In this episode, we're joined by author Kit Reed, who tells us how the Oz books — the ones penned by Ruth Plumly Thompson, rather than the originals by L. Frank Baum — were her gateway to speculative fiction. She'll talk about other early influences, like F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ray Bradbury, Theodore Sturgeon, and John Collier, and how her reading continues to range across a wide variety of genre and non-genre authors and subjects.
We'll hear how being the child of a navy officer who moved around a lot meant having to adapt to new communities and situations, teaching her to observe group behaviour and in turn contributing to some of the themes in her stories. Kit then discusses how her career as a journalist also helped shape her approach to writing fiction.
And we'll talk about her love of comics, from early favourites like Superman and Batman, to more recent fare, including Preacher and Snow Piercer. She'll also tell us why — apart from her childhood creation of Harbour the Bunny — she hasn't taken a crack at writing comics herself.
Our interview took place in October 2015 via a Skype connection between Kit's home in Connecticut and my studio in the lair of bloginhood, located deep beneath the Niagara Escarpment.
Find out more about Kit and her works at:
Visit iTunes to subscribe to Invaders From Planet 3 and download episodes, and be sure to rate the show while you're there!
