In the 1990s, a guy named Gregory Maguire saw an opportunity I will always envy him for seeing before I did.

He realized that the copyright on the original Wonderful Wizard of Oz would soon and finally finally be expiring, thus freeing him to take it as an Ur-text of his own and completely re-imagine it. The result, often described as something like “the Oz story told from the point of view of the Wicked Witch”, ended up being called Wicked.

It’s really damn good. Not what I would have done, exactly, but hell–to the victors go the spoils, and this author I will grudgingly admit was a very deserving victor. Plus, he didn’t rest on his laurels, but produced three more Oz Revisited books, among others.

He has little to say about my Ozma, and nothing at all about my Shaggy Man so far as I know. I’m kind of grateful for that.

But he does consider Lurline, the ancient force said to be Ozma’s mother, and now whenever I’m asked about my religion, I can just truthfully say that I’m a Lurlinist, instead of snarking on about the Flying Spaghetti Monster like I used to do.

There’s win at every hand.

If You have any deep connection to Oz, or even if you don’t, I can’t recommend these books highly enough. They should infuriate, disturb, and delight you by turns, if my experience is prophetic. Savor and enjoy.