The following is an interview with Kit Anderson regarding the upcoming release of her comic book collection, Safer Places, through Avery Hill Publishing. In this interview, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief Barbra Dillon chats with Anderson about her creative experience in tackling themes like loss, anxiety, and our shared connection with nature, what she hopes that readers may take away from the stories, and more!
Barbra Dillon, Fanbase Press Editor-in-Chief: Congratulations on the upcoming release of Safer Places! For those who may be unfamiliar, how would you describe the collection’s premise, and what inspired you to tell these stories?
Kit Anderson: Thanks so much! I’m so excited and really appreciate the time you’re taking to talk with me about it.
The collection’s premise is that it’s eighteen short stories around themes I’m always sort of focusing on: memory, isolation, nature, interior/exterior landscapes, and small magic. There’s a lot of genre influence in there—I love stories where something fabulous happens right next to something mundane, so you’ll see a lot of that. In my mind, there are many connections between the stories, but I also didn’t want to force it or make some grand thesis. The main thing is that they were all made during a particular moment, and they kind of crystalized a lot of what I was thinking about in that time.
Inspiration is a little tricky to pin down. I was in a creative writing program in undergrad and was always wistful about it later when I got so caught up in my job and the day-to-day. It was always one of those “I miss writing—I miss the version of me that wrote” things. When I started drawing a few years ago, and writing a little bit again, I was reading a bunch of comics and it was like, “Wait a minute…”
The pandemic forced many to stop and take stock—for me it meant a lot of intentional changes, including going to school for comics. I think going in I knew I wanted to make short stories; you learn a lot making them, and I just really love the form (within both comics and prose).
In the middle of all that (about a year into the pandemic), we picked up and moved to this little village outside of Zürich—it was exciting but also very isolating. I was walking my dog every day in these woods behind my house. I was seeing so much beauty and feeling so many weird feelings, and I had the luxury (and privilege) of giving those time and attention. I also had this great, kind of Zoom-mediated community of brilliant friends and teachers. This time and community was inspiring in itself, and something I’ve always looked for. When I finally had it, I tried to use it the best I could.
BD: The book thoughtfully tackles themes like loss, anxiety, and our shared connection with nature. What can you share with us about your creative process in weaving these narratives together?
KA: The main creative process I can point to is thinking through things while being outside—being able to get out of my room and my head and observe myself in the (ideally natural) world, then look away and observe something else (e.g., trees), and see how small I am. Just being outside on a hiking trail, right? It feels a bit like wilderness, but I’m just a half-hour’s walk from my apartment. Still, that relationship is tenuous—there is real wilderness not too far away—like feelings, no? Some are safe, some are wild. I think this is what I mean by “internal/external landscapes.” I mean, in my head my thoughts are huge, but if I zoom out, or go off the trail…
Like, go to Yosemite, or the base of a mountain, stand at the edge of an ocean, and then talk about some tweet that pissed you off. But at the same time, our stuff really does matter. It’s kind of everything, isn’t it? No. Yes? That tension between order and chaos, function and dysfunction, nothing and everything is wild to me.
All this is to say I find walking outside to be important. When I’m walking, sometimes an idea hits almost fully formed, or it takes a few days to grow something. Perhaps best of all is when I’m not thinking anything, I think it’s all kind of generative. The inspiration, the big and small ideas keep coming. For this collection, all these stories were developed in this place and time, and they all inspired each other (are woven together).
BD: At Fanbase Press this year, our #StoriesMatter initiative endeavors to highlight the impact that stories can have on audiences of various mediums. How do you feel that these stories may connect with and impact readers?
KA: Imagine I have a huge junk drawer, and inside there’s this jumble—all these scraps and bits and wrappers—very messy. I’m embarrassed about this drawer, but at the same time I want someone to open it up and shuffle stuff around, and then go, “Oh yeah, I have one of these.”
I think when I write I’m always holding something up and asking “do you feel this way, too?”
When I’m reading/seeing/listening to something, I’m often saying “I feel this way, too.”
I hope that through these stories someone feels a little bit more understood. When I read things I connect with—look at art, listen to music, it feels a little bit sublime. I don’t expect you to feel that way, don’t worry! But I think it can be a connection both ways. I feel closer to you, and maybe you feel closer to me, and then maybe you’ll make something and someone will feel connected, and on, and on. I think connection is everything, which is why I focus so much on loneliness. I’ve felt some degree of isolated for as long as I can remember, and nothing helped me more than someone saying, in some way, “Me, too.”
BD: What makes Avery Hill Publishing the perfect home for Safer Places?
KA: I have so much love for Avery Hill—it’s been that way since someone showed me A City Inside by Tillie Walden several years back (being one of the reasons I make comics), which led me to the rest of their great books. I’m so happy they exist. There aren’t many publishers who’d be willing to back a weird short story collection by a new creator, but even if there were, Avery Hill would be the place I’d want to take it every time. They’ve been incredible to work with—just the kindest, most passionate people. They’ve shepherded this book (and me) with tons of care and consideration. I love what they publish and that they see my work as fitting into that family. It’s such an honor.
BD: Do you foresee expanding the collection into subsequent books or topics?
KA: One of the stories, “Lookout Station,” is kind of a jumping-off point for an upcoming book. I’ve also been working on a project related to “Quests” that I’m sure I’ll do something with—I would like to spend more time in that world. I’ve definitely messed with ideas to adapt or expand a couple of the other stories, but am also OK if they exist just as they are. I keep getting new ideas, which can be stressful, but also, of course, kind of the point of making things. (It’s generative.) All this is to say, I have more ideas to explore, but I think it’s safe to guess that I’ll circle similar themes. They’re, like…me.
BD: Are there any upcoming projects on which you are currently working that you would like to share with our readers?
KA: Yeah! I’m very excited that I’m working on a graphic novel (my first) with Avery Hill that should be coming out in 2025 (inspired by “Lookout Station”). It’s gonna be kinda dreamy sci-fi, and I’m having lots of fun making it right now.
BD: Lastly, what is the best way for our readers to find more information about Safter Places and your other work?
KA: I’m @igotkittypryde on Instagram and other places, and my website is kitkanderson.com.
The Avery Hill site is averyhillpublishing.com, and the site for Safer Places is here.
Thanks so much!
