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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting social satire in Wizard of Oz retelling, August 3, 2005
After a childhood of abuse and questionable sexuality, a tornado wisks Tod, along with his super-intelligent pig, Otto, to the outskirts of the fabulous New Zirconium City. To Tod, New Zirc is a dream of tolerance, acceptance, and freedom. As he drives his airstream mobile home closer to the city, Tod finds and rescues a girl/boy tied to a scaecrow by a challenged football team, a post-human soldier in desperate need of mechanical improvement, and a truck-driver who both lusts after and fears Tod.
The strange company finds that New Zirc is not exactly what they had hoped. While there are plenty of freqs, men and women living on a different frequency than average, the mayor is quick to crack down on any threat to order--and any attempt to have fun. Tod's early enterprise of a coffee house becomes transmigrated into a center of protest--a Club Fascistland. If New Zirc falls short of its legend, Tod figures he can just change it.
Author Kevin Brink Nielsen translates the story of THE WIZARD OF OZ into a plea for a world where people can live in acceptance and harmony. As with the original Wizard, each character learns to look within themselves to find their greatest dream. But as with the original Wizard, the central protagonist's dream cannot simply be given.
Although CLUB FASCISTLAND has a few editing flubs and the occasionally thunky sentence, Nielsen offers an entertaining retake on the ever-popular OZ. Readers who aren't afraid of people whose orientation differs from the standard, and who share a concern that the fearful's attempt to legislate morality is ultimately destructive, will certainly enjoy this modern morality tale.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very strange stuff, but a whole lot of creativity..., July 28, 2005
Like most readers, I have my favorite genres for recreational reading. Murder mysteries, techno-thrillers, crime mysteries, amateur female detective/sleuth, South Florida adventure... But every once in awhile, I like to read something that is *completely* outside my normal comfort zone. Usually it's because someone contacts me and asks if I'd be interested in their book, and it's something I'd never find or seek out on my own. The 2005 version of "out there" reading is Club Fascistland by Kevin Brink Nielsen. While the lifestyle subject matter is not my thing, the writing is very creative and entertaining...
Nielsen takes the Wizard of Oz story, complete with ruby red footwear, and adapts it to a time not too far in the future (or perhaps even now). Tod is a down-home farmboy from Kansas (where else?) who isn't really sure of his sexual identity and wants to head off to New Zirconium City (yeah, it's New York in disguise). His incredibly intelligent friend and pet, Otto the pig, is along for the ride. On the way there, he picks up Fif, a tomboy savant who's been told she's a boy her entire life, and is just now finding out she's not. Even though she has no education, she wants to become a doctor. Then there's Sinjin, the half-human, half-cyborg mercenary who's body is giving out and he really wants a real heart to feel emotions before he dies. Percy is a macho trucker drawn to homosexual urges but doesn't want to face that truth (and pummels his "love interests" out of guilt every time). He just wants to come to grips with who he is. Tod? He just wants a home where everyone can be accepted for who they are.
The evil witch is played by the mayor of New Zirc City, who wants to shut down all festivities and alternative deviant behavior. She bans all pleasurable forms of recreation, and has a squad of goons to enforce the rules. Her counterpart, Rex de Terre, is a billionaire businessman in the city and wants to have things his way instead (like to have people feel good about the city and spend money in his casino). Tod starts catering to the underground sect, launches wild parties, and puts himself on a collision course with the mayor (Her Horror) to free the city and give people their lives back. Throw in Madonna as the Fairy Godmother, and you've got a rather twisted ride...
As you can probably tell, this is a book where everyone's lifestyle is acceptable and people should be free to live as they choose. I'm not going to get into the morality of the message in the book, as I don't want this review to head down that road. What I will comment on is the quality and creativeness of the writing. Bottom line, Nielsen has talent. He does an excellent job in painting pictures with his words, and the characters he creates in the book are outrageously bizarre and funny. Since his story stays true to the original Oz fable, you pretty much know where the story is going, but you really don't have a clue as to how he's going to get there given the characters running around. Besides, I have to love an author who uses ellipses (...) more than I do...
If you're in the mood for a different read that's very creative and zany, this might be worth your time...
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
It sure isn't Kansas any more Dorothy ..... , July 22, 2005
WOW what a great book .... very strange ... very creative .. great ...
Although it's really hard to believe that one could write the 'Wizzard of Oz' with the background of our nutty environment and 'mores' of today, but this young author sertainly has done it. Of course the characters are adjusted and modernized as Dorothy is now a country rube, Tod, the dog is a pig, the scarecrow is a gender bending female, and the lion is a not yet out of the closet trucker ....
Of course the good witch is Madonna ..... can ya believe it ..
Certainly while reading the book it made me think of what original readers of the Wizzard of Oz must have been thinking as they read that book, back in the days when .....
If have an imagination and allow your mind to float it is a wonderfull book ......
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