Aurealis Reviewed by Joshua Berlow
The set-up in “The Death of Glinda, the Good Witch” by Rebecca-Anne C. Do Rozario (approximately 3200 words) is that Glinda, the Good Witch from L. Frank Baum’s famous Oz fantasy series, is now quite elderly and almost incapacitated, living out her remaining days in an old-age home in Australia. I confess that I’ve never read Baum’s Oz novels, although like everyone else I’ve seen the movie. It stands to reason that there’s a lot (and I mean a lot) of story left out of the movie that appears in the novels, especially when you consider that Baum wrote fourteen Oz books. Additionally, Baum’s original publisher Reilly & Lee knew a good thing when they saw it, and published an additional twenty-six Oz books after Baum died.
The point is that there is a lot of backstory in the Oz world that, if you’re like me and have never read the dozens of Oz books, you’ll be completely unfamiliar with. Fortunately I was able rectify my Oz deficiency with the aid of the internet. There’s plenty of Oz info on Wikipedia, but I also found an entire Wiki devoted to the Oz universe at http://oz.wikia.com/.
I didn’t even know who Princess Ozma was, but she has her very own entry in Wikipedia: “She appears in every book of the series except the first, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. She is the rightful ruler of Oz, and Baum indicated that she would reign in the fairyland forever, being immortal.”
The significant word here is “immortal”. After more poking around on the internet, I discovered that Glinda herself is also immortal. Apparently in the original Oz books immortality is a principal feature of certain characters. The conceit of “The Death of Glinda, the Good Witch” is that this immortality has been revoked. I’m not clear as to how this happened, but then again I’m not clear on a lot of things when it comes to Oz.
This story is an interesting update on Oz, and I was surprised to see how immense and detailed this universe is. If you’re already an Oz fan you’ll find this story of interest. However if you’re like me and aren’t familiar with the Oz backstory, you might be confused. The story unfortunately expects the reader to have some familiarity with the intricacies of the Oz universe which they may not possess.
The second story in Aurealis #77 is “Like a Boojum” by Simon Petrie. This story clocks in at approximately 8800 words. It unfolds at a leisurely pace, doing what science-fiction does well – exploring an alien planet.
Three xenobiologists are identifying alien life on planet X34825. Although they are there to catalog and investigate all the various life forms on the planet, the crux of the mission is to determine if there is any sentient life on X34825. If sentient life is found, the world will be left alone and not raped for profit by “Prima,” which is described as a malevolent corporation catering to the very rich. “We were, all of us, keen not to see this world turn into a playground for the giga-rich, a retreat, a mecca, a unit of feedstock.”
The best hope for a sentient life-form on X34825 are the “trigs,” so named because they have three appendages which are both legs and arms. However, they prove dishearteningly difficult to study because when the trigs realize that the xenobiologists are watching them, they commit suicide. The eeriness of this alien suicide is communicated effectively the author describes this as a “shrug.”
I don’t want to reveal anything more of this story, which might diminish its alluring mystery. Suffice to say that this is an entertaining, albeit leisurely-paced story. However, the ending seemed rushed or forced. Many questions were left unanswered. After all the getting to know various characters and life-forms and their relationships, I was curious to find out what happened to them. There’s enough material here to fill a novel if the questions left dangling were to be answered. There’s an entire other group of xenobiologists on the other side of the planet that we only get a brief glimpse of, but could benefit by see more of. What was Prima’s ultimate decision and how did this affect the planet? What about those mysterious dugout canoe makers? Will Simon Petrie write more about these future xenobiologists? It’s an indication of good fiction if your tale leaves the reader wanting more!
Joshua Berlow is the founder of the International Psychogeography Institute.