"Friends of Dorothy: Why Gay Boys and Gay Men Love The Wizard of Oz" by Author Dee Michel
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Friends of Dorothy 
​the book Blog

Getting FRIENDS OF DOROTHY off the ground.

6/13/2018

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Picture
OAR/ERL/National Severe Storms Laboratory (NSSL)
The last week has been a whirlwind of marketing activity and preparation for the big release day, this past Tuesday. I have been working closely with Nate Jasper, my website and social media guy, of Design Northampton and Kate Anderson, of Dark Ink Press. We have been planning bookstore readings, posting to Facebook, creating mailing lists, sending out email blasts, perfecting this website, setting up Twitter and Instagram accounts and more. A lot of this social media stuff is totally new to me, similar to the part of the movie at the Witch's Castle: exciting and scary.
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Book Launch Day

6/12/2018

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Picture
Today you can go to Amazon or Dark Ink Press and actually order my book!

I can’t believe “Friends of Dorothy” is now actually published. It feels unreal. Quite a few friends have already pre-ordered the book, which makes me very proud and happy.


There is still a lot of work to be done. An alternative to Amazon will be available soon, as will digital versions to download.

Thanks to International Wizard of Oz Club friends, Willard Carroll, Bill Beem and John Fricke, I found out that the “It’s here” graphic is based on an advertisement in the Sept. 12, 1942 Detroit Times for Oz Peanut Spread, sold by Swift & Company.
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Gay Men and the Wizard of Oz

6/11/2018

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PictureOutside a gift shop in Toronto’s gay neighborhood.
​I am the author of a new book, “Friends of Dorothy: Why Gay Boys and Gay Men Love The Wizard of Oz.”

Researching, writing and getting this book out there has been a long process (twenty years!), but things have accelerated in the last few weeks. As a first time author, I thought readers might be interested in the process of writing, publishing and marketing my first book. As well as reflecting on the past, I will be talking about what is happening currently with the book: readings and other special events.

So, what is the story with Oz and gay men? It’s not simply a matter, as many people assume, of gay men being into Judy Garland. I have interviewed over 100 gay Oz fans and it turns out gay men are also fans of the Oz books, as well as Wicked and The Wiz. Also my respondents became fans when they were as young as 3 or 4 or 5 years old. Even if their first exposure to Oz was the MGM film with Judy Garland, they were not signing on to fandom because they gave heard that Judy is a gay icon, or that they themselves were aware of being gay. Something is going on at a much deeper level. Themes of all sorts in stories set in Oz resonate with young gay boys. “Friends of Dorothy” details the existence of the Oz-gay connection, presents responses of individual fans to Oz stories, and then puts the phenomenon of gay love of Oz into a broader social and cultural context.

Stay tuned and I look forward to your responses here!

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    Author

    Dee Michel is the author of the book "Friends of Dorothy - Why Gay Boys and Gay Men Love The Wizard of Oz."

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  • Home
  • About the Book
    • Bookstores
    • Reviews, etc.
    • Table of Contents
    • Sample Chapter
    • About the Title
    • How I Came to Write This Book
    • Why It Matters
    • Contribution to Scholarship
  • About the Author
    • Biography
    • Schedule
    • Resume
  • Oz
  • The Oz-Gay Connection
  • Gay Fans
  • Blog
  • Contact