Oz Reimagined

New Tales from the Emerald City and Beyond

By: Douglas Cohen - editor, John Joseph Adams - editor

Narrated by: Nick Podehl, Tanya Eby

Length: 10 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

When L. Frank Baum introduced Dorothy and friends to the American public in 1900, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz became an instant, best-selling hit. Today the whimsical tale remains a cultural phenomenon that continues to spawn wildly popular books, movies, and musicals. Now, editors John Joseph Adams and Douglas Cohen have brought together leading fantasy writers such as Orson Scott Card and Jane Yolen to create the ultimate anthology for Oz fans.

Stories include:

• Frank Baum's son has the real experiences that his father later fictionalized in Orson Scott Card's "Off to See the Emperor".
• Seanan McGuire's "Emeralds to Emeralds, Dust to Dust" finds Dorothy grown up, bitter, and still living in Oz. And she has a murder to solve – assuming Ozma will stop interfering with her life long enough to let her do her job.
• In "Blown Away", Jane Yolen asks: What if Toto was dead and stuffed, Ozma was a circus freak, and everything you thought you knew as Oz was really right here in Kansas?
• "The Cobbler of Oz" by Jonathan Maberry explores a Winged Monkey with wings too small to let her fly. Her only chance to change that rests with the Silver Slippers.
• Tad Williams's futuristic "The Boy Detective of Oz", in which Orlando investigates the corrupt Oz simulation of the Otherland network.
• Dorothy and friends plotting to escape a mental hospital in Robin Wasserman's unsettling "One Flew Over the Rainbow".
• An adventurous girl, drawn to China's revolutionary protests of 1919, discovering another dimension in Ken Liu's fanciful "The Veiled Shanghai".

Some stories are dystopian…Some are dreamlike…All are undeniably Oz.

Includes stories by these authors: Dale Bailey, Orson Scott Card, Rae Carson, David Farland, C.C. Finlay, Jeffrey Ford, Theodora Goss, Simon R. Green, Kat Howard, Ken Liu, Seanan McGuire, Jonathan Maberry, Rachel Swirsky, Robin Wasserman, Tad Williams, Jane Yolen.

©2013 John Joseph Adams and Douglas Cohen (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Revisiting L. Frank Baum's Oz with all-new stories, this anthology showcases up-and-coming talents as well as acclaimed writers such as Jane Yolen and Tad Williams.... This anthology will appeal to Oz lovers looking for new perspectives." ( Publishers Weekly)

I love this book.

I really enjoyed listening to these stories. The narrator's are really good at drawing you in. I wish some of them could be longer.

Fantastic!

I love “reimagined” stories, and there are lots of them out there these days. At least 90% of the stories in this book were really great, one or two not so much. Written by a number of headline authors, with wonderful narration by Nick Podehl and Tanya Eby. I got to read/listen for free through my Kindle Unlimited subscription but, gosh darn, I’m going to have to buy it now because I want to listen again and read it in the printed ebook form. The ebook offers cool illustrations at the beginning of each story as well, so don’t miss that! ☺️

The Many Faces of Dorothy or Dot

YOU CAN ONLY FIND OZ WITHOUT A MAP
Most of these stories are about Dorothy or Dot as she is called in a lot of the stories. There are a couple of stories that don't include Dorothy but most have her in one form or another. Oz is in most stories and usually he is the bad guy. Here are just some of the many faces of Dorothy you will meet. Gay Dorothy, General Dorothy, Nursing Home Dorothy, Sim Dorothy, Techno Mage Dorothy, Dorothy the Witch, Dorothy of the Mental Ward, Chinese Dorothy, Contestant Dorothy, Savior Dorothy, Murderer Dorothy and A Dorothy to end all Dorothys. STORIES ARE MADE UP, EXCEPT WHEN THEY ARE NOT.

In the fashion of the Bug Eyed Monster, here are the table of Contents, but with the grade I felt they deserved.

Introductions:

Oz and Ourselves by Gregory Maguire (B-)
There's No Place Like Oz by John Joseph Adam and Douglas Cohen (B)

Stories:
The Great Zeppelin Heist of Oz by Rae Carson and C.C. Finlay (B)
Emeralds To Emeralds, Dust to Dust by Seanan McGuire (C)
Lost Girls of Oz by Theodora Goss (C+)
The Boy Detective of Oz, An Otherland Story by Tad Williams (C+)
Dorothy Dreams by Simon R. Green (B)
Dead Blue by David Farland (B+)
One Flew Over The Rainbow by Robin Wasserman (A)
The Veiled Shanghai by Ken Liu (B)
Beyond the Naked Eye by Rachel Swirsky (D)
A Tornado of Dorthys by Kat Howard (B-)
Blown Away by Jane Yolen (B)
City So Bright by Dale Bailey (A-)
Off To See the Emperor by Orson Scott Card (B+)
A Meeting in Oz by Jeffrey Ford (B+)
The Cobbler of Oz by Jonathan Maberry (B)

The Narrators are good and the production is professional.

IT'S HARD WORK BEING OLD.

Not bad

An enjoyable collection of short stories by popular authors based on the Wizard of Oz. Some flesh out parts of the story, others completely redefine the classic tale in one way or another. Not bad.