Another first novel inspired by Oz books (see Was and Wicked) this time by Martin Gardner, the esteemed puzzler, mathmatical essayist, and annotator of Alice in Wonderland, The Hunting of the Snark, and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
If one takes into account that this is writen in the spirit of the Oz series, the fact that it is painfully like
fanfic can be somewhat forgotten. Dorothy and her companions visit
New York City (via a
Klein Bottle!) on the 100th anniversary of the publication of
L. Frank Baum's book. We've got evil movie producers and Libyans (seemingly straight out of
Back To The Future) and wacky adventures. The internet is used at a crucial moment, Alice characters appear, and some of the Greek
pantheon cameo (in a plot twist straight out of an old
Star Trek episode). Oh well, it's
kooky, and obvious that Gardner's having a lot of fun, so that spills over into the reading experience.