Today's guest post comes from my colleague Tavia, and she writes about Gregory Maguire, author of the Wicked series - the first novel of which became the inspiration for the mega-hit Broadway musical. This fall will see the publication of the newest book in the series, Out of Oz - read on to see how you can help encourage Gregory Maguire to release a portion of Out of Oz for fans to read before its Nov 1st on sale date.
It took me a couple of years to recover from the overdose of reading I put myself through as a Lit/Writing double major in college. But once I did, one of the first books I discovered and read was Wicked by Gregory Maguire. That novel reignited the love of reading in me. Gregory masterfully broadened my understanding of a character I thought I knew—Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West—and reminded me of the marvelous, magical power a good book has over its reader. Maguire’s prose transported me straight to his Oz, and I happily returned there with Liir in Son of a Witch, and then again with Brrr in A Lion Among Men. And now, in what is so unbelievably my job (how did I get so lucky?), I am part of the team tasked with presenting Out of Oz, the fourth and final novel in the Wicked Years, to the world.
I assume that every reader out there is just like me: you cannot wait to be swept back over the rainbow and to spend time with Liir, Nor, Brrr, and Glinda. If I hadn't already read the novel, I would be thinking, just like you, " I want to read Out of Oz, and I want to read it NOW (must I really wait until November 1st when it goes on sale?)." To strike that delicate balance between giving it all away, and not sharing at all, we are running a little incentivized excerpt release over on Gregory’s Facebook page. Right now he’s hovering just under 22,000 fans—but when he gets to 25,000, we will post the first of several excerpts from Out of Oz for you to read before everyone else. Of course, in order to read the excerpt you must like Gregory’s page on Facebook, and help us get to 25,000 fans. So, help us spread a little magic among our fellow Ozians. After all, this Fall, green is the new black. You wouldn’t want to be unfashionable, now, would you?
