The Land of Oz Redux

Our thanks to MPL librarian Sally Michalski for today's Birthday Biography!

While most people know the Land of Oz from the 1939 movie The Wizard of Oz, there was a time, before radio and television, when the children of the world were caught up in the wonderful Land of Oz in print. Oz was the Harry Potter series of its time.  It was a craze.

Lyman Frank Baum, a man who could not find his place in the real world, loved to tell stories to his children.  Finally, about 1899, he was persuaded to put his stories on paper. He engaged W.W. Denslow as the illustrator of his imaginary Land of Oz that they tried to get published, but no one would take them on. Finally, the Geo. M. Hill Company agreed to publish the book, but Baum and Denslow had to pay for the binding and color illustrations themselves.

The first 1900 edition was a printing of 5,000 books and was quickly sold out.  Two other printings followed, and between April and November of that year, 60,000 copies had been sold.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was such a success that L. Frank Baum, as he preferred to be known, went on to write other children’s books about other children -- but not Dorothy.

He got letters from children begging him to write another story about Dorothy and the Land of Oz, and finally he said that he'd only write another Oz tale when he had received a thousand letters. And he got them.

The second book, The Marvelous Land of Oz, was once again a hit, but Dorothy wasn’t in it. The children clamored for more -- but this time with Dorothy, please.  Ever after, every Oz book Baum wrote had Dorothy taking part.

I read these books as a child who frequented my local library. It was a strong emotional pull that took me directly to the bottom shelf of a stack, kneeling on a corrugated rubber runner hoping against hope that there was yet another Oz book I hadn’t yet read. I loved the characters, and I’m not just talking about the Tin Woodsman and the Cowardly Lion.  I am talking about such high falutin’ characters as H. M. Wogglebug, T. E. (or Highly Magnified Wogglebug, Thoroughly Educated). Another favorite character was the Patchwork Girl, who was the only person of color in Munchkinland.

There were oodles more, each one more interesting than the last. I couldn’t stop reading them.

As a child, I loved the stories as stories themselves.  I grew up to be a collector of Oz books, because I still can’t get them out of my system. As time went on, I began to see the man behind the stories.  Frank Baum kept popping out in his opinions, his politics, and his thoughts about new-fangled inventions.

In Ozma of Oz, published in 1907, a new character is introduced.  Her name is the Princess Langwidere -- whose name is close to languid, which means unwilling to exert oneself.  Baum portrays the Princess Langwidere in this fashion, as she must lean on her maid for support as she travels from one room to the other or from one closet to the next.

Langwidere is a princess of the Kingdom of Ev.  She does not rule, but spends much of the royal treasury. The princess cannot be recognized by her face, because she is very vain and has thirty heads, one for every day of the month.  This princess has a waiting room that is surrounded with mirrors, even on the ceiling, and the floor is silvered so that every object in the room is reflected. A vain and flighty person is the Princess Langwidere.

Baum pokes fun at the suffragettes in The Marvelous Land of Oz, published in 1904.  A girl named General Jinjur raises an army of four hundred pretty girls.  The army is going to attack the Emerald City because “[the City] has been ruled by men for long enough.”

Jinjur’s army is dressed in silk uniforms with green blouses and multicolored skirts. (The skirts have panels of blue, red, yellow, and purple.  Depending on what Oz country the girl is from, she wears the color of that country in front.) Each girl has a pair of knitting needles in her bun that she uses as a weapon. When they arrive at the gates of the Emerald City, the Guardian of the Gate is surprised to be attacked, and says, “Good gracious, what a nonsensical idea! Go home to your mothers, my good girls, and milk the cows and bake the bread.” The army then attacks him with their knitting needles and he runs off in search of help.

Next, Jinjur sits on the throne in the Emerald City and begins eating caramels. The men of Oz are doing housework and minding children, and are worn out from the work.  The Scarecrow, who was the reigning King of Oz, is asked, “Why don’t you send her back to her mother where she belongs?” Another asks, “Why don’t you shut her up in a closet until she behaves herself, and promises to be good?” A third says, “Or give her a good shaking.”

In Ozma of Oz (1907), Jinjur is seen again.  On another trip to the Emerald City, Dorothy and her gang stop to beg some milk from a pretty maid.  Ozma sees that it is Jinjur who explains, “I’ve married a man who owns nine cows, and now I am happy and contented and willing to lead a quiet life and mind my own business.”

In all, L. Frank Baum wrote 14 Oz books and numerous other titles for children.  When he died in 1919, Ruth Plumley Thompson took up the stories with The Royal Book of Oz (a posthumous honor to Baum) and, in total, wrote 19 more books about Oz. John R. Neal, the second illustrator of the original Baum series, wrote four Oz books.  Jack Snow wrote two and Rachel Cosgrove wrote one, as did Eloise Jarvis McGraw and her daughter.  There are other Oz books beyond these, but they are not considered canon.

The land that Frank Baum created is still very much with us today.  Not only is The Wizard of Oz movie with Judy Garland a staple for children, but recently Oz, the Great and Powerful was produced as the latest addition to the story of Oz.  I am happy to report that I think this new movie carried through the personality of the Wizard, although I could have done without the sexy witches.

A first edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is very valuable today. There are websites that have first editions of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from $6,000 to $100,000. For myself, I've found that writing a blog plot can be expensive.  In doing this little exercise, I just had to purchase a copy of John R. Neill’s posthumously published book The Runaway in Oz. One can never have too many Oz books.

Happy Birthday, L. Frank Baum -- 157 years old this May 15. You enriched my childhood with imagination and a sense of wonder.

-- Post by Sally Michalski

For more reading:

- Introducing the Girls of Oz
Sally Michalski's website, with more information about the female characters of Baum's Oz books.

- Rare Oz Books 

All about the rare collectibles of Oz.

References: 

- Baum, L. Frank, The Marvelous Land of Oz: A Sequel to the Wizard of Oz, ill. John R. Neill (New York: William Morrow & Co., c1904).

- Baum, L. Frank, Ozma of Oz, ill. John R. Neill  (Chicago: The Reilly & Lee Co., c1907).

- Betty Lee Johnson, “The World of Oz Remains Wonderful To this Day,” Antique Week, 3 February 1992.

- Daniel P. Mannix, “ The Father of the Wizard of Oz,” American Heritage, December. 1964.


(All illustrations by John R. Neill.)

Happy Towel Day

"A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value -- you can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a mini raft down the slow heavy river Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes; you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.


"More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitchhiker) discovers that a hitchhiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with."


-- Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

MS. B: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a science-fiction/satire novel -- although that definition hardly does the book justice. But then, the thing about Hitchhiker's is that it's nearly impossible to explain -- it's one of those things you just gotta see for yourself.

Created by English author Douglas Adams, the sci-fi phenomenon (and believe me, it's a phenomenon) started life as a 1978 radio series. First broadcast by the BBC, the story kicks off with mild-mannered Arthur Dent, an average human guy who is having something of an off day. He wakes up to find his house about to be knocked down (it's in the way of the new superhighway). An hour later, he uncovers a more pressing problem: the Earth itself is about to be destroyed. Just before the planet's blown up (by a group of aliens making way for a new intergalactic expressway; irony intended), Arthur is saved by his best friend, Ford Prefect, who just happens to be an alien himself.

Turns out that Ford's been on Earth doing research for a travel guide called "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" (hence the radio show's title). What follows is an inexplicable sci-fi adventure involving a two-headed alien whose President of the Galaxy, a depressed robot, a spaceship whose engine runs on improbability, and a supercomputer that comes up with the answer for life and the universe (although, trust me, it's not the answer you think).

The radio program did well enough that, the following year, Adams wrote a novel adaptation of the show. And, like the radio series, the book is not so much a story with a gripping plotline, but rather a story of ideas. Not to mention being very, very funny.

The original book cover

TRACY: My friend Cathy first introduced me to The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy in 9th or 10th grade. As you know from earlier posts, I was already a fan of sci-fi films and television, but I hadn’t really been exposed to a lot of sci-fi books at this age. I was definitely ready for this book! By this point in my life, I was also discovering that I liked and appreciated the British sense of humor.

Arthur Dent was a character that I could identify so much with, even at such a young age. Arthur is a man who seems like he is comfortable with his life, but is actually quite bored with it. He has no idea what lies in store for him on that fateful day when the bulldozers show up at his house! Not that I wanted to find out that my home (my house or my planet) was going to be destroyed, but a part of me had always longed to have a friend like Ford Prefect that would drag me along on some great adventure.

The teaser for the 2005 film adaptation

MS. B: The first book adaptation of the radio series would become a series itself, with Adams eventually writing five Hitchhiker's novels -- which fans and publishers alike often refer to the Hitchhiker's Trilogy. (Yes, a trilogy in five parts; it's that kind of series, what can I say.) A television miniseries and computer game would follow in the 80s, and other adaptations have included record albums, stage shows, and even a towel. (Of course, a towel; see the top quote above for more.) And then, in 2005, a film adaptation finally made its debut. Sadly, it was a movie premiere that Douglas Adams did not get to see -- he'd passed away, quite unexpectedly, in 2001 at the age of 49.

TRACY: By the time I read the book the first time, it had already been in print for a few years. Likewise, the BBC television series had already been shown in England, but was just being shown on our local PBS station. It was a cheesy production, but so much fun. I now know that Douglas Adams was not that happy with the television series. But I loved it! Unfortunately, I don’t feel the same way about the film version from 2005. For me, it just didn’t capture everything that I loved about the book. A lot of the performances were just flat and lacked the fun and silliness of the book, let alone the BBC version.

I'm not explaining this; you're just going to have to read the book

MS. B: The movie was, indeed, not particularly well-received by fans or critics alike. This is a particular shame given that Adams had been trying for decades to get the film to the big screen, and the film was definitely produced with a lot of love and respect for Adams in mind. 

But the simple truth of the matter, at least in my opinion, is that an idea-filled, plot-light story like Hitchhiker's is simply not meant to be a movie. In a series -- be it book, radio, or television -- you've got the time to stretch out and explore Adams's inimitable style and completely unique way of looking at the world (not to mention the galaxy). Compress it into a movie, and much of the magic is lost.

Still, I myself appreciated the film for its great casting (Martin Freeman, Mos Def, Sam Rockwell!), stunningly gorgeous special effects, and some genuine moments of great humor. And the affection for the source material on the part of the filmmakers is undeniable.

Don't forget to bring your towel

MS. B: Hitchhiker's fans the world over have celebrated Towel Day on May 25th for over a decade. The original Towel Day was held in 2001, two weeks after the death of Douglas Adams. Dreamed up by fans and promoted online, Towel Day was a chance for Hitchhiker's aficionados to spend the day carrying around a towel in order to pay tribute to Douglas Adams. It's been celebrated by fans every May 25th ever since.

For my part, I didn't bring a towel into work today (though I'm happy to report I took one with me to the movie theater when the 2005 film premiered!). I've certainly got The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy on my mind today, though; and if you're interested in a truly unusual book, give this one a try. I promise you'll never look at The Meaning Of Life -- or dolphins, for that matter -- in quite the same way again.

Scottish Mystery

I love reading mysteries and I have a few several go-to authors I like to read (Elizabeth George, Minette Walters, Sue Grafton). But a few months ago I was looking for something other than the usual and boy, did I find that in Denis Mina's Garnethill series.

The first book in the series, Garnethill (1999), introduces us to Maureen O'Donnell. She is a young woman struggling in a dead end job and trying to get back to a normal life after spending 6 months in a psychiatric hospital after suffering a nervous breakdown. The cause of the breakdown is the memory of sexual abuse at the hands of her father. Unfortunately, most of the rest of her family, including her alcoholic mother, don't believe her stories. On top of this she's just found out that her boyfriend, Douglas, is married. After finding out about Douglas' marital status she goes on a bit of a drinking binge with her friend. When she finally wakes up in the morning she finds Douglas, naked and tied to a chair in her kitchen with his throat slit. Naturally, Maureen is the prime suspect. The story continues with Maureen battling with Detective Chief Inspector Joe McEwan to clear her name.

The story of Maureen O'Donnell continues in Exile (2001). Maureen is now working at a women's shelter in Glasgow along with her best pal Leslie. She is even more miserable than she was before. She is still struggling with the after effects of her boyfriend's murder so when Anne, a woman from the shelter, turns up dead in the Thames, Maureen agrees to head to London to find out what happened to her. During this trip Maureen learns some new information regarding Douglas' murder and also has her own life threatened.

The trilogy concludes with Resolution (2002). Maureen's life is still in the dumps. She's even more depressed than ever and her friends (and Maureen) are afraid that she is an alcoholic. She might have destroyed her relationship with her new boyfriend and now the man who murdered Douglas is going on trial. Plus she has distanced herself from her family, except for brother Liam. Her sister is pregnant and Maureen is worried that her father will abuse Una's baby if it's a girl. And to top it off, the elderly woman at the local flea market that she has befriended has died and Maureen believes the woman's son is responsible.

These books are definitely not of the "cozy" mystery variety. They are a gritty and realistic look at the underbelly of Glasgow, especially Garnethill where much of the story takes place. Maureen O'Donnell is a character that is now always completely likable but knowing her past history makes her actions somewhat understandable. And while she is innocent of her boyfriend's murder she is not past committing other crimes to protect herself and those that she loves. What it comes down to, is that Maureen knows good from evil and is willing to do anything to defeat the evil that is around her. If you are up for a gritty, realistic look at a life in turmoil, these series is for you.

-- Post by Tracy

"And Then What Happened?" - Part II: Preferring Pastiches

In our last entry, I discussed the curious phenomenon of having a new writer come in to finish the incomplete manuscript or unfinished series of an author who had passed away before being able to finish the work themselves. While such books can often prove quite popular with some fans, others will often complain that the writing style of the new author is too different, that the characters don't feel the same, or that the book goes in a direction the original author never would have intended. (I admit I tend to distrust such sequels and continuations myself.)

But there is a different type of book "sequel" that I'm much more fond of -- the pastiche.

The word "pastiche" technically means "an artistic work that imitates the style of a previous work." In the case of literature, it refers to any book which is written in the style of (or perhaps in homage to) a story which has come before. Often, the authors of pastiches are not only writing a new story with classic characters, but are also trying to match the style and cadence of the original author's writing.

I tend to use the word "pastiche" to refer to those new stories that feature classic characters, written by someone other than their original author. There's an inherent difference, to me, in writing a story using fictional characters that are old enough to have become a part of our literary culture's history, rather than completing the work of an author who has only recently passed away. Sherlock Holmes, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan are characters who have become a part of our collective unconscious -- they are characters people know and recognize even if they've never read the story or seen the film in which those characters originally appeared. Writing the further adventures of Holmes intrigues me in a way that a Michael Critchon "sequel" cannot -- simply because the classic characters have become larger than life. Large enough, in fact, that they seem to exist outside the boundaries of their original printed pages. So why not write new stories about them?

Sherlock Holmes pastiches are, by far, the most popular. After you check out the new movie, you might want to try a few of these unauthorized Holmes "sequels." And, if Arthur Conan Doyle isn't for you, take a look at some of our other classics pastiches:


Sherlock Holmes

The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie R. King.

The popular Mary Russell books by Laurie R. King tell the story of a young woman who starts off as a protege to the retired Sherlock Holmes, going on to eventually become his partner ... and his wife. While the series never quite hit the right note with me personally -- my "version" of Sherlock Holmes is not the marrying type -- many love this series for the relationship between these two characters.



Sherlock Holmes in America edited by Martin H. Greenberg, Jon L. Lellenberg, and Daniel Stashower.

A collection of stories, from a variety of authors, featuring Holmes and Watson sleuthing their way across America. (It's not as far-fetched as it sounds, given original author Doyle's known appreciation for the U.S.) An intriguing premise with some real story gems.



Dust and Shadow: An Account of the Ripper Killings by Dr. John H. Watson by Lyndsay Faye.

A number of books feature the famous fictional detective becoming entangled with the infamous, real-life serial killer. This novel is one of the best. Not to be missed.

The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes edited by John Joseph Adams.

Ghosts. Curses. Aliens. Shapeshifters. Dinosaurs. Is there a rational explanation for the weird and wild encounters in this collection of short stories, or do Holmes and Watson uncover the real thing? A must-read for anyone who's a fan of genre crossovers. (There's a tale by Stephen King, to boot!)



The Disappearance of Sherlock Holmes by Larry Millett.

This high-action thriller -- taking place once again in America -- might be of particular interest to anyone who's a fan of the Guy Ritchie film adaptations.



The Seven-Per-Cent Solution: Being a Reprint From the Reminiscences of John H. Watson, M.D. by Nicolas Meyer.

Dr. Sigmund Freud attempts to council Sherlock Holmes through his various neuroses and addictions. A fascinating character study into the mind and heart of Sherlock Holmes. Robert Duvall and Alan Arkin star in the film adaptation.



Other Pastiches

An Assembly Such as This: A Novel of Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman by Pamela Aidan.

The first in a trilogy, Aidan retells Jane Austen's classic novel Pride and Prejudice through the eyes of Mr. Darcy.



Ahab's Wife: Or, The Star-Gazer by Sena Jeter Naslund.

Drawing from a brief mention the Captain makes of his beloved young wife, Naslund spins a completely new tale out of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick. Though titled "Ahab's Wife," the story belongs to Una, the wife of the mad sea captain. A national bestseller.



Alice Through the Needle's Eye by Gilbert Adair.

This "third" book is meant to follow Lewis Carroll's original stories Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. As a big fan of the Alice books, I was pleasantly surprised to find how closely Adair manages to capture Carroll's original wit and tone, even while crafting a completely new tale for Alice.

Peter Pan in Scarlet by Geraldine McCaughrean.

For decades after the usual expiration date, the Great Ormond Street Hospital has held the rights to J.M. Barrie's original story Peter Pan and Wendy. (Barrie had willed the copyright -- and all related royalties -- to the hospital.) In 2004, McCaughrean was chosen as a contest winner by the Hospital to write the first "official" sequel to the original Peter Pan story.



Cosette: The Sequel to Les Miserables by Laura Kalpakian.

More romance novel than sprawling epic, Kalpakian writes an unusual sequel to Victor Hugo's revered saga. More for those who like dramatic historical romance, than for fans of Hugo's original tale.



Dracula, My Love: The Secret Journals of Mina Harker by Syrie James.

Although Dracula The Un-Dead got most of the attention for being written by Bram Stoker's great-grandnephew, this companion book by James should not be missed by anyone who's a fan of vampires and romance. Twilight readers, take note.


-- Post by Ms. B

"And Then What Happened?" - Part I: Solving the Mystery Of Edwin Drood

I'm a big Michael Crichton fan. Jurassic Park was the first "grown-up" novel I ever read, which I'd been inspired to pick up because I'd fallen completely in love with the movie version when it was released. The "Jurassic Park" movie was the Star Wars of my generation, a film which became a smash-hit primarily because it was absolutely unlike anything we had ever seen before.

I'd been as wowed as the rest of the world by the lifelike "dinosaurs" of the film version. But Crichton's original book enchanted me in a different way: I was captivated by the way Crichton wrote his sci-fi. With stories about time travel and artificial intelligence, it's true that -- at quick glance -- Crichton's sci-fi devices aren't much different from what you'd encounter in a typical episode of Star Trek. What always made Crichton's sci-fi writing unique, to me, was the way he'd take the scientific advancements of the day and push them a few fictional steps forward. There was scientific reasoning behind his cloned dinosaurs -- and, while scientists will point out that his fictionalized scientific process wouldn't quite work, the science of Crichton's work still always holds some basis in reality. It makes for fascinating reading.

So I was crushed when Crichton passed away three years ago at the age of 66. He left behind a completed manuscript hidden in the recesses of his computer hard drive (Pirate Latitudes) -- and an unfinished techno-thriller about microbiology and nanotechnology.

This unfinished novel was about a third of the way completed, with notes, outlines, and extensive research on the rest of the story also left behind. This led to Crichton's publisher approaching author Richard Preston with a request: to finish the last two-thirds of Crichton's final novel according to the notes Crichton had left behind. Which led to the publication of Micro.

Which leaves me, as a Crichton fan, with one very important question: do I read a Crichton book that isn't really by Crichton?

Micro is not the first time that fans of a particular author find themselves trying to decide if they want to read the next chapter in a story when that chapter's been written by someone else. From Douglas Adams to Robert Jordan, from Robert B. Parker to Frank Herbert, dozens of popular authors who have died before penning the official "end" of their current project have had their novels and series finished out or continued on by someone else. (This is a somewhat different phenomenon from the "pastiche," which is a topic we'll be getting to in the next entry.) And, as you might expect, reactions of fans and critics alike can be -- at best -- mixed.

Often, fans find it more reassuring if the new writer picking up the reins of the story has been approved by the original author. Anne McCaffrey had already handpicked her son, Todd, to continue writing her Dragonriders of Pern series before she passed away. Robert Jordan, author of the popular Wheel of Time series, did not choose his successor -- but Harriet, Jordan's wife and editor, did. Having an author-approved (or relative of the author-approved) replacement often goes a long way towards quelling fans' doubts about the newcomer's ability to produce a worthy sequel.

And, of course, as the saying goes, your mileage may vary. Eoin Colfer was already well-known as the author of the hugely popular Artemis Fowl young adult series when he was commissioned to write another book in the classic science fiction series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The Hitchhiker's Guide series -- books best described as being science fiction comedy -- is a cult classic of stories that started life as a radio comedy broadcast that Adams only later turned into a series of novels. (In keeping with typical Hitchhiker's Guide logic, Adams's five-book series is often referred to as the "Hitchhiker's trilogy.")

While it's true that Adams had always intended on writing a sixth book in the series, he hadn't left behind a half-finished manuscript or a pile of notes and outlines for Hitchhiker's Guide. (Adams did leave behind an unfinished manuscript, but it was for the Dirk Gently book The Salmon of Doubt, which was eventually published in its fragmented form.) Contrast that with Robert Jordan, who left behind complete outlines and copious notes for his Wheel of Time series that replacement author Brandon Sanderson could faithfully follow. This might explain why Jordan's fans felt more satisfied with Jordan's replacement than Adams's fans felt towards Adams's own (as measured by reviews left at Amazon.com and Goodreads.com). Jordan's fans at least have the reassurance that Sanderson is taking the story in a direction the original author not only approved of, but came up with himself. While any Hitchhiker's fan, if choosing to read And Another Thing..., is left with the question: "Is this really a Hitchhiker's book?"

So. Should "replacement" authors be brought in to finish a popular series if an author passes away before the books are completed? Or should creative works be left alone once their creator is gone?

The answer, of course, will always vary from fan to fan, both for book series and for stories beyond the printed page. (Plenty of Trekkies will swear that Star Trek actually got better after the passing of original series creator Gene Roddenberry.) Whether it's a good idea to continue the story beyond what the original creator created is a question fans will debate back and forth forever ... or as long as publishers and production studios keep bringing in newcomers to keep the old stories going.

As for me, I tend to be mistrustful of books that have been finished up or continued on by someone other than the original creator. It's more than outlines and plot points that make up my favorite reads -- it's the life and personalities the author breathes into the characters, and the themes each author touches on, and the style of the writing itself. Those are things I don't think can easily be recreated, no matter how much a newcomer-writer may love the original author's work.

Still, all the same -- I may give Micro a try. I'm intrigued enough by the premise to give a whirl. But then again, that particular book isn't so close to my heart. If Richard Preston ever writes another Jurassic Park book, I'm afraid I'll definitely be out.


-- Post by Ms. B