Robert Mailer Anderson
Author Interview - Robert Mailer Anderson
Author of My Fairy Godfather
The graphic novel follows Billie, a grieving teenager who leaves her home in Austin, Texas, for the town of Liberal, Kansas, to live with her godfather, Adam, after her parents' tragic deaths. As she adjusts to life in this new, small-town setting, she finds solace in Adam and his partner Steven's movie theater, the Starlite, which serves as a haven for their artistic and unconventional ways. Billie befriends Clara, a goth Dorothy impersonator, and Dylan, a teen torn between cliques, forming deep connections with them. Together, they navigate the complexities of adolescence, exploring themes of love, friendship, and self-discovery against the backdrop of small-town intolerance. As Billie learns to embrace her own unique identity, she discovers the true power of understanding, acceptance, and finding her path forward.
Author Interview - Robert Mailer Anderson
Author I draw inspiration from:
I draw inspiration from so many authors, Dos Passos, Flannery O’Conner, Don DeLillo, Virginia Woolf, Joseph Mitchell, too many to list. And these days Elena Ferrante! But in the world of graphic novels right now, Paco Roca and Alison Bechdel, and the fearlessness of Marx Doox “The N-word of God." I loved Roca’s “Return to Eden” and “Twists of Fate. And just read “The House” and cried my eyes out.
Author Interview - Robert Mailer Anderson | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book:
At my ranch in Boonville. Or a comfortable chair with some jazz on vinyl in the background.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with:
I always wanted to pull Wade in Russell Bank’s “Affliction” aside and say, “I know what you’re thinking. Don’t do it.” Calm him down, and tell him everything was going to be okay despite how awful people can be, the past, small town America... Maybe an elevator would have been the place. But did they have an elevator in his town? I know the don’t in Boonville. Best case, I would have got Wade back on a constructive path. Maybe long enough to at least not commit that murder. Or stave off what his brother felt was inevitable, him dying a homeless person. But he would have said, “Who the hell are you?” And walked away as soon as that door opened at the bottom floor.
Author Interview - Robert Mailer Anderson | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author:
I’ve always been writing. Since second grade I’ve been trying to write books, short stories, novels, make sense of the world through through language and creating a narrative. And the discipline of the long, lonely, hard hours spent writing. Wrestling with my experience, limited imagination and empathy. At age fifteen my uncle Bruce Anderson started publishing me in his radical newsweekly, The Anderson Valley Advertiser. I’ve never wanted to be an “author,” it just happened along the way.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook:
I collect books and worked in bookstores, so hardbacks are the gold standard for all the tactile and artistic reasons from cover slip to font size. Plus turning those thicker pages with better margins. Paperbacks are the best for traveling and reading in bed because of their weight. I also love them because they are more egalitarian. I’ve never fully read an e-book. I dislike scrolling. The light coming at me. The feel of plastic or steel in my hand. Audiobooks can be nice, but I really miss seeing the words and how they relate to each other. As DeLillo wrote in “Underworld,” “how much summer and dust the mind can manage to order up from a single Latin letter lying flat.”
The last book I read:
“James” by Percival Everett. It is an important, wonderful, well-imagined, necessary companion piece to “Huck Finn.” And as good as it is, still doesn’t make my top five Percival Everett novels. That’s how fantastic writer he is!
Author Interview - Robert Mailer Anderson | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer:
Computer. Unless I’m writing notes. I need to “see it” and not in my own handwriting. I start at the beginning of each chapter I’m writing and try to get a page-a-day until it is finished. But it becomes more dificult as the page count gets longer as the chapter grows, as it all has to "be right” before I move on. Once the chapter is done, I don’t open it again unless a future chapter makes me change something, and then I have to reread the whole previpus chapter to make sure it all works again with the new content. And sometimes that leads me into other chapters “to fix” where again, the whole chapter has to be right. Once in a while during that process I’ll allow myself just “the section” if it is apparent that whatever the chnage is shouldn’t effect the whole.
It is definitley a little OCD.
And the first couple pages are often rough becuase they are new and the corner stones for the chapter. You have to make sure everything is square and sturdy. Then pages 3 through 12 flow...
Book character I think I’d be best friends with:
The Narrator (“Bonbon”?) in Paul Beattie’s "The Sellout." We share a similar sense of humor and absurdity. He is also political and from California. I could relate to his lonliness and theatrics. Plus his screwed up family, especially a looming father, and all the whacky characters around him…
Author Interview - Robert Mailer Anderson | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a:
I’m a father first, so this IS my second career, though I finished my first novel before I had my first child. But knowing what I know now, I should have probably been either a musician or forester. Stand up comedian, if I was both more screwed up and stronger. It might not be too late for forester.
Favorite decade in fashion history:
The 1920’s. And then the 1930’s. Though men’s hats were better in the 40’s. And jazz cats in general in the 50’s!!!
Place I’d most like to travel:
My home in San Francisco to my ranch in Boonville. I’m not in a period of my life where I want to travel. I love San Francisco. i love Boonville. The best of both worlds.
My signature drink:
I think I'm known for shaking stiff, sublime gin gimlets. But also manhattans, daquiris, and my boont negroni. I think I have a reputation for getting people good booze.
Favorite artist:
No way. I can’t pick one. Or even one dicipline.
Apologies.
Number one on my bucket list:
I want to meet have and meet my grandchildren. But too soon...
About Robert Mailer Anderson:
Author Interview - Robert Mailer Anderson
Robert Mailer Anderson is a San Francisco-based writer, producer, and activist. Among other honors, he is a San Francisco Library Laureate. His other works include the novel Boonville and the graphic novel "Windows on the World", as well as a play entitled "The Death of Teddy Ballgame". He also cowrote the films "Pig Hunt" and "Windows on the World".
