Influential Books: the Oz Books

Influential Books Feature

I’m writing periodic posts featuring books that have influenced me in some way at different times in my life, or in an ongoing manner. Today I’m talking about the Oz books by L. Frank Baum.

My First Oz Experience

When I was a little girl in East Tennessee, I was obsessed with the movie The Wizard of Oz. At that time we didn’t have cable TV, or even a VCR. It was the late 1970s. And the only time that I got to see the movie was with a channel special on regular antenna TV. I was transported and delighted, and almost believed that Oz was real.

I would pretend to be Dorothy, and pretend that the tulips in my parents garden were the poppies. I even got to go to the Land of Oz theme park in western North Carolina. Back then it was still open much of the year. These days it opens up for special events in autumn after a long hiatus, and I wish I could see it now over 40 years later.

Enter the Oz Books

But something changed the way I viewed the movie. My second oldest brother gave me a copy of the original book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. That was a turning point for me. For one thing, the slippers were silver and not ruby. And there were two good witches. The Good Witch of the North (Gillikin Country) was not Glinda; she was the Good Witch of the South (Quadling Country), and met much later in the book. There were other intriguing differences, like how each country in the land of Oz has a different color scheme. (Down to the houses, outfits, flowers, etc. in each country.)

But also, it was real. The Land of Oz was not Dorothy’s dream. She was actually taken there by a tornado. So once I learned that, I couldn’t really go back to the movie anymore. I liked the book better. And it was far more dangerous, and scary, quite like the old fairytales. I also loved that there were 13 other books written by L Frank Baum. Other writers were brought on to continue the Oz books after Baum’s death, but his 14 (plus collected Oz tales) are my favorite of the old classics. Eric Shanower has admirably taken the modern Oz throne with his gorgeous graphic novels and long-form novels based in Oz.

In all of Baum’s books, the girls and women are very strong characters; all of them brave, some of them leaders. I felt at ease when reading the Oz books, because I felt like I belonged there.

I spent a good bit of my childhood pretending that I was in Oz, or that I was traveling there. Because Dorothy goes back more than once. Eventually, she also moved there, and becomes a princess, granted by the leader of Oz, Ozma of Oz.

The books are absolutely insane, incredibly imaginative and often over the top. Sometimes they’re downright disturbing. But nobody could top L. Frank Baum’s imagination. So I leaned into that hard. I thought, if he could invent things like that, then there’s no reason I couldn’t invent some wild stuff myself. (Books of Wonder has them all.)

Some of the Oz References in THE QUESTRISON SAGA

So, when I eventually wrote my space opera series The Questrison Saga (written under my alt pen name J. Dianne Dotson), I made sure to give nods to the Oz books, particularly in books 2-4 (HELIOPAUSE, the first book of the four, is less overt in that regard, but I won’t spoil it, because there are some definite fantasy elements thrown into its sci-fi). There’s a little bit of Ozma blended with Polychrome in Galla-Deia; and she has Dorothy’s naïve pluck as well. (Her bot Pliip in EPHEMERIS is a bit of a nod to Toto; much later in the series she does get a doglike companion, Nalag.) There are a couple of wizards: Aeriod, Prince Hazkinaut (in ACCRETION), and the most Oz-like wizard of all, Gindoo (hard G), who debuts in LUMINIFEROUS. Emeralds don’t take center stage in the saga, but the diamethyst does; it looks like amethyst but holds unimaginable power. There’s even a mysterious copper city called Trozzhia in my finale Questrison Saga book, LUMINIFEROUS. Which, if you look closely at Trozzhia, it contains the name Oz. And I’ve sprinkled many Oz references throughout my books. THE SHADOW GALAXY alone contains several short stories ranging from fairy tales to horror; honestly, L. Frank Baum taught me well in that regard. My Nebula and BSFA Award finalist book, THE INN AT THE AMETHYST LANTERN, as well as its sequel THE SECRET OF THE SAPPHIRE SENTINEL (autumn 2025), also evoke the Oz books with magic, a good witch, gemstones, science thrown in, talking animals, and coming-of-age tales.

I can definitely say that the Oz books are my favorite fairy tales. I know they also influenced other science fiction authors like Ray Bradbury himself.

I will always hold a special place in my heart for all things Oz. And I even have my own Oz book in the works!

Write on!

Jendia