I always enjoy Sterling Dudley’s essays on the public domain. His first for this #PublicDomainDayCountdown season discusses the lively and varied stories set in Oz, from L. Frank Baum‘s original public domain books to Universal’s newly copyrighted Wicked: For Good.

He notes Ruth Plumly Thompson‘s The Yellow Knight of Oz will soon cross to the public domain side (in 42 days). In 2010, Mari Ness wrote about how the story differs from other official Oz canon, and how it’s “delightful” nonetheless.