Book Review: The Bashful Baker Of Oz

I recently looked this up on Lulu. It was written by Marcus Mebus from Pumpernickel Pickel Press, which prints original several Oz titles. This short book has some fine illustrations by Luciano Vecchio(although there's one picture with a way too thin Ozma), whose works include Oziana, as well as some other Oz titles for Buckethead Enterprises. The story for this is set in the regular Oz continuity, but centers around some original characters.

In it, the shy cook Maria lives in the city of Crafton where she feels unappreciated, even though everyone seems to love her bakeries. However, she is being courted by the mysterious Emerald City citizen Luka, even though no one in Crafton believes her. Maria decides to go to the Emerald City and find Luka. After hitching a ride on a polite cow, she makes her way to Ozma's palace to ask for help in locating Luka. Jellia Jamb uses Ozma's magic mirror and sees that the one known as Luka is at a boutique which is busy getting ready for a large ball. Jellia and Maria go to the shop where Luka is at, but its revealed that he's really a clothes designer named Derek who pretended to be this important person in order to woo Maria. After Ozma councils Derek on his actions, he confesses his love for Maria, and she gains new confidence in herself. The two of them eventually get married, and live happily ever after in Crafton.

This was a slightly refreshing change of pace involving some irregular but still original additions to the Oz cast, and makes for a decent read. You can order it online here for download and hardcover.