The Unknown Witches of Oz
| Author | Dave Hardenbrook |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Kerry Rouleau |
| Cover artist | Kerry Rouleau |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Oz Books |
| Genre | Fantasy |
| Publisher | Galde Press |
|
Publication date
|
2000 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover) |
| Pages | 240 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 43365797 |
| 813/.6 21 | |
| LC Class | PS3558.A6188 U5 2001 |
The Unknown Witches of Oz: Locasta and the Three Adepts is a 2000 novel written by Dave Hardenbrook, with illustrations by Kerry Rouleau. As its title indicates, the book is an entry in the long-running series of books about the Land of Oz, written by L. Frank Baum and his successors.
The publication of The Unknown Witches of Oz was timed to coincide with the centennial of the original Oz book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (as was also true of Gina Wickwar's The Hidden Prince of Oz and Edward Einhorns's Paradox in Oz). Hardenbrook's novel is the first volume of a planned trilogy.
Locasta is the name that Baum provided his Good Witch of the North in his 1902 dramatization of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The Three Adepts are characters that Baum introduced in his final Oz book, Glinda of Oz — though Hardenbrook changes their names and particulars, making them Locasta's granddaughters.
Locasta, the Good Witch of the North, is forced out of Oz by the evil witch Mombi. Locasta solicits help to return to Oz, from a boy named Dan, a sixteen-year-old orphan she meets at the Los Angeles Public Library. Back in Oz, she learns that the land is in danger of conquest by a constellation of evil forces, including the Nome King, a genie named Taarna, and the demons and witches of Whaqoland. Locasta joins with Glinda and Princess Ozma, and the Adepts, to foil the villains and restore the moral order.
In a notable departure from the practice of earlier writers on Oz, Hardenbrook creates a teenaged protagonist as a romantic interest for Ozma.
Hardenbrook goes farther than many previous Oz authors in an attempt to provide a contemporary conceptual framework for the fictional world of Oz. In a Prologue titled "The Story So Far," Hardenbrook specifies that Oz exists in a parallel universe, in "a galaxy very like our own Milky Way" with "a star virtually identical to our sun...." The star has "a planet that corresponds to Earth" — though it differs in possessing "two extra moons and a polychromatic ring system...." The planet contains continents and archipelagoes that include "Dodgesonia" and "Geiselgea" as well as "Baumgea."
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