《The Wonderful Wizard of Oz》Prologue
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The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
by
L. Frank Baum
Introduction
Folklore, legends, myths and fairy tales have followed childhood through the ages, for every healthy youngster has a wholesome and instinctive love for stories fantastic, marvelous and manifestly unreal. The winged fairies of Grimm and Andersen have brought more happiness to childish hearts than all other human creations.
Yet the old time fairy tale, having served for generations, may now be classed as "historical" in the children's library; for the time has come for a series of newer "wonder tales" in which the stereotyped genie, dwarf and fairy are eliminated, together with all the horrible and blood-curdling incidents devised by their authors to point a fearsome moral to each tale. Modern education includes morality; therefore the modern child seeks only entertainment in its wonder tales and gladly dispenses with all disagreeable incident.
Having this thought in mind, the story of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was written solely to please children of today. It aspires to being a modernized fairy tale, in which the wonderment and joy are retained and the heartaches and nightmares are left out.
L. Frank Baum
Chicago, April, 1900.
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Dreams or Another World - Not a Zero (Update 09/19/21)
(Updated 09/19/21) Hello and welcome. If you made it this far and the book title sounds interesting, I'm hoping you'll read a few chapters. Here's a sample from chapter 1 of "Dreams or Another World - Not a Zero."Slowly starting to wake up, I become aware. It's like coming out of a fog.Head hurts.Body hurts.There's a conversation in the room. This isn't my bed. Someone is touching my arm. I crack my eyes to look. She doesn't notice. Is she praying for me? Her hands do feel good…do feel... Slipping back unconscious, my eyes slowly close. I didn't notice the soft green glow under Jenn’s hands.*******************"It does look like he saved them or at least stalled them long enough for us to get there." says the man dressed more like a park ranger than an officer of the law. "I did think he was part of it at first" he continues "but the evidence shows he wasn't there and they were certainly fighting on that back road where we found them""I don't care who he is." says a woman as she enters the room. "He saved and protected my Jenn. I will make sure there's not a mark or a scar on him before he leaves". As she continues the few steps over to the men speaking, even though dressed simply in common clothes, there is no doubt the race of elves is in her heritage. The grace and lines of her form. The elegance and lightness of her step. She glances at her daughter, still watching over the young man in the bed. "Do we know who he is yet?" she asks no one in particular."Not yet dear" a man in a white coat responds. A handsome middle-aged man. Fit, but not that of a fighter or ranger. "I asked Talon to bring another identification stone with him. I was hoping ours was just broke, but it's reading the same.""What do you think is wrong?" Talon asks."I'm thinking we just have to wait until he recovers. I have heard of cases where the stone didn't work. Powerful spells can hide or wipe a person clean. I doubt he's a spy or a criminal. Spells like that are just too high level if, they're used at all. My best guess is, there is just some disconnect with him being unconscious. When he wakes, we can ask him or use the stone again then."I find myself waking up in a hospital bed. The attending Doctor finds it odd that he cannot identify my class. An Officer says I’m a Hero for saving a girl from being kidnapped, but he’s asking too many questions for my liking. I know an accusing tone when I hear it. I don’t remember any of it and I need to find my way home.Author’s notes. Original work. First draft and update of chapters 1-16. Inspired by various fantasy games and books. Written with a focus on character development and interaction. Combat, progression, leveling, classes, but no numbers or stats. I’ll try to keep the language clean, PG-13, no smut. I’m in the US, writing in English. Almost fifty chapters are completed as I pen this introduction. I intend to complete this story or at least bring it to a proper ending. I have a destination in mind. I find as I write, doors and ideas open, while others close and are discarded. The tentative release schedule will be once a week. I'm new to creating. My apologies now while I learn. I have not settled on a book cover or artwork, still looking for something that fits. Registered & Protected #20VjeKDv2U6nynW6
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[I accidentally got engaged to the evil owl-goddess who is obsessed with the number-three and now I have to make weapons for our new adventuring guild] In an era in which ancient gods live in the world’s cities together with their mortal followers, forming tight-knit guilds and powerful temples, the disfigured ash-caster and blacksmith Hineni has lived his entire life as a reclusive outcast. Hidden away behind layers of clothing and just as many walls and doors, he only ever leaves the house in the dead of night, so that neither the gods or anyone else can ever see him. However, on one of these night-tide outings, he finds that has gained the unwanted attention of what is seemingly a perfectly normal owl and through his unwitting efforts at simply filling his nights with acts of personal meaning, he ends up promising himself to a creature that is perhaps even less versed in human ways than he himself is; a mysterious, odd owl-goddess that nobody seems to have ever heard of, Obscura. Hineni, having had no greater purpose in life until now, finds himself willing to accept this turn of events and dedicates himself to creating a brand new adventuring guild, under the watchful eyes of the ancient entity Obscura, who has only one, clear, proclaimed goal - - To hunt the BIG FROG! BIG FROG! BIG! [litRPG] [Soft romance] [Crafting] [Base/Guild-building] [Pact with a diety] [Slice of life] (Updates every Wednesday / Saturday)
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A strange accident hurls a man thousands of years into the future to find that disasters have transformed the world into a fantastical setting of monsters and magical swordsmen. Our protagonist does not become a hero. Instead he is recruited into a heretical cult led by a foul necromancer. To survive this new world, he must adapt to life as one of the dark lord’s evil lieutenants, carrying out impossible orders, scheming against his rival cultists, avoiding the real heroes out to kill him, and developing his own personal brand of magical swordcraft. [participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge] (Placeholder title until I come up with something better.) Features: – Minion to Dark Lord progression. – MC lurking undercover as an evil lieutenant. – First true spellcaster in a world of magic swordsmen. – Wuxia power levels. – Minor base building / project management. – A little bit of crafting. – Meandering progression/plot. – Dumb comedy.
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A Dragon Idol's Reincarnation Tale
Note: Sorry, the discord got nuked. New Server: https://discord.gg/sDf7qDr8QS Sorry about that, everybody! "Survival of the fittest is easier said than done...why couldn't I have been reborn a bit bigger, huh?" If waking up in a new world wasn't bad enough, an idealistic teen starts her new life as a newborn dragon not by being embraced by a loving family, but having to escape two hungry kobolds wanting some grilled lizard for breakfast. Now, status screens obscure her vision in a hostile forest filled with vicious magical monsters, as two concerning Titles welcome her to her new life. Equipped with fragmented memories from her past life and the game-like mechanics of her new reality, the young dragon must face trials and tribulation, undeterred by the reaper's scythe inches from her neck. Despite her challenges, she is determined to find civilization. For nothing will stop her from fulfilling her one true desire: to become an Idol. Author Notes: I'll update the story every 2-3 day, if nothing major in my life happens. The story is mostly inspired by Japanese Light Novels, specifically "I'm a spider, so what?". New Discord after the old was nuked: Rawr Cover art was created by dinal06: Rawr Please credit the artist and me, the author, if you were to use it. Also, please don't modify and photoshop it.
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Stop While You're Still Beautiful
Magic is real ok? Too bad all the witches, wizards, and magic creatures are in the shadows now after the war. Humanity prevailed, you should be happy. But that's not the case for Colin who is trying to put his life back together while recovering from a rare autoimmune disorder, Guillian-Barre Syndrome. That's about to change though as he is pulled into the wacky world of magic by a young powerful witch who's tired of hiding. The only problem is nobody really likes witches in this day and age, the only ones that are left are hunted down and eliminated by the heroic Spectral Investigators. Clad in armor and heaps of gadgets, these guys are not who you want to pick a fight with. Well, now Colin's in the middle of it all as he tries to grapple with his condition and his new found "friend".
8 224 - In Serial9 Chapters
Choices of the Magicless Son
I had an ability that allowed me to watch everyone. I narrated everything I witnessed. To who? To whichever being that's listening to my thoughts right now. I have a gut feeling you're there. Erik Spearhand was born from one of the many concubines of the current human emperor. The boy was insignificant. He was the only one in the whole world who couldn't use magic. And yet, his choices impacted everyone. I had seen every sort. Powerful mages who could kill with a thought. Monster people who had their own history among human and beastman civilization. And even what I presume are time travelers. Those mess with my head. And still, the magicless son was the most formidable of them all. Of all of us.
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