Author and illustrator David Small’s latest book, The Werewolf at Dusk and Other Stories, contains three yarns — “The Werewolf at Dusk,” “A Walk in the Old City,” and “The Tiger in Vogue” — all connected by the theme “the dread of things internal.” Two are based on short prose stories by other authors, and one is largely based on a dream Small had. Small spoke to Cemetery Dance about how the stories came together, his approach in writing and illustrating The Werewolf at Dusk, and what he would like readers to take away from the book.
(Interview conducted by Danica Davidson)
CEMETERY DANCE: The Werewolf at Dusk is about “the dread of things internal.” Did you seek out to write a book on this theme, or did these stories come together on their own? What was the creative process like?
DAVID SMALL: I had no theme in mind, only my own preferences, plus the fact that I wanted all three stories to be united tonally. They fell together almost at random. “Le Tigre Mondain” (which I translated from the French original and retitled “The Tiger in Vogue”) was in a collection of Surrealist short stories which I read 40 years ago. I never forgot that story. When I gained permission from author Jean Ferry’s estate to illustrate it, I added some nearly-wordless passages at the beginning and end, to create the feel of an era (Berlin c.1920) and to plant more direct references to Nazi Germany, which I figured might be necessary for a younger adult audience.
Lincoln Michel’s story — originally titled “Moon Aches” — I discovered while fishing around online for a story to replace one I had lost because of problems with the author’s estate. Lincoln’s story turned out to be the much-better choice.
“A Walk In The Old City” came from one of my dreams.
The Werewolf at Dusk mixes supernatural stories with real human fears. How did you approach writing and illustrating in this style?
I wanted them to be more realistic than what we see generally in comics these days. I wanted an ordinary atmosphere, so that when the horrible appears, it would be like finding a snake under the sofa cushions.
How much was “A Walk in the Old City” based on a dream you had, and how much did you embellish it into a story?
What you see is exactly my dream, up to a point. My dream ended at the discovery that the Old Man was blind to the presence of gigantic spiders in his room. It was, for me, a great dream, because it made explicit my suspicion that, to survive the challenges and difficulties of old age, it pays to be in denial. My editor Bob Weil wanted me to add something to the story to make it less restricted to my personal experience. That was when I added the twist: the question about who was dreaming what. That was also when I changed the Dreamer from myself to a burnt-out psychiatrist having a mid-life crisis. I did this because if the Dreamer was an artist, all this macabre stuff might seem unexceptional for him to be dreaming about. But a psychiatrist — whose profession is based on a certain amount of serious responsibility for others — is expected to be fully in charge of his own life and thoughts as well.
What would you like readers to take away from The Werewolf at Dusk?
That question always throws me for a loop! My first purpose is always to entertain. Of course, I had other, more serious things in mind. For one thing, I was hoping that we could publish this book in 2024, in this Election Year, because of the parallels between “The Tiger in Vogue” (i.e. what happened in Germany in the ’20s) and what is happening now: the scarcely-credible rise of an authoritarian madman to the highest office in the land.
By the way, I was disturbed the other day while speaking with a young woman — a recent high-school grad — who said she liked my book but was puzzled by “The Tiger in Vogue.” She said she knew that the tiger “symbolized something” but she didn’t know what. I asked her if she had made any connection between the tiger and Hitler, who features so prominently in the pictures. “Oh,” she said. “Hitler? I’ve heard of him.” This sent me briefly into a spiral of despair.
Where can people find out more about you and your work?
