Happily last week I received my comps from Dren Productions of their Peter Pan anthology Tales From Neverland, which features a story by myself, Hayden Fryer and Cardinal Rae.
Tales from Neverland, published by Dren Productions via Kickstarter. Art by Gregbo and Mog Park.
Our story Never Never Land also benefitted from Kathryn Gledhill-Tucker’s feedback as a sensitivity reader. Her review of my script gave greater focus to the main concern of the story - my attempt to challenge J.M. Barrie’s exoticising of indigenous experience in Peter Pan.
The story itself takes loose inspiration from the life of May Gibbs, whose biography loosely informs this adventure of the Darling family in late 19th century Western Australia. My drawing a line between the illustrator and Barrie’s Peter Pan is intended both as a tribute to Australian fantasy illustration and to demarcate Australianness from the colonial context.
I’m proud of our wee yarn, so here’s to James Mascia at Dren, Kathryn Gledhill-Tucker for her help and guidance, and Hayden and Cardinal for realizing my scribblings into something I can now hold in my hand - oh and all of you folks at Kickstarter who threw in your dosh, cheers!
Never Never Land, Art by Hayden Fryer. Script by Emmet O’Cuana. Letters by Cardinal Rae.