lost, so much of your energy goes with it. A loss of morale can seriously jeopardize any undertaking.
ReplyDeleteSo true.
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