Finding Dunsany

Back when we were younger and more adventurous we traveled a great deal around the Northwest and whatever city we were going to I researched to see what bookstores they might have so we could visit.  We rolled into Bellingham, just south of the Canadian border and found a bookstore but it contained nothing but modern 1sts and paperbacks.  Disappointed, I told the shopkeeper the kinds of books I was interested in. If you ever asked that question knowing you were in the wrong bookstore and expecting the glazed and bored response you know what I mean.  Instead they mentioned a private bookstore in a Victorian house that we might be interested in.  They called the owners who invited us over.  This was the Old London Bookshop run by Michael and Gingyr Schon.  They welcomed us inside and gave us tea and a wonderful chocolate brownie and we spoke of books for awhile.  Every square inch of the Victorian house was full of books with different rooms for specific genres.  Everything was neat and tidy and organized.  So we went to the sci fi/ fantasy room and I found this Jorkens book and the Leiber.  Rita recalls there were other books we put back that we couldn't afford.  What I remember most was the charm and friendliness of those two sweet people who shared their home with books and cats and welcomed kindred spirits in and made us feel at home.  Michael has since passed but Gingyr still carries on.  When I read the Dunsany it takes me back to that store and its charm.  Time had no meaning there and couldn't touch us.

I'll post this on our Dunsany community page.  We encourage you to join and take an active part in keeping the magic and truth of Dunsany alive by participating.  Dunsany has much to teach us and many who need to learn from him.  Perhaps you can share your experiences of where you bought a Dunsany and if a story or memory surrounds it.

Spring Cleaning

We've just given the website a bit of a spring clean.  We've added a new page dedicated to our latest work in progress, The Golden Key by George MacDonald, and we've consolidated all the Lost Tales by Lord Dunsany to one page, so they will be easier to find.

We invite you to stop by and take a look around the site.  Happy Spring from Pegana Press!

Visit Pegana Press Books

Working Through the Rainbow

I have remixed The Ghost of the Valley Dunsany storycast and we have created a new tab page on the website just for the storycast readings.  We are set to start work on a new storycast of Poltarnees, Beholder of Ocean from A Dreamer's Tales.  Anyone who has a favorite story they would like to hear please let us know.  We hope to do an audiobook of The Lost Tales series this year as well.

I've nearly finished the yellow section of The Golden Key and will be starting on the pale green section of the book soon and then on to blue.

We'll leave you with a quote about George Macdonald from a fellow author.

George MacDonald... in his power to project his inner life into images, beings, landscapes which are valid for all, is one of the most remarkable writers of the nineteenth century.
W.H. Auden

Echoes of The Charwoman's Shadow

One of things that struck me about the story The Go Ahead Planet, which we chose for Lost Tales Volume 3, was the dark, quiet, brooding atmosphere of the sorcerer's domain.  It very much reminded me of The Charwoman's Shadow, one of my very favorite Dunsany novels.  Here is an excerpt from The Go Ahead Planet which evokes that sense of magic so intensely.

...I could not know what he was talking about; but I began to suspect that in that dim room with his big black-bound book the doctor practiced some unlawful art...For the doctor turned again to his dark old book and began to mutter aloud, and his mutterings rose to a kind of chant in an undertone.

We want to invite you to A Dreamer's Tales, a community forum for the discussion and appreciation of the work of Lord Dunsany.  We hope to see you there.

Why I Do It

     Here's a photo of one of the first real books I bought as a young collector.  One example why I spend endless hours hunched over lead type to print.  A book can be such a beautiful work of art and design to see and touch before you even reach the treasures awaiting you inside.  As I saw and collected more books I looked for my favorite author's works and bought multiple bindings and editions because each was unique in its own way. 
     But it's the magic and wonder you find weaving themselves among the pages that gives you a sense of living within those tales and time becomes suspended. 
     To help bring a book into existence and honor it with suitable attire satisfies my own imagination and expression.   
 

      To share the magic of these authors' visions with others is an old and sacred work in some ways and one I enjoy immensely.

George MacDonald

And the youth answered, and Tangle heard him, though not with her ears...

-George MacDonald

Here at Pegana Press, Mike has been hard at work on a beautiful edition of The Golden Key.

The story is an allegorical fantasy of rich adventure and the journey of life through the eyes of that visionary George Macdonald.  Each section of the book is being printed on different pastel colours of paper.  Here is a sneak peek of the rose and yellow sections to be followed by light blue and green.

The Golden Key will be available for pre order soon.

...Behind those world-enclosing hills

There sat a mighty woman, with a face

As calm as life, when its intensity

Pushes it nigh to death, waiting for him

To make him grand forever with a kiss

And send him silent through the toning worlds.

George Macdonald  1857

Catching Up-Early Spring at Pegana Press

Lord Dunsany Lost Tales Vol 3 from Pegana Press with color Sime illustration

I want to take time out to thank those of you who bought our Winter Tales chapbook.  And I am very encouraged by the feedback on the stories.

Also, Michael Swanwick has posted a review about Lost Tales Volume 3 by Lord Dunsany.  And you can read it here on his blog.

The third bit of news I want to pass on is that Mike is hard at work on a new book and we will be sharing more details soon.

Don't forget to go to our website if you would like to see Lost Tales Vol 3.  It has a color Sime illustration provided by the Dunsany Estate, and while all the stories are rare, some of them have never been published.  Pegana Press is honored to bring them to you.