Product Description
The Werewolf of Oz is over 40,000 words long; including more than eighty individual humorous poems that help propel the pace on the epic Ozyssey. The chapters are split between standalone episodes and extended stories. The longest story; a rock music themed time-travel through Kerang-Kerrang; is over 4000 words long. The book follows a Wizard of Oz theme, with courage, brain and heart replaced by body (Elle McPherson), mind (Angry Anderson) and spirit (Cathy Freeman). One of the author’s biggest heroes, the late great Bon Scott (Bonzo Scottie) takes the place of Toto; and Barry Humphries’s Dame Edna Everage is the Wizard. Monotonous monotheists take the place of bad witches, while a mild monotheist (the musician, Moby) takes over from the good witch.
The book will be available world-wide to a diverse readership, so notes are included at the bottom of each chapter to help follow the comedy and narrative.
The hundreds of cultural references include dozens of celebrities and music titles, as well as influential media titles such as South Park, Lord of the Rings, Alice in Wonderland, Beavis and Butthead, Scooby Doo, Fawlty Towers, Skippy, Life of Brian, Crocodile Dundee, The Simpsons and Tazzy. Some paragraphs are written through a combination of song and album titles by bands such as AC/DC, Rose Tattoo, Rolling Stones, Beatles, Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Ozzy Osbourne and Pink Floyd.
The book aims to combine thoughtful writing in the style of Lord of the Rings and Alice in Wonderland; the motivational messages of the Wizard of Oz and Wombles; and the anarchic irony of Monty Python and South Park. The book being a parody doesn’t mean the writer dislikes the works referenced, or does not value positive media messages.
The story was written by virtually travelling around Australia using Google maps for nearly two years, and creating characters and stories from interesting names along the way. Therefore, place names are generally real, and characters fictional. There are exceptions, with some fictional places and real people, but these are usually made obvious or referenced in the notes. If a real place appears as something else it is also referenced.
The book will be available world-wide to a diverse readership, so notes are included at the bottom of each chapter to help follow the comedy and narrative.
The hundreds of cultural references include dozens of celebrities and music titles, as well as influential media titles such as South Park, Lord of the Rings, Alice in Wonderland, Beavis and Butthead, Scooby Doo, Fawlty Towers, Skippy, Life of Brian, Crocodile Dundee, The Simpsons and Tazzy. Some paragraphs are written through a combination of song and album titles by bands such as AC/DC, Rose Tattoo, Rolling Stones, Beatles, Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Ozzy Osbourne and Pink Floyd.
The book aims to combine thoughtful writing in the style of Lord of the Rings and Alice in Wonderland; the motivational messages of the Wizard of Oz and Wombles; and the anarchic irony of Monty Python and South Park. The book being a parody doesn’t mean the writer dislikes the works referenced, or does not value positive media messages.
The story was written by virtually travelling around Australia using Google maps for nearly two years, and creating characters and stories from interesting names along the way. Therefore, place names are generally real, and characters fictional. There are exceptions, with some fictional places and real people, but these are usually made obvious or referenced in the notes. If a real place appears as something else it is also referenced.
About the Author
Marc Latham was born in St. Helier, Jersey during 1965. He grew up in Wales, and became a big heavy rock and metal fan in his youth. Along with Kerouac's 'On The Road' and other counter-culture books, rock lyrics and magazines were a big influence on Marc's desire to write. He hitched from home aged 21, and travelled on a shoestring to all the populated continents between 1987-94. He has since visited several countries on shorter trips. After completing his big journeys, a desire for new challenges led Marc to university, and he graduated with a PhD in 2005. Marc Latham has been working as a freelance writer in Leeds since graduating from university. He works out of the greenygrey.co.uk website, which has an animal welfare and environmentalism theme. On March 20th, 2012 Marc self-published his first book on Amazon Kindle. 'Werewolf of Oz' combines wacky comedy and epic poetry to a rock music soundtrack in a two-year virtual travel across all the regions of Australia guided by Google maps and a Wizard of Oz theme. In September, 2012 he self-published it as a book on Amazon CreateSpace.
