By James Robert Shaw (The Wind up Geek)
Thank goodness for Amazon’s self-publish, without it authors whose manuscripts would normally be refused by publishing houses wouldn’t have a place for the public to judge their works. What is good will go on to print, the definitive goal of any author’s story and the best way to be immortalized when read by future generations. But what is bad will suffer the most harshest of criticisms. Dan Aitken’s book The Zombies of Oz has yet to face public scrutiny, it’s too new.
Based on the beloved series of books for children young and old by L. Frank Baum, Aitken is treading on sacred ground. The idea of adapting Oz in new ways through new stories has been done before. The stories and characters of Oz have been painted with a darker brush much like Frank Miller and Klaus Janson’s The Dark Knight Returns comic miniseries and even turned into a team of superheros. The zombie angle has been explored previously through the works of independent artists at comic conventions. But success isn’t always guaranteed as proven by Oz the Great and Powerful, one of the worst films of 2013.
From the description of the plot from Amazon, Aitken’s book appears to keep use of the way Dorothy travels to Oz in the first book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900).
After a storm, Dorothy finds herself stranded in the strange world of Oz, a world beset by a Zombie outbreak with survivors fighting for their lives. Teaming up with other survivors, she must find her way to the safety of the Emerald City, the last remaining bastion of hope in this apocalyptic world.
When asked by a Reddit user if it would be more than humans who are turned into zombies, Aitken replied
“I actually toyed around with the idea of other-worldly creatures; but I decided on making humanoids the only zombies. So the danger is mostly to Biological creatures; however that doesn’t mean Scarecrows and Tin Men don’t have their own problems and worries.”
The Zombies of Oz is currently available through Amazon. The book can be read by using the Kindle app.
