The Haunted Castle of Oz – A Review

            I recently read another novel out of The Royal Publisher of Oz, The Haunted Castle of Oz by Marcus Mebes, and illustrated by Kamui Ayami. One of the first things you’ll probably notice about the book are the illustrations, in fact, which are comparable to the classic Oz books. I really enjoyed them, and they keep the character designs of John R. Neill. The Haunted Castle of Oz is, as the title suggests, rather dark for an Oz book that keeps to the canon of the original books, but that just so happens to be right up my ally anyway. There were a couple parts that shocked me. It’s for the more mature fans of the books. Unlike something like Dorothy Must Die or Wicked it doesn’t feel the need to change Oz in any way just to tell a darker story, which I certainly appreciate. This is still very much the same Oz from the classic books. I will try not to spoil too much in this review, and I’ll leave out the major twists in the story, but be warned for some slight spoilers.

            The book has two parts. In Part I, there have been sightings of a ghost in the Emerald Palace, which is especially strange because no one has died in Oz since Ozma took the throne (in fact no one can die). This leaves the leadership of Oz puzzled. Ozma wishes to help the ghost, so she enlists the help of Dorothy, Betsy, Trot and Button-Bright, four children who immigrated to Oz from the outside world in the early 20^th century (this story takes place in more recent times). While pulling an all-nighter, the immortal children finally encounter the “ghost”, who reveals that he is a magical projection from a kingdom called Flora, which appears to be in a different dimension from Oz. He is Terrence, the prince of Flora. He wishes to usurp his uncle Gorsbenor, an evil king who killed Terrence’s parents to steal the throne, and then turned the citizens of Flora into his undead army. Terrence plans to do this by marrying a princess, which would qualify him to be a king and therefore seize the throne. Helping him is a wizard named Necronimus, a reformed former necromancer, who wanted to send Terrence to a kingdom that had spare princesses. It just so happens Dorothy was made a princess long ago, so he asks Dorothy for her hand in marriage (it helps to remember that Dorothy is over a century old, despite looking about ten years old, so she’s actually far older than Terrence). If this sounds a bit too naïve of a plan to actually work, it is, because as soon as the King finds out about these visitors, he sends soldiers to break into Terrence’s room and imprison them. Luckily Button-Bright escapes due to his impeccable ability to get lost, and manages to rescue the others. They make it back to Oz, although Terrence, Necronimus and a boy who works in the castle named Christian, can only exist in Oz in a ghostly form. They are nonetheless invited to stay in Oz. This brings us to the end of Part I.

            In Part II, two years later, Ozma realizes how unhappy the visitors from Flora are and how they haven’t managed to adjust to living in Oz. She decides it best to send a small army of characters from both L. Frank Baum’s and Ruth Plumly Thompson’s Oz books (as well as a surprising appearance from Zim, a character from The Seven Blue Mountains of Oz by Dorothy Grandy, a recent and very much still under copyright series of Oz books, who I’m told appears by permission) into Flora to help free it of its tyrant king, so that Terrence, Necronimus and Christian can return. I won’t spoil it from here as there are many surprising turns the story takes from this point on, but I will say that soon enough this group of misfits has to contend with the king’s undead army, and the mission proves far more difficult than they'd anticipated. Part II has far more mature themes than the first part, but it is very exciting.

            It was overall a fun read, and it was nice to see all my favorite Oz characters together again for a fresh and more modern adventure. It almost had the feel of a crossover due to how Oz contrasts with Flora, except the Kingdom of Flora isn't from an existing franchise. The book reads like a modern fantasy novel, and much as I’ve felt while reading other modern Oz works such as Sherwood Smith’s Oz books and to an extent the Dorothy Must Die series by Danielle Page, it’s satisfying to see these classic characters star in a modern adventure. It in fact keeps continuity not only with the original books but with many of the modern canon-friendly Oz books put out by The Royal Publisher of Oz as well; for example, I was surprised to see the reappearance of Tommy Kwikstep and General Jinjur’s son Perry, who, in a short story by Jay Davis included in The Lost Tales of Oz, become a couple. I noticed allusions to other more modern tales from Oz as well. This makes all of these stories including The Haunted Castle of Oz part of an ongoing Oz continuity that dates back to the original 40 books. It’s exciting to see the story continue and I’d like to think perhaps L. Frank Baum would be pleased that the universe he created is still going strong over a century after his death.  As a result of this continuity though, I will say it is probably best enjoyed by those familiar with the original series. Not that you couldn’t pick this book up and enjoy it without knowing about the Ruth Plumly Thompson Oz books and such, but it’s definitely a bonus if you are already familiar with them. Overall, I strongly recommend reading The Haunted Castle of Oz, it’s now one of my favorite modern Oz books.

Thoughts on “The Dummy That Lived” by L. Frank Baum

            In my quest to further my knowledge of L. Frank Baum’s writing outside of the Oz series, I recently looked at American Fairy Tales, a short story collection from 1901. A story that immediately caught my eye was “The Dummy That Lived”. Like essentially all of his output, it's freely available and public domain.

             

 I’ve long had a fascination with stories about mannequins which come to life. I first encountered the concept in The Twilight Zone, in the episode “The After Hours”, about a woman who is a living dummy but doesn’t know it, and has to be reminded by the other dummies in a department store. Another work I like that uses this concept is Kraftwerk’s song “Showroom Dummies” (embedded above). In this song, a group of mannequins in the window of a shop come to life, break the glass in the window, and walk to a dance club where they dance. It’s a suitable song to be sung by a group that often masqueraded as robots and put on concerts and interviews with robotic counterparts. I’ve seen several other media use this concept, such as an episode of Doctor Who and the music video for "Instant Crush" by Daft Punk. L. Frank Baum’s story, however, predates all of the examples I know by more than half a century. Did he come up with this concept? Was his story the first? I suppose it is predated by Pinocchio, but then again, that was a puppet coming to life, not a store mannequin. Baum was quite the innovator, and did provide early examples of robots, cell phones, and the concept of fantasy world building in his writing, so maybe he created this concept as well.

            The story is about a mischievous elf named Tanko-Mankie, who just for fun breathes life into a mannequin in a store window. This mannequin is at first baffled by her sudden consciousness. She eventually escapes the store and tries her best to blend in with society, walking through town and into a coffee shop (only to burn her lip and decide she doesn’t like coffee), ending up being hit by a car (to the horror of witnesses who see her caved-in skull; luckily she doesn’t feel pain) and thrown in a jail cell, before the elf takes her life from her again. Bringing inanimate objects to life is a theme that shows up often in the Oz books written after this story as well (the mannequin character brings to mind Jack Pumpkinhead and Scraps the Patchwork Girl, specifically), and it seems like something Baum thought about a lot. It’s a story that can force the reader to dwell on their own existence and question what it means to be alive.

I relate to this poor mannequin. I’ll often be walking around, baffled by my own existence, attempting to interact with other human beings but not really knowing how, just trying to copy what other people do and hope it goes over well. But the story really has universal appeal. Aren’t we all in the same sort of predicament; finding ourselves alive in a strange world that makes little logical sense, doing our best to fit in with it, not always doing a good job of it, only to one day be inevitably stripped of our brief consciousness? Is this curse of self-awareness and consciousness, which seems unique to our species, merely a trick that was pulled on us by a mischievous cosmic entity, like Tanko-Mankie? This story is really a metaphor for the human condition. When we look up at the night sky, at all of the stars and constellations, we really don’t know much more about our vast universe than the dummy knew looking out the shop window after just becoming conscious.

Thoughts on the July 2020 Armenia-Azerbaijan Border Tensions

            I don't really want to write about this, but it's been stressing me out all week and interfering with my creativity, so I think I will address it and get it off my chest so I can work on other things. As you may or may not have heard (depending on who’s reading this, although somewhat surprisingly it does seem that the US media finally has picked up this story), Azerbaijan’s president-for-life Ilham Aliyev, who’s totally not a fascist dictator or anything, needed to distract his populace from the country’s corona-induced economic slump, so they attacked Armenia’s northeast border in the Tavush province, shelling civilian targets in villages, and blamed Armenia for starting it. Now Azeris apparently are taught from pre-school up that Armenians are evil, so they took the bait and actually believe Armenia started the attack, and started a huge pro-war protest in their capital of Baku demanding a renewed war and “death to Armenians” (and from videos I saw, most of them weren’t wearing masks, so that’s a special little bonus). Don’t these people ever get tired of losing? There’s never been such a hateful and racist protest in Armenia, mind you. “Death to Azeris” has never been a mainstream opinion in Armenia. After this, Azerbaijan’s foreign minister threatened that they have the capability to launch missiles at Armenia’s Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant. Of course, this would render not only Armenia, but Azerbaijan itself, Georgia, half of Turkey, northern Iran and southern Russia uninhabitable for centuries. So, either he was completely talking out his ass, or he’s a complete moron. This has served to make Azerbaijan look even more like an aggressor on the international arena, and it seems that most Western countries are taking Armenia’s side on the issue from the looks of things. It’s common knowledge that they could target these areas, but you don’t say that publicly. And I doubt that the Armenian military is leaving such a target wide open in the first place. In any case Azerbaijan has taken on far more casualties thus far, losing soldiers, tanks and drones. As usual when they do this sort of thing.

            Anyway, that’s my summary of what’s been going on. I of course have my biases, as evidenced by my summary above. I refuse to trust Azeri news sources for the simple fact that they come from a totalitarian fascist government that makes hatred and scapegoating part of its domestic policy. That's not to say Armenian news is perfect, who knows if we're really getting the whole story from either side, but objectively speaking if I had to choose between the two narratives I'll go with the Armenian one. But if you’ve been reading my blogs as of late, my recent existential awakening has made me view this all differently than I would have a few years ago. I now recognize nationalism as nothing but a made-up human construct used as population control, and this is especially true of totalitarian dictatorships such as Azerbaijan. It really has no more meaning than being loyal to a football team. If you really contemplate the universe and existence itself, you'll see that. I feel that Armenian nationalism has to exist as a self-defense against the Pan-Turkish genocidal aspirations of its neighbors to the east and west, but I also see it for the abstraction that it is. Maybe I haven't completely let go of it either, and maybe I don't need to. I don't see Armenians as either superior or inferior to other nationality or ethnicity. But as a group, they are ancient and have endured a lot. The Turkic people, much like the Europeans in the Americas, arrived later as colonizers. This doesn't necessarily make those alive today inherently bad or good, it simply is. Although some historic injustices as a result of that history of colonization and genocide deserve to be made right. As for the common people of Azerbaijan, it’s not their fault they’ve been brainwashed since childhood. Societal brainwashing is a powerful thing, and you definitely see it in the United States too. They don’t realize that they’re merely being controlled and used by their government, who is their real enemy. I really don’t bear them ill-will per se, it’s their nationalist ideology and their government I despise. Nationalism itself is a disease that infects the Caucasus region, and there’s never going to be peace until that nationalism is done away with. I don’t know what that’s going to take. Hopefully it won’t take the entire region being reduced to a radioactive crater.

             

At any rate, I’ll leave you with a video that explains the situation quite well, with added humor. Humor definitely helps. This may not be an unbiased news report, but unbiased news reports don't actually exist if you think about it.

Top 3 Songs of the Month – July 2020/ Հրոտից 4512 – Forever Grey, Velvet Acid Christ, Tearful Moon

                Yep, it's time for this again. Except, by extraordinary coincidence, all the bands are American this month. 

We have made it to July. Here in Florida rainy season is in full gear. The thunderstorms are the only advantage to summer, as usual. So, I still don’t have the coronavirus, but we’ll see what happens. Florida gets like 10,000 cases a day. Wonder when my number will come up.  Besides working on my art and parenting I really haven’t been up to much as of late. This is the last full month in the ancient Armenian calendar that I follow, by the way, with an extra 6 days before August 11^th, which is Navasard, the New Year. So, all of you bashing 2020, I get to end my year early. Still got the second wave of the coronavirus and the awful US elections to look forward to next year in 4513 though.

I have been working on a short story for a contest, my forthcoming webcomic (I finished penciling the first episode last month, as you may remember me saying on the blog before, but coloring and digital inking is taking a while); and a week or so ago I felt like writing a poem for the first time in a long while, which I did. I’m thinking of submitting it to different places, which is why you probably won’t be seeing it on this blog, except maybe years from now. As for the blog, I have a few ideas. I don’t know for sure what my next one will be, but I just read a pretty good Oz book, which I may review. Other topics I may cover this month include the Armenian holiday of Vardavar on the 19^th, my 2015 trip to my grandfather’s village of Shvanidzor (I don’t want to make promises), some more mixtape playlists, perhaps 1988 in Music, and whatever else strikes my fancy.

            Lately my musical tastes have been as dark and gothy as ever. Specifically I’ve been into darkwave, with acoustic guitars, slow tempo and gloomy vocals. Depressing music for nonconformists. I mean I wouldn’t say I’ve been into this music because I’m particularly depressed over anything specific, other than just the state of the world, I guess. It has just kind have been my mood lately. It’s been a welcome distraction from the music my 1 ½ year old likes to listen to on loop over and over day in day out (pop music, Armenian folk pop, children’s music, some 80’s pop and 70’s funk…yeah it’s really hard to get him to like my type of music, he has a mind of his own and has to hear a song maybe 20 times in a row before he might start liking it). I’ve been supporting obscure, underground bands on Bandcamp since I know they can’t tour right now, sad as that is.

Forever Grey – The Style is Death

 

I’ve had my eye on this band for the past few months, but this is a song I only heard for the first time a few days ago, but it’s already climbed my charts.  Forever Grey is a darkwave band out of my home state of California, in Los Angeles. This song is already four years old, as the album it’s on, Alabaster Chamber, came out in 2016. They’ve had more recent albums since. The lyrics don’t make a whole lot of sense to be honest, but I just like the sound of the song. “False truth or fake hope. We say yes to death.”

Anyway, you can find their album here: https://forevergrey.bandcamp.com/album/alabaster-chamber

Velvet Acid Christ – Futile 98

             

I have a history with this band. I recorded the song “Fun With Drugs” on my first mixtape back in 1999 off the radio, way before I was into that type of music. It was more than a decade before I found out what band had made that song. I finally went ahead and bought the album “Fun With Drugs” had come on just recently, Fun With Knives. It was a remastered edition released last year, although the original album is from 1998. Velvet Acid Christ is an electronic industrial band known for their use of voice samples from movies and television. This song in particular uses samples from the Borg on Star Trek. I’d heard a shorter version of this song before, as I purchased a “Best of Velvet Acid Christ” CD a few years ago, but I didn’t hear the extended “98” version until I bought this album.

https://velvetacidchristofficial.bandcamp.com/album/fun-with-knives-remastered

Tearful Moon – The Stars Have Fallen and Died

             

Some more darkwave, Tearful Moon pretty similar in style to Forever Grey, really. Same genre. “The Stars Have Fallen and Died” is another song that came out in 2016.My musical tastes have been out of date lately. This song has a spacey feel too it which I always love. The lyric “This world is a lie” sticks with me. Maybe because I’ve felt this to be true in recent years. It’s music to have a good existential crisis to.

https://waverecords.bandcamp.com/album/w070-tearful-moon-in-the-dark-morning

Honorary Mention: Forever Grey – Lost in a Moment

             

Here’s another song from this band that I heard recently. It doesn’t quite beat out “The Style is Death”, but it’s close.  It was first released as a single in 2016 but was included on the band’s newest album, Departed, in March of 2020. Which is how I started getting into this band, as one of the YouTube goth music channels I follow posted this song up.

https://forevergrey.bandcamp.com/album/departed

My Favorite 4th of July Ever

My favorite 4th of July would have to be the one in 2015; for you see, on this particular 4th of July, I wasn't in the United States! There's little else that serves as a better reminder to someone who grew up in the United States that there's a whole big world out there then spending the United States' Independence Day in another country, where July 4th is just another day on the calendar. When you're stuck in the US long enough you subconsciously succumb to the idea that the US is the whole world. This is aided by how the news rarely if ever talks about what's going on in the rest of the world, how other media such as movies and TV shows made and aired in this country always seems to take place in the United States. It's both eye-opening and mind-opening to get out of that bubble and travel. Once you spend a few months in another country you'll never be the same, I guarantee it.

On July 4th, 2015, I went on a hiking trip in the mountains near Dilijan, Armenia with Birthright Armenia. We toured the city of Dilijan, briefly, before proceeding to the village of Gosh (I love that name). Here we hiked through the woods to Gosh Lake. And on our way back to Yerevan, we stopped at a lovely restaurant/hotel called "Getap" that looked like a series of cabins by a river. I have pictures from this day, allow me to share them!

This is a sign when you first get into town. Hrant Dink was an Armenian human rights activist in Turkey who was assassinated back in 2007. Tellingly, there are no monuments to him in Turkey.

The village of Gosh, Armenia. Gosh, Armenia, you're just so gosh darn beautiful.

The medieval monastery of Goshavank.

Me hanging out in a tree at Goshavank.

Up in the hills on the hike to Lake Gosh.

Sigh....I miss hills.

The foliage thickens.

Into the woods. I really felt like I was in the Santa Cruz Mountains in California, for comparison.

This way to Gosh Leech. (Leech is Armenian for "lake".)

Oh my Gosh, how pretty.

Like something out of a dream...

We took the shortcut back to Gosh village.

A rustic house in Gosh. I wish I lived here.

This was that restaurant/hotel we stopped at on the way back, called Getap. The food was breathtaking.

It was situated on the bank of a river.

America's Independence Day was the furthest thing from my mind that day.

I'll have to stay at this hotel next time I'm in Armenia.

And here's the skyline of Dilijan.

That trip truly was the best 4th of July ever. This year, I spend it stick in humid, muggy, swampy, flat Florida. I won't live in Florida forever.