Interview with Publisher and Author Anne Petty

I was really excited, as one of my final summer interview series, to get a chance to pose some questions to the editor and publisher of my second book of poetry, She Returns to the Floating World, Anne Petty of Kitsune Books. I hope you all have enjoyed reading the series – I’ve really enjoyed sitting down with some of my favorite people and writers.

Anne Petty writes dark fantasy/horror cross-over fiction, has published three books of literary criticism, and many essays on mythology/folklore, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the craft of writing. She is also a published poet and owns Kitsune Books, which publishes literary fiction, poetry, memoir, and literary commentary.

Anne Petty blogs at http://AnnePetty.blogspot.com/ and her website is www.annepetty.com.

On Twitter: http://twitter.com/KitsuneBooks

On Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Kitsune-Books/185884136898

Jeannine: First of all, why did you decide to start Kitsune Books? What do you think makes your press different than other small presses? I think it’s very interesting how you tackle fiction, non-fiction, and poetry, for instance!

Anne Petty: I have met many talented writers whose work is amazing but doesn’t fit into the commercial mainstream mold. I wanted to create an outlet for those types of works – excellent content that’s slightly “off the beaten path” – and publish them in well-designed books so that the total package becomes a work of art. We relish the give and take of working directly with the authors and artists who create our books, something that’s often missing with larger publishers.

JHG: What would you like to see more of from poets in your submission pile? What would you like to see less of?

AP: My associate editor Lynn and I are always looking for the writer’s voice that “sings” to us, that effortlessly pulls us in from the first few pages. That voice can occur in fiction, poetry, lyrical memoir, or clearly argued literary criticism. I know instantly when I hear it, especially in poetry. I guess it’s a kind of magic where the poet’s obvious skill and facility with language supports but doesn’t override the personal connection of what’s in the poet’s heart and mind. One thing that still irks me is that we keep getting submissions of good material that’s only chapbook length – the Submissions page of our website clearly states that we’re looking for longer, book-length collections. I hate having to tell a poet that we’re interested in their work, but only if they add more and resubmit. Not long ago I had to reject a submission from a New York writer whose visceral, surreal poetry knocked me out and left my jaw hanging. Her collection was about half the length we normally accept, so I practically begged her to write more and try us again later. I hope she does!

JHG: I don’t know if I ever told you this, but part of the reason I decided to send Kitsune Books my manuscript was the twitter feed, which discussed editorial policies as well as anime, Japanese pop music and tea. I felt I had a better handle of the editorial tastes and mind-set and felt better about sending my work because of that. How do you think a small publisher can benefit from social media such as twitter, blogs, Facebook, etc?

AP: Social media marketing can turn into a huge energy vampire if you let it. Not good when your staff is small and overworked to begin with. On the other hand, you ignore it at your peril. Some of us enjoy being online every day, connecting with people in the writing and publishing business, and in that sense I think social media has been a boon to small presses. It provides us with a presence and a voice that would be difficult to generate without the Internet. As you say, making a personal connection with people in your field is one of the beauties of social media. Besides our website, Kitsune Books has a presence on Facebook, Blogspot, WordPress, Twitter, and LinkedIn. I have the most fun on Twitter. I do the Twitter feed for Kitsune and am highly entertained by sharing things that pop up during the day, writing related or not, and seeing how readers respond. I think it’s the immediacy of Twitter I like most.

JHG: You are a writer as well as a publisher. Don’t you have a new critical anthology and a new novel out? Can you tell us a little about those projects?

AP: My writer’s hat comes in two colors – academically oriented material on mythology and Tolkien, and horror/dark fantasy fiction. Last month I was gratified to finally get the hardback edition of Light Beyond All Shadow (Fairleigh-Dickinson Univ. Press), which contains my long essay on light and dark iconography in J.R.R. Tolkien’s works. That anthology has been in the works for several years, with the Tolkien Estate copyright gateway guardians and the university’s change in publication distributors being some major hurdles. I’d given up on ever seeing that essay in print, but finally everything came together and here it is!

On the fiction front, the second novel in my Wandjina series came out August 5, 2011. The first book of the series was Thin Line Between, and this second one is titled Shaman’s Blood. The series got its impetus from the Australian Dreamtime myths and legends I’d studied as a doctoral student with a focus in Mythology/Folklore. Wandjina are part of the Dreamtime pantheon of creation entities associated with rain and wind. The modern-day setting for the series came from my first job out of college – lab assistant in a haunted museum housed in what used to be the old city jail in Tallahassee. Great stuff for an over-active imagination! I’ve always had a taste for the dark side. The very first horror books I read as a child were Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, and the Collected Works of Edgar Allen Poe. Those three books kicked my nine-year-old brain off the rails and into the dark woods of the psyche where it still wanders around and seems to have set up permanent camp.

JHG: Any new books at Kitsune you’re particularly excited about?

AP: Well, I’ll have to list our whole lineup for 2012 in that case! We have another Mythological Dimensions lit-crit volume (focusing on Neil Gaiman this time); award-winner Jesse Millner’s second poetry collection; riveting war poetry from Iraq/Afghanistan vet Jon Shutt; a lyrical “water-color” collection from poet Rachel Dacus; another great middle-grades mystery from K.E.M. Johnston; literary fiction from short story master Paul Graham; and George Drury Smith’s challenging experimental novel, The slant hug o’ time. This last author I must draw extra attention to, because George is the iconic founder of Beyond Baroque Foundation in Venice, CA and editorial guru of The Argonaut newspaper for many years. George is a commanding voice in experimental, avant-garde writing, and I think his novel (scheduled for September 2012) will blow some minds. I’m incredibly thrilled to have him on our roster of authors.

Bonus question: What are you afraid of in real life? Politicians and clowns (not mutually exclusive)