There are striking similarities in the worlds Wol-vriey builds to the Land of Oz and its various interconnected fairylands. Both authors create patchwork characters out of inanimate objects, animals, and people parts. Geography plays a large role in separating the species they invent. Characters are repeatedly hacked to pieces and reassembled through magic. Their worlds are populated with strong female characters, often wicked and powerful ones. With a few exceptions, their men are often stupid and ineffectual.
You may be asking yourself: Well, what about Wol-vriey's obsession with transgender characters? There's nothing like that in the land of Oz! Well, there you'd be wrong. Baum's Ozma was transgender. She was born a girl, was transformed into a boy to live out most of her childhood before being transformed back into a young girl again and attaining Oz's throne.
In Oz, you'll find Glass Cat. In Wol-vriey's Boston Posh, you'll find Glass Horse. Baum has Utensia, a land populated solely with kitchen utensils. In Boston Posh you have a telekinetic race of sentient Forks. Baum gives us the Wheelers, a race of creatures with wheels for hands. Wol-vriey gives us the Mermaids on Motorcycles. Both authors give us creatures made of porcelain, dragons, talking animals, and transmogrification as punishment. Both authors give us kidnapping schemes, riddles, horrible puns, and absurd quests to find bizarre magical objects. Both authors give us automatons and portals to other realms.
Wol-vriey's Boston Posh is so very much like L. Frank Baum's Oz, just with more genitalia and gore.
Highly recommended.
No comments:
Post a Comment