The following is an interview with Dustin Holland and Jeff Alford regarding the recent Kickstarter campaign for the new illustrated edition of Lord Dunsany’s The Gods of Pegana, featuring artwork by Holland. In this interview, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief Barbra Dillon chats with Holland and Alford about the shared creative process of bringing the classic to life visually, the incredible backer rewards available through the campaign, and more!
Barbra Dillon, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief: Dustin, Wig Shop will soon be releasing a new illustrated edition of Lord Dunsany’s The Gods of Pegana, featuring your stunning artwork. What first intrigued you about bringing these influential stories to life visually?
Dustin Holland: The Gods of Pegana feels like an ancient tome, but it also feels really ahead of its time. Because he inspired so many beloved fantasy and scifi writers like HP Lovecraft and J.R.R Tolkien, there are elements of Dunsany’s writing that feel familiar. But his odd, sing-songy sentence structure, his dreamy/playful approach to world building, and his sometimes cynical view of human nature make The Gods of Pegana feel really fresh and unique and surprising. There’s something mysterious and wonderful about this book that I found really exciting. Too, there are at least 40 or 50 gods and prophets in this book, so designing all of those was a very fun challenge.
BD: When tackling a project like The Gods of Pegana, is there anything that guides or propels your approach to the artwork?
DH: Well, when Jeff first approached me about the project, we had some great conversations about his vision for the book, and he suggested I paint it and gave me free reign, so I leaned into the text for guidance, but Dunsany doesn’t use much visual language, so he (posthumously) gave me free reign, too! Which was very exciting, but also a little daunting. Each chapter had a concept or two that stuck out to me as the defining trait for the characters, and I leaned into those as much as possible. I tried to give all of the big characters their own color scheme, too, which helped immensely. My wife Madi and my brother, Nick, were gracious enough to let me show them pages as I went along and their feedback kept me on the right track.
BD: Jeff, compiling an edition of this caliber is no easy feat. What can you share with us about the production process for bringing this collection to life, and what will readers have in store?
Jeff Alford: The book is in the public domain, and we went into the whole project knowing that if someone simply wanted to read the text they could pull it up online. So, the challenge for us was to ask what would make readers want to buy our version… how can we amplify the reading experience in a unique way? What we came up with is something that pushes beyond the standards of an illustrated novel, hopefully in a way that readers will find thrilling and as unmooring as Dunsany’s prose. Dustin’s work on the book is immersive, unusual, and in my opinion very exciting.
BD: At Fanbase Press, our #StoriesMatter initiative endeavors to highlight the impact that stories can have on audiences of various mediums. Why do you feel that Lord Dunsany’s stories continue to connect with and impact today’s readers, and what, if any conversations do you hope that they may invite?
JA: The text is an expansive fantasy from over a hundred years ago, and I think you could argue that our incredible breadth of contemporary knowledge kind of snuffed out the era of daydreams and fancies. I think it would be exciting if readers walked away from our book with a taste of that old mindset and a desire to find more ways back there.
DH: I think that’s exactly right. Dunsany’s work is a real testament to the joy of letting your imagination run wild, and I hope our new edition gives folks a chance to celebrate that. Read this book and then go lay in a park and stare at the clouds and hold hands with somebody.
BD: In light of the forthcoming Kickstarter campaign, are there any backer rewards that you would like to highlight for our readers?
JA: We’ll be offering a tier where you can buy original artwork from the book. The pages are just incredible works in person and we think collectors will like them very much.
DH: Art galore! My wonderful brother-in-law (Hi, Chase!) is helping me make a sticker sheet featuring a few of the Gods of Pegana, and we’ll have some of my self-published comics available as add-ons too. Lots of fun stuff up our sleeves!
BD Lastly, what is the best way for readers to learn more about the new edition of The Gods of Pegana and Wig Shop’s other work?
JA: Wig Shop does almost all of its communication over Instagram (@wigshopwebshop) … the best way to stay up to date is to follow along there.
