Placing the Random Housies
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If you know your Ozzy history, and I'm sure you do, you will recall that at the end of Ozma of Oz, Dorothy was sent back... to Australia. That's
right. She was NOT sent back to Kansas. Uncle Henry was in Australia at the time, and Dorothy wanted to go there.
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz begins with Dorothy in San Fransico, on her way home from Australia. Between Ozma of Oz and Dorothy and
the Wizard in Oz Dorothy was never in Kansas, yet the Random Housies have Dorothy coming from and returning to Kansas all five times! How can
this be? The only answer is that the stories take place afterwards, when Dorothy is finally back in Kansas, despite that fact that the authors
obviously intended the books to take place earlier.
This results from a common assumption that whenever Dorothy is not in Oz, she is in Kansas. This is almost always true, except for the short time
between Ozma of Oz and Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz. Very few people have ever realized this, and if I may so without bragging, I was one
of the first to become aware of this little fact. The infamous March Laumer has written a book in which part of Dorothy's return to America by ship is
detailed.
This is all very well and good, but now we have another problem. By moving the books forward in time, that means that the Wizard was present in Oz,
even though he was never mentioned. This is strange, since he is a rather important figure in the Emerald City. If he is in Oz, then where is he and
what is he doing that would require his absence?
Let's review what we know. We know that the stories take place before The Emerald City of Oz and after Ozma of Oz. We now know that they
must also take place after Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz. This gives us a fairly narrow range of possibility. We must now decide if they go
before or after The Road to Oz and we must also explain the absence of the Wizard. This was (and still is) my theory.
The Wizard was at Glinda's palace learning the art of real magic. He made the journey to her instead of the other way around because all of her
equipment was there and she could instruct him better at her home base. Also, they could be away from the hustle and bustle of Ozma's court and
concentrate on the business at hand. It is to be remembered that at the end of Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz the Wizard was an admitted humbug, yet
by The Emerald City of Oz, he could perform some impressive magic. He says that he learned real magic from Glinda the Good, and he must have been
taught fairly recently.
As for the question of whether to place the stories before after The Road to Oz, we have decided to put them before. Remember our rule of placing
stories at the beginning of a closed range. This is done because the earlier you place a book, the less you have to explain. As time moves forward, new
characters enter, and situations change, causing us to make more assumptions and creating a need to explain more than we really have to. In this case,
the Shaggy Man is the extra element. He arrived at the end of The Road to Oz to take up permanent residence in the Land of Oz. In The Emerald
City of Oz he mentions that he has hardly ever been outside of the city since his arrival. In any event, we must explain the absence of the
Wizard, and there is indirect evidence to support the theory that he was not in the Emerald City at the time where we have placed the books. There is
no need to move them forward, thus causing us to have to explain the absence of the Shaggy Man as well, especially when there is indirect evidence that
says he was not absent.
In placing stories, we draw heavily upon the philosphy of Occam's Razor, or the scientific method, which says that the simplest explantion is
probably the correct one. In other words, use the theory that best explains all the facts and makes the fewest assumptions.
Therefore, the five Random Housies go after Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz and before The Road to Oz