Our friend Thomas Crone, substacker, journalist, author and long time chronicler of the St. Louis (and more recently, New Orleans) cultural scene, asked us a some questions for his substack series “A Silver Tray Q/A.”

You can read it here or read it below.

Ted and Ross Rubright describe their father and son bonding experiences of writing science fiction together. They talk about how they came to publish the Dire Skies Trilogy, explaining their views of the “self-publishing industrial complex.” We also learn about their individual journeys as professional musicians. Books will be available for signing. High Noon offers free cultural and artistic programming, during your lunch hour. The High Noon series features St. Louis talents from across the arts, cultural, and educational spectrum. Spend a lunch hour enjoying presentations and performances in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere.

We sent the Rubright’s a few questions about their writing process for such an ambitious work.

Let’s start out with the fact that this is a father/son collaborative writing experience. I’m not a dad, but know many with sons. That said, I’m thinking that I don’t know a lot of father/son duos who’d choose to not only undertake a book project on, but to take on a series of books. Go to the wayback machine and give us a sense of how this began? And, to that end, were there ever points where you (or he) thought that things may not get finished?

Ted: It started with an offhand conversation in the shallow end of the Kirkwood Aquatic Center pool in the summer of 2011. Ross was a voracious fantasy reader, starting with Harry Potter books at age seven, and continuing on with many other series culminating in the entire Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, which is around thirty five volumes. He was also playing a lot of games on the computer, notably World of Warcraft, which was popular at the time. I said I would start a story and send it to him in an email and he agreed. That initial email was the germ of the project. Ross wrote back and the three main characters, Slaga, Floort and Dietrick, were born. We set up files in Scrivener that we could both access and edit. I suspect Ross would have been fine if it petered out, but for some reason I kept at it. The workflow that ensued was me writing something and then workshopping the pages with Ross in what we called meetings, often in the car. This went on throughout his high school years. It just kept growing, like a benign tumor.

Ross: My dad and I spent a lot of time together when I was very young, and I think as I got to be a teenager and separate myself more from my parents he wanted a way to continue bonding with me, which I appreciate now (at 26) in a way I couldn’t at the time. We started when I was fourteen, with a chain of emails back and forth (I think he sent the first one, it started in media res with Dietrick approaching Slaga and Floort), a few paragraphs and I would respond with the next few. I did the most work on what is now book one, but by the time I went to college to study theater I had less time and interest in contributing. Fortunately, dad never stopped working on the series, and I never expected that he would. He’s an incredible visual artist and musician (far better than me, a dabbler in both), and I think in writing fiction he felt like he’d finally discovered something that had always been under his nose; the books were always going to be finished. In the years since graduating I’ve tried to be more of a partner to him, but he’s always been the one who made the thing happen, and I’m extremely proud of him. 

Did either of you grow up as sci-fi or fantasy fans, in particular? Or were those types of fiction around, but necessarily a first choice read?

Ted: I grew up loving J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Richard Adams, Ray Bradbury, Ursula LeGuin, Madeleine L’Engel and others. I also read anything else that was in the house and there was a lot. My parents had books everywhere, from floor to ceiling. They also took both newspapers (when there were two), and a lot of magazines. I didn’t read them cover to cover but if something grabbed my interest, I would drop everything and read it.

Ross: It was always about sci-fi and fantasy for me. Dad read me Lord of the Rings when I was way too young to truly appreciate them, but I loved it and I think it influenced my taste in art and media forever, pretty much. Harry Potter as a kid, Terry Pratchett as a teen, Vonnegut, Bradbury, Herbert, etc. A similar thing happened with him reading me Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin, and in recent years it’s been a lot of magical realism (Thomas Pynchon, China Mieville, George Saunders, Susanna Clarke).

With fiction that may fall into a broader genre, were there some tropes, storylines or cliches that you set out to avoid at the very beginning of the process?

Ted: Ross will have thoughts on this. He wanted to avoid a Voldemort style villain and a ‘white hat’ hero. He loved stories where even the bad guys had some sort of rational motivation for their actions. He was also very particular about the magic in the story. He didn’t want a highly magical universe, like Harry Potter, but a more subtle one, like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell by Susannah Clarke. He also wanted the magic to be quirky and obtuse: a spell could work one day and work differently the next.

Ross: I knew I wanted the magic to feel magical, not like a magic system. I knew I wanted to stay away from an obvious good vs. evil conflict. I don’t think I realized at fourteen that by trying to avoid that, the project would become exactly that; a story about fantasy imperialism. That’s maybe my favorite thing about it now. 

Sometimes a project is something you’d like to tell everyone about, every step of the way. Other times, it’s nice to have that project that’s sitting quietly, only shared with friends and family when it’s ready for the world to see/hear/experience it. Were the books something that were kinda low-key in your life, or did you share with friend and family that these were coming?

Ted: It was definitely the latter. We told family about it but when a project goes on so long it’s like telling someone your dreams; they glaze over. My parents knew about it and my dad, who is a great editor, looked at early drafts and made notes, which was nice. My wife, Gina, is also a good editor and went over the first book after we got it back from our editor, Kevin Miller, who has been an invaluable help with the process.

Ross: My friends certainly knew that there was a fantasy novel being written at my house, and those of them who like that stuff seemed eager to read it, but I didn’t get into many details. It’s been very satisfying delivering signed paper copies to those few people who have been waiting ten years to see what the hell we’d been working on.

Where’s the story, in terms of the third book? Are you writing it at present?

Ted: The third book is at least halfway done. It will have two parts and I just finished part 1.

Ross: The final book of the series is in the works at the moment. 

What’s fun, interesting, challenging or otherwise remarkable about working in the trilogy format? When did you sense “we have more than one book here” feelings?

Ted: It was originally going to be one big book but it got too long. I asked my friend Ted Ibur at SLU for some advice and he asked how long it was. I said around 180,000 words. He looked at a his phone and told me that “The Hunger Games” books were about 90,000 each, so we should cut it in half. It was great advice and we instantly had two books. I think trilogies are classic, like “The Lord of the Rings,” so it was a natural inclination to finish it. \

Ross: Once we decided that it would be a trilogy, it made more sense. I thought that what would have been the end of one book really felt more like the start of another; I think the story we conceived of sort of accidentally fell into a three-act structure, more like a play or movie than a single novel. 

Your brother Dan’s also written a book (and we’re reaching out for Q’s with him, as well). Is there a family tradition of writing? Of publishing?

Ted: Absolutely! Dan and I both pursued music but our parents were writers and teachers. Our mom, Lynn Rubright, developed an award winning curriculum at Webster University for teaching English through storytelling. Her books include “Beyond the Beanstalk” and “Mama’s Window.” Our dad, Robert Rubright, started out as a reporter for the Minneapolis Star and became a PR and marketing consultant. He wrote two books about walking in St. Louis: “Walks and Rambles in and Around St. Louis” and “Weekend Walks in St. Louis and Beyond.” His book about St. Louis restaurants is “Breakfast, Lunch and Diner.” He’s still writing and has another walking book in the works.

Do you envision your characters to have any life beyond these stories? Some type of offshoot?

Ted: I think so. The books are published on Amazon, which, love it or hate it, is how independent authors get their work out these days. One of the biggest revelations about this project is diving into what I call the self-publishing industrial complex. One of the strategies for succeeding in that ecosystem is cranking out multiple books and series. A prequel novella will most likely be the first spinoff.

Ross: Part of what I love about the Dire Skies story is that there is so much of the world that isn’t explained or seen. It’s kind of a Western in this universe that could contain so many other types of stories, and I hope we get to tell some of those. 

Any other writing or musical projects that you’d like to point to with links?

Ted: Our website is www.direskies.com.

My artwork is at www.trubright.com.

The books can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C2B3DJSP

As for musical projects, Dan and I are talking about reviving our band, The WirePilots, in some form in the future.

Posted on: October 6, 2023, by : T.C.