Roz Kaveney Interview
Roz Kaveney is an author and critic. Her non-fiction works include Reading The Vampire Slayer, From Alien To The Matrix: Reading Science Fiction Film and Superheroes!. Visit her website rozk.livejournal.com.
Can you give me a brief history of your writing career?
I originally planned to be a poet and wrote a lot of poetry as an undergraduate before deciding that most of it was not very good and that I needed to do some living before I was ready to write anything grown-up – I still value some of my early work, but not very much. After I transitioned, I wrote an as yet unpublished novel about my experiences of street life in Chicago and some related short fiction which is on my website. Asked to edit a line of shared world anthologies, my co-editors prevailed on me to write for the books and those and other short fiction of the 90s were reasonably well-received. I abandoned fiction for a long time because of political commitments and am now working on a long novel, and am also writing poetry again.
Parallel to my career as a writer of fiction and poetry has been my career as a critic, and reviewer over the last thirty years. In the last decade, I have written and edited a number of books on film and television.
I have also written extensive autobiographical material, some of which has appeared in my LiveJournal.
When did you realise you wanted to become a writer?
More or less as soon as I realized that there were such people.
Who were your earliest inspirations?
Angela Carter, Michael Moorcock, Thomas Mann and W.B.Yeats
Are you a full time writer? What is your daily routine?
I work freelance as a publisher’s reader and write in the evenings.
Tell me about your latest book Superheroes: Capes and Crusaders in Comics and Films.
I realized, after a conversation with critic Nick Lowe, that there was an empty space in the market where there needed to be a book which took the superhero comic seriously as an art form rather than treating it as the embarrassing relative of ‘worthy’ graphic novels. I had always been fascinated by the stories such comics told and the way that those examples which most closely resemble great art have a strong family connection with those that hardly resemble great art at all – I wanted to write a book that was in part about my own fascination with the subject, but also one which would explain the superhero comic to the large part of the literate public which has never seriously tried to understand them.
How do you plan your research tasks for a book?
I read or watch the books or films I am discussing, over and over again, along with directly associated material like interviews and commentaries. I very rarely read secondary texts – I would rather do my own thinking.
Your expertise is in pop culture, specifally SF/fantasy/horror. How did this happen?
I have always been fascinated by pop culture and also by ‘high’ culture – partly because of my commitment to democratic anti-elitist values I have ended up writing more about the former, but my readings of the former are informed by my passionate love of the latter. I refer you to the passage in Superheroes where I discuss my growing adolescent love of comics alongside my love of opera.
Being a writer of fiction and non-fiction and a critic, how do you take criticisms of your own work?
In the spirit in which it is intended – I will take negative criticism from people whose judgement I respect, but am less inclined to do so when that criticism derives from say the belief that nothing popular can be worthy of attention.
Do you find it difficult trying to get your ideas for books commissioned?
Reading The Vampire Slayer was turned down by one editor on the grounds that, at the end of Season 3, the whole subject was played out. Otherwise, not.
Who are your favourite writers in the field (inc. comic books)?
John Crowley, Gene Wolfe, Mary Gentle, Howard Waldrop, Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Rachel Pollack, Kim Stanley Robinson, Ellen Kushner, Pat Cadigan, Amanda Hemingway.
There are some writers like Joss Whedon and J. Michael Straczynski who jump back and forth from TV to comics. Do you have any opinions on that?
I like some of their work a lot, others rather less – neither man is flawless.
Which books/comics/graphic novels have you read recently which you’d recommend?
I read too many books for work to be able to pick out anything particular.
Which TV shows and films have you enjoyed in recent years?
TV shows: Battlestar Galactica, Gossip Girl, Pushing Daisies, Grey’s Anatomy, Rome, Spooks and Gavin and Stacey.
Films: Stardust, Hellboy 2, XXY, Prairie Home Companion and Venus.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Be more diligent than I have been.
Are you looking forward to the Watchmen film?
I have a pronounced impression that I am going to hate it, and quite enjoy hating it…
Are you working on any new projects?
The aforementioned novel Rhapsody Of Blood and a long poem How It Works.
Interview by Neil Daniels 2008
