Holiday Replay: Author Spotlight Ruby Dixon

Matt: All right. Welcome everybody to the Write Out Loud Podcast. It is, of

course, Matt Cassem, along with the spirited, sparkling, vivacious, exuberant,

gleeful, and bright Christina. How do you think, what do you think about that?

Christina: Sparkling I'll go with. Sparkling. I appreciate, you

Matt: hmm.

Christina: me a little glitter and I'm happy,

Matt: Mm hmm.

Christina: but

Matt: I'm,

Christina: get you a thesaurus.

Matt: yeah, we try to find, we try to find as many different words as possible to

describe you and

Christina: when someone meets me, they're going to be like so disappointed

because I am none of those things.

Matt: nonsense is utter nonsense. Anywho, we are back once again, and very,

very excited to introduce you to a very Very special guest.

Christina: Yes.

Matt: is Ruby Dixon and Ruby is an author of all things science fiction and

fantasy romance. She's a Sagittarius and a Raylo shipper for those Star Wars

fans out there. Loves farming sims but not actual housework and that's

something I can absolutely align with.

Uh, lives in the south with her husband and a couple of goofy cats. Hello, Ruby.

Ruby Dixon: Hi, thank you for having me.Matt: you so much. We're very, very excited.

Christina: I was just going to say, this is my pinnacle moment. am full

disclosure, a huge fan the Ice Planet Barbarians. And so ever since I read that

first one, I have been telling Matt, we've got to get Ruby on. We've got to get

Ruby on. So this is exciting for me.

Matt: Absolutely. Ruby, tell us a little bit more about yourself. What would you

know, tell us.

Ruby Dixon: let me think. Well, I started publishing as Ruby in 2015. That was

when Kindle Unlimited was brand new and I was like, well, I write a lot, so let

me, let me throw some stuff into Kindle Unlimited and see how that goes. And

it was kind of like the place for the, the stuff that doesn't fit New York, shorter

Christina: Yeah.

Ruby Dixon: slightly crazy things, whatever. And it just kind of took off. I

don't, I don't know.

Matt: That's awesome.

Ruby Dixon: a very exciting person. I don't have like a, a big pedigree of like

writer colleges. I'm

Christina: No.

Ruby Dixon: have some cats.

Christina: Yeah. Sometimes, I, that's one of the things that I wish more people

knew about writing. I don't think it takes any of those things. And in fact, I think

it takes someone who is to just. Create, willing to just, sit back and go. I've got

this idea just go with it. I mean, some of the best writers out there have, pen and

imagination and that's it. And those are some of the best writers out there. Thank

you. I read an article and I wish I could cite where the article is, but it's

somewhere in the internet void and I've never been able to find it since. But I

had heard that you were writing for New York under a different pen name and

were just feeling some burnout and that you had this idea the Ice Planet

Barbarians and it was kind of sitting in the vault, like untouched, can you tell us

a little bit about what, uh, Some of the burnout you were feeling and why you

decided to open that idea again.Ruby Dixon: So, let me think. I, when I initially started writing you, you start

out with like, oh, it's an idea that I really want. It's like usually the most cliched,

story ever. Like, I think the first one I started writing was everybody had like

purple eyes and like they had special marks on them from the gods.

And, it's a fantasy

Christina: Yeah.

Ruby Dixon: know, You read that later and you're like, this is stupid, but that's

many years later. But when you first start writing, , nobody's there to tell you,

Christina: Yeah.

Ruby Dixon: You can't write like this.. And so that was what I started out with.

And then as I tailored myself towards being published more and more, you

look, you pay more attention to what the market wants.

You, you write the weird out a lot of the time. You become. What the editor is

looking for, what they think they will sell. And so by the time that I started

writing as Ruby I had written a lot of stuff that I enjoyed writing it cause I just

enjoy writing. But it wasn't something that I would necessarily like wake up and

be like super excited.

Oh, I get to write, about a billionaire or whatever, you

Christina: Yeah. Yeah.

Ruby Dixon: wasn't something that I like call to me or scream to me, I guess.

so I was like, you know what? I'm, I'm really kind of, fried. I don't like what is

coming out. I felt kind of stalled. So I was like, I'm going to pull through my

junk file and just see what calls me.

And most writers or a lot of writers, I shouldn't say most, uh, have. You get a lot

of ideas over and over again. I think there's either you're a writer that works on

one idea at a time, or you're a writer that gets like, ideas and you get more of

them the deeper you get into the book that you're working on. I'm one of those

people that's constantly getting ideas. So what I do is if the idea sits with me for

a couple of days, I have I have a saying that like, if I, if I think about it and I

don't write it down, if I remember it the next day, it was a memorable idea. If I

don't remember it, itChristina: Yeah.

Ruby Dixon: Or it wasn't good enough to stick. So if I think about something

for a couple of days and I'm like, that could be a book at some point, I make a

document and I put all my ideas into the file. sometimes it becomes a book that

I come back to years later. And sometimes it just sits there and rots. And this

particular idea was Aliens, and it was Aliens with a Symbiote, and it was a

romance, and I liked books about characters getting stranded, and it, it was

initially gonna be like, oh, the symbiote gives them superhero powers, which

didn't happen. The, just because it's in the idea file doesn't mean it's actually,

like, ends up staying

Matt: Sure.

Ruby Dixon: But I wanted the, uh, story to be. A choice for the heroine because

if you get dropped on like this planet and this planet is just like, oh, it's paradise,

there's coconuts and every tree and sunny beaches and it's all beautiful, then it's

not hard to be like, should I stay here forever? But if it's like primeval and it's

freaking cold all the time and you have to hunt for all your food and there's no

Starbucks, it all sounds It's a harder decision to be like, do I need to stay or am

I, going to go? It makes that whole mental choice of like, yeah, this guy is

awesome, but do I really want to live here?

Sort of mentality. And I

Christina: Yeah.

Ruby Dixon: Something that the reader thinks about too. Like would I survive

there? Would I be like, nah, somebody can just kill me now. I'm not going to

make it here. So that was, uh, that was kind of my, The fun part for me was

writing through it and being like, okay, how did they get out of this mess?

So, and I didn't know where it was going to go and I ended up making it a serial

because I think serials were popular when Kindle Unlimited first started, and I

was like, well, I'll see how that works and I'll see how it goes. And by the time I

wrote book three for Ice Planet Barbarians, everybody was like, we hate the

serial.

Don't do it.

Christina: OhRuby Dixon: switched to doing just the complete book and dropping the

complete book. So. But yeah, it was all kind of an experiment just to, just to see

what happened and it ended up being great.

Christina: yeah. And one of the things is that I really felt about this series and

I'd love to hear your, your thoughts on it. I started reading them, first of all, for

someone who doesn't normally read the sci fi alien sort of thing, I mean, I was a

Star Wars fan.

Ruby Dixon: Uh

Christina: But I'm not a sci fi if you will, but the fact that they were so, each,

each book a different, like, I don't want to say theme to it, but the idea that like,

okay, so, one of the gals is deaf. And so not only is there the alien language

barrier, but then there's the language barrier of communication with the spouse,

with the, alien. So it seemed to me you gave of the stories, a little unique nugget

that really just blossomed and made the stories much deeper. So on the surface,

they're great, they're fun, but there was more, more depth to them than I was

expecting. So when you were, yeah, yeah. When you were going through, did

you kind of think, I mean, you had this, this ship women. Did you kind of go

through and go, okay, I want this one to have this. And I want this one to have

that. Or was it more, as you started writing the series, the ideas started popping

in.

Ruby Dixon: They were sketches when I first started writing it because I knew

that the main character, Georgie, is kind of like the template. She's kind of the

every girl. So, she's the Bella of the twilight, you

Christina: Yes.

Ruby Dixon: inspired or whatever, because I wanted it to be easy to fall into

this story.

Christina: Yeah,

Ruby Dixon: you make the character really complicated and difficult, it's on

page one and you're introducing this whole new world and you're introducing

all this other stuff.

To me, as a reader, it becomes a lot to keep up with. I was trying to take away

the any sort of roadblock that would be for people to fall into the story. Like, I

also don't use a lot of different words, I guess. Not different words. You knowwhen you read a science fiction book and you open it on page one and they give

you like this made up title and this made up city and this made up this and that.

It's like they drop you in on the deep end. And that always makes me feel very

stupid as a

Christina: yeah,

Ruby Dixon: Everybody else got this. Why didn't you? And so when I feel

stupid, I tune out. So I did my best to try and keep that out of there. So I start

with a sketch. Let me turn this ship back around because I think I wandered off

topic. I start with a sketch. of the characters and as I'm writing I kind of find

little aspects to explore. Like I wanted Liz, I liked that she was mouthy, but I

also wanted her to be kind of like, uh, the tough girl and the survivalist. And

then Kira was one that was like a little sadder, but she had the earpiece and so

she felt like she was more responsible for everyone.

So I knew like little bits about them but the characters really developed as I was

writing it. I I don't remember what exactly made me decide to give Lila to make

her deaf, probably because at the time I had just been fitted for hearing aids. I'm

hearing disabled or hearing impaired.

I don't know the correct term for it. But, so I was probably going through

something with that and decided to, what would it look like if you couldn't talk

to anybody?

Christina: yeah,

Ruby Dixon: and you really couldn't talk to anybody because of course, people

that are hearing impaired also have sign language. But if nobody speaks sign

language, in addition to

Christina: yeah,

Ruby Dixon: it's doubly difficult. I always like to try and make things a little

difficult for characters just to see how they kind of crawl out of the hole, so to

Christina: yeah,

Matt: That's awesome.Christina: Yeah. I I actually really like that you went a little off course there

because you actually said how I, I initially feel reading science fiction. I think

that's why sometimes I just avoid it because, know, you're, you're dumped into

this world and you don't. Know anything and you're trying to learn terms and,

that, that bogged down. And I think the ice planet barbarians was the perfect

speed for me because, you, you do kind of get into the story and, you're given

little bits and pieces along the way, first you learn about the women and, what

has initially happened to them before they crashed and they crashed and it's,

and. Your humor too, the, the Hoth not Hoth really, because again, a seventies

gal growing up with Star Wars with Empire Strikes Back being on Hoth. so

yeah, so I think there was just, just enough of the science fiction of it that I just,

I forgot I was learning it.

I was, I forgot that I didn't know this, this world before, but yeah, I. I just, I

really thought I was going to stop after the first one. Okay. Everybody else

stopped bugging me to read them if I just read the first one. And then I just

became a huge fan. So,

Ruby Dixon: a lot. get a lot of like, I'm going to pick this up as a joke. And then

like somebody will post on social media and I'm eight books in. It's not a joke

Matt: No

Christina: yes, exactly.

Matt: Well, one of the things too that Christina had mentioned, and, and I I'm

gonna reiterate what I understood that you had said. So you correct me if I'm

wrong, but one of the things that she said you did such a fantastic job of in that

series is just intricately building that world so that everything, kind of expands

through each of the books, right.

And that you don't feel like. Like, there's just so much to discover, right? As it

grows and kind of becomes this larger thing. So tell, like, I'd love to know a

little bit more about the process so that, that you've got this like larger world

that you're building. It's going to span several books, but it's not necessarily the

same character, whatever.

Like, how does that all come together? How did you make that work?

Ruby Dixon: So I always feel that my, and maybe this is imposter syndrome

because science fiction and fantasy has primarily been playground for the past

30 years or so. I mean, there are women in there, but I've always felt like, as aromance reader, it's always been in the territory of like, Oh, the only fantasy

women like is with unicorns, or something along those lines.

So have always. I guess tried to pull it back and be like, okay, what do I want

my fantasy? I want it to be accessible because I don't want readers to get lost on

page one.

Yeah. So I would think about like, you just kind of mentally spin out for a

while.

I would like go for a ride in my car and be like, okay, what is he wearing? How

did he get those clothes? Okay. What, what, like, let's say he's wearing leather.

Okay. Where did leather come from? What kind of leather would you wear? Is it

like from animals? Okay. Is he hunting those who is preparing the leather?

How often do you get the leather? Is the leather rare? Is it, like what happens if

you spill a drink on your leather? So, kind of have to mentally pull apart

everything. I actually, in the spin off of the spin off of Ice Planet Barbarians, I

started to set up an underground culture. And I was like, okay, well, what does

that look like? How, what is it like if you live underground? You probably have

vitamin deficiencies because you don't have sunlight. You probably have a very,

uh, regimented diet. You have a, probably a very regimented lifestyle. Style. If

you're living in a city that's been there for like, say, 1000 years, what do they

eat? What do they drink? How do they get close if they're not going to the

surface? So it was all kind of things that I had to think about. And you just kind

of build from there and I would create a file and write all this information and

then I would forget the file exists and never look at it again. But as long as I

wrote it down, it felt like it kind of like anchored it in my mind. And so I might

have ideas for everything, but I'm only showing the reader like one or two

pieces that. character is seeing. And it helps to write in first person because that

character only knows what they know.

They only recognize what they recognize. So if I, I might know that this, yellow

fabric is made from mushrooms that are dried and pounded and like the stock is

very woodsy. Uh, and so then they weave it like, a bit like cotton or linen, but

the reader doesn't care about that because the heroine just sees yellow cloth. you

kind of have to pull it back, and first person really is best way to, it's cheat

mode, they only see, they only know what they know. It's like the iceberg where

you only see the tip, but there's the big old boulder underneath.

Matt: Yeah. That's awesome.Ruby Dixon: an

Christina: Yeah. Yeah. But to me, I think that's one of the things that makes,

somehow it makes, writing, like, oh God, how do you, I'm not finding my

words. When the reader is reading it, we feel the depth, but like you said, we

don't know the depth. And I think that's one of the things that makes the

characters so real is the fact that it's so real with you and that you've created this

whole world and using your iceberg, this whole depth that we don't see. Cause

we're just at the surface with the tip of the iceberg, but there's so much more to

it that, I mean, I think that's one of the things that I hear most often from writers

is how much actual thinking and on that kind of stuff, and, and even though it's

not written into the book, like you said, she doesn't know what's made for her.

She doesn't know that, but it, It makes it feel real. And like, I think if the author

believes that it's real, that comes across the reader, just, somehow knowing that

the character, I mean, there, there are some books that I've read that you're like,

okay, this character is so two dimensional. I don't know anything about them.

And I often wonder, did the writer actually, know anything about the character

or did they, just implant them? So just hearing you talk about the depth, stuff

that we don't read in the books.

Ruby Dixon: huh.

Christina: it shows me again, how much depth there is to them. Because later

on, if you do write about the mushroom, made shirts, it's going to make sense

because it was made from mushrooms from the beginning, but you just didn't

bring it in until, book 10. So

Ruby Dixon: always try to think I try to think a couple of books ahead, like, oh,

it'd be really exciting if X, Y, and Z happened and I try to, like, save myself a

couple aces in the hole for, like, it's getting kind of boring. What can I do in the

next book to really shake it up? And

Christina: yeah,

Ruby Dixon: Cave the mountain

Christina: I was just going to say,

Ruby Dixon: destroy everything, start

Christina: yeah,Ruby Dixon: a saying that like, if your book gets boring, have a man enter with

a gun. So, and I forget who said that. I want to say Hemingway, but I bet it was

not. That's the kind of I, I find that interesting from a writing perspective. I don't

know

Christina: Yeah.

Ruby Dixon: comes across to readers, but from the writer, it's kind of fun.

You'd be like, oh,

Christina: Yeah.

Ruby Dixon: it all up?

Christina: Well, as much as I can talk about Ice Planet Barbarians all day I do

know that there are other books that you've written, other Universes. So, can we

just enter into Ruby verse for just one moment? At what point, at what point did

you think to yourself, okay, ice Planet barbarians are great, but I wanna write

something more.

I wanna do something more. also I have to wonder if the success played a part

in that. Like it gave you the freedom to try another thing that you hadn't been

expecting or. Talk a little bit about that piece of it.

Ruby Dixon: Ice Planet Barbarians started to do well, I had other books that I

had written that were sitting in the trunk. Basically firing his blood was one of

them. It was a book that I had written way back in the day, and I had pitched it

to my then editor. Not Cindy. And she was like, Oh, dragon romance.

Thanks, but no thanks,

Christina: Yeah. Yeah.

Ruby Dixon: I was like, okay, fine. It's just not right for this world, I guess.

And then after RWBY started to get successful, I was like, well, this is the same

sort of like, slightly scary, monster y, protective hero who is very secretly soft

for the heroine.

Christina: Right.

Ruby Dixon: and with the kind of world.And I was like, I bet Ruby's fans would like this. So I self published that one

and it did really well. So it's like, it was more like, okay. Ruby's fans are, are

with me on this. We're on the same wavelength, I, I can try some, I can try some

weird stuff and, uh, see what goes out here. And so I, it was kind of freeing in

that like, oh, maybe I'll pull out this idea for like a prison planet and see, what I

can do with that.

And it's a lot of fun too, because it doesn't have to be a full length novel when

you self publish it. It can be just, the story can be as long as it needs to be. I've

written some that are like 25, 000 words and I'm like, you know what? That's

good. I don't ever have to come back to it.

I'm happy with what I did. And there's some that I've self published that ended

up being like 180, 000 words.

Matt: Hmm.

Ruby Dixon: have kept on going, which is like, a book and a half, maybe two

books, and I put it all in one book. Cause I'm like, no, it's all one story. So that's

one thing that I really like about self publishing is that you can just be like, this

story is going to be what it's going to be, and I can, take the training wheels off

and I can just see what happens and go with it.

And I know that there's going to be some portion of Ruby's audience that will

be like, yes, exactly. go,

Christina: Yeah. Yeah. I'm one of them. I've read things that I didn't think I

would even enjoy, but it's, it's your voice, I think, and your storytelling. And as

you stated before, I don't think I could have put it in the same words that you

did is the idea that you were laying it out little by little and not overwhelming.

And I think that's what really did it for me that like, okay. I am ready to go on

another journey with Ruby. What are we doing next? Kind of a thing. So, know,

you, you touched on it a little bit, the idea that with self publishing, it can be

any length that you want, any way that you want, the story could be unto itself.

And that's one of the things that I think, with New York constraints, it, It's a

little bit freeing because you can have the story take shape the way you want it

to rather than, okay, it can only be, 80, 000 words or whatever. Is there one that

you enjoy more than the other or is it just different?

Ruby Dixon: It's, it's different. I do enjoy the freedom of self publishing, but

there's like stuff that comes with self publishing that. I don't love like, Amazonwill send you like error files or you have to format things or like you had a typo

on page 30, even though 20 people have been over this book, you

Christina: Yeah.

Ruby Dixon: has been out for 7 years and we're just now noticing it,

Matt: Hmm. Oh no.

Ruby Dixon: There's a lot more. stuff that you as the author have to do. I feel

like when you're self publishing it, like, where's this cover coming from? Did

you get the permissions? Like, are all the

Christina: Wow. Yeah.

Ruby Dixon: What you want. Do you like this cover? For one of the books that

I self published I think the cover changed like three or four times because first

cover we had, I was like, yes, that's perfect.

And all the readers were like, that is the ugliest cover I have ever seen in my

life. And I was like, no! So then we like, tried changing like, one or two things

on the cover and I would see like, Reddit threads come up where everybody's

like, look at this ugly cover I found and it's my book. I'm like, oh no!

Matt: no.

Ruby Dixon: So, so you, you learn the hard way, whereas like, it's a little more

hands off if in New York, like, yeah, if it has an ugly cover, that was marketing's

problem. That's not me,

Christina: Yeah.

Ruby Dixon: it lovingly craft the

Christina: Right.

Ruby Dixon: like, lay them gently on the page, so, and with New York, you do

feel like there's an entire team working on it.

There's nothing that's perfect. squeeze past you. With Bull Moon Rising that is

coming out. Not shameless plug there. No, I literally had edits. I want to saylike 12 times on that one, because I would fix something and it would cause

more errors in the

Matt: Oh no.

Ruby Dixon: they would send me more emails and they're like, okay, what

about all the errors on this page?

And I'm like, crap. And

Christina: Yeah.

Ruby Dixon: in and try and fix it all again. And then there would be more

errors. Cause I would keep fixing and keep making more mistakes. So we had

like 12 rounds and. Your self published books don't normally get that much,

loving attention from like 30 people in the editing department, so.

Christina: Yeah.

Matt: good, good segue into what's, uh, what's coming out tomorrow, in fact,

which is Bull Moon rising. Tell us a little bit about this, uh, next amazing

project.

Ruby Dixon: It's in hardcover, baby's first hardcover, totally not nervous at

Matt: Nice.

Ruby Dixon: it is called Bull Moon Rising. It is fantasy romance and it is

completely standalone. That's just one of my personal Bugaboos right now, right

now. Might not bother me in a few years, but right now I don't like waiting for

the next part of the story. I'm very impatient. Netflix has made me impatient. I

want the whole thing at

Matt: Yes.

Ruby Dixon: So I wanted to create a story that was completely standalone.

There will be a second book in the series. But it will be standalone as well. Like

you won't have to read book 2 to understand book 1. But it is in a completely

new world. And this is a world that is based on the transaction magical artifacts.

from an old civilization. In the current world everything has been cobbled up

and have taken over, like, all of the land. They're like, a little bit like city states.

All of the lords answer to a king, there is one city in, kind of, in the center ofeverything that's, That has a guild and the guild is responsible for finding

artifacts and selling them to the lords and the lords use them to protect their

lands or to like show their wealth.

Normal people don't normally have artifacts and so the heroine is a very

sheltered, very old old money type that lives in one of these lords. Kate. She's

the daughter of the Lord. And I keep saying the Lord. He is a Lord, not the

Lord. But she is a Lady Asbeth Honore. she has just found out that all of their

artifacts are gone.

Her father gambled them away. And so their home is basically defenseless. And

she's like, if anybody else finds this out, we're all doomed. So she's like, she is

kind of a scholar and a nerd. So she's like, I know I'm going to go join the guild

and I am going to get us some artifacts and save the day. And so she travels to

the city, which is called Vast Warren, which is built on top of the ruins. the first

city, and she gets there, she meets the hero, who is Hawk, and he's a Minotaur,

and he is in the guild. And she's like, yes, I would like to be part of the guild,

and he's like, no. And so it kind of starts from there.

They have to make a deal work together so they both get what they want.

Matt: Hmm.

Ruby Dixon: needs wife because there is the conquest moon coming up, which

is a time of rut for all Minotaurs.

Matt: Hmm.

Ruby Dixon: So, he would like a wife to help him out in that situation and she

needs a chaperone. And she's like, let's work together.

And he's like, do you even know what you're talking about? She's like, no, but

let's do it. So that's kind of how the story starts.

Matt: That's awesome.

Christina: Yeah.

Matt: really awesome.

Christina: Well, your publicist well, both of us, I don't know if, if Matt read it,

but I absolutely loved the storyRuby Dixon: thank

Christina: yeah, and I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised

because, on one hand, again, huge fan of Ice Planet Barbarians, But this was so

different in a good way.

Different. But still the, the trademark Ruby like I said, every once in a while,

you get those jokes in and the, just you saying just now made me giggle that

she's totally like, know what that means, but we're going to do it because that's

exactly who she is. She's just like, I'm doing this whether anybody wants me to

or not.

And here I go. I mean, I loved her as the heroine. She's just. She's absolutely

fantastic. So I think if you're a fan of, of Ruby, this, this book is for you,

whether or not, like, again, I've never read what they're calling well, first of all,

romanticy, I guess is what this

Matt: Mm-Hmm?

Christina: sub genre is called.

I've never delved into that, monsters. You know what they're calling the

monster, fad. So it was a little nervous going in, but really after, all of it, I'm just

like, Why did I even worry? This was just, this was Ruby verse.

Ruby Dixon: I told my husband there was going to be a minotaur in this one,

and he's like, minotaur? Why? I was like, because I can make it sexy.

Christina: no, you,

Ruby Dixon: be

Christina: yes,

Matt: it

Christina: I mean, I mean,

Ruby Dixon: huh.Christina: him the name Hawk, first of all, makes all sorts of like, hero Hmm.

Vibes off of it, but just no spoilers. We're not going to get into spoilers cause of

course this is coming out tomorrow. But just the idea that this really was, uh, to

me one of those things that. Like when you trust author to take you on a journey

and it's one that you totally expect. Not only, did I want to keep the Ice Planet

Barbarians organized because I like to read things in order, but I knew that and

especially after reading this one, right. I, I want to read them all. I want to read

all the different Ruby versus and, and, and So, yeah, I'm, I'm just ecstatic about

Bull Moon Rising and

Ruby Dixon: Oh,

Christina: I hope everyone goes to get it and Hawk and Elspeth's story and

again, I didn't think I was going to get taken away the scenery, by the world

building. But of course, again, going back to Ice Planet Barbarians, was taken

away by the world then too. I mean, it was, it just wasn't so, yeah, you have a

gift. You certainly have a gift of, creating these places that are just And I mean

that in the actual meaning of the world, fantastical. So yeah, yeah.

Ruby Dixon: You're making me blush. Thank you.

Christina: Yeah.

Ruby Dixon: try to I figure if you're picking up a Ruby Dixon book, I want it to

have the same sort of vibe every single time.

Christina: Yeah.

Ruby Dixon: Like, even if it's set in a completely different world, I want you to

have the same sort of You know what you're getting into when you get the hero

and the heroine. There's always going to be some humor because I don't take

myself seriously at all. And there's, there's probably going to be like some crazy

world building because I, I like to read nonfiction and like pick weird things out

of it and then put them in my stories

Matt: Hmm?

Christina: Yeah.

Ruby Dixon: Um, like, for a long time I was stuck on um, shipwrecks and

naval disasters.I went into a rabbit hole of naval disasters. And so in one of my books, I wrote

like a naval like a 16th century type ship. And I was like, well, how did they use

a bathroom on the ship? I'm glad you asked that because There was one

bathroom and it was a hole in the side of the ship and there was a poop rope. so

you would pull the rope up out of the water, use the end, and then drop it back

in. And I'm like, that is the most bizarre thing I've ever heard of. to write that in

a book. And so it has become legendary in my fans. Somebody will always put

something in the comments when I start talking about like all the goofy stuff I'm

researching.

And somebody will be like, poop rope.

Matt: Mm-Hmm.

Ruby Dixon: To me, that's just a fascinating thing you don't think about. And

I'm like, why can't I throw this into my book? Like, you wouldn't think you

want to read about a poop rope in a romance, but it's like the little details that

make it kind of a fun read for me. know anybody

Matt: I think it makes it relatable too though, right? Like it makes it human.

Ruby Dixon: yes,

Matt: in a way, right. Versus this kind of sterile type of environment where it

has to be just so and like, it just, it just makes it more human. Cause we're all

very complex. We're all very chaotic, kind of creatures. Right. So when you add

that kind of whimsy in there, it just makes, it makes it better.

Ruby Dixon: yes. I feel like we all have to laugh at ourselves.

Matt: hmm.

Ruby Dixon: Life is messy, so we all need to like, be like, look at how terrible

this stuff is, and look at how awful it is riding on this ship, and riding,

swimming on a ship, no, being, being on a ship, yes, words are

Matt: Life, life on a ship, life, life at sea.

Christina: Yeah. No, I, I, I just think, okay, so that just adds the humor that just

adds again, more of the depth. that just adds more of the just. sheer joy of, your

writing. I, I don't go into a Ruby Dixon thinking, okay, Oh, me feel the angst.

This is when I go into a Ruby Dixon, I'm like, okay, what fun am I going tohave now? And, uh, the other thing is, I didn't know half of this stuff that you've

written into these books are true. When I get to that story with the poop, I'm

going to just laugh out loud. And but yeah, no, I think that's, I think that's

fantastic. I mean, again, that to me. Says depth. That means, you, you get taken

away by the idea of like, Oh, well, how does one go on the ship? And then you

find out, and that just, again, in some way it adds to the authenticity, I guess, but

in, in most ways it just makes your, your stories that much more. There's more

depth to them.

Even now when I'm expecting it, so, Bull Moon Rising, I was expecting, the

depth and everything. But I, I, again, once again, Walked away with so much

more because it was, like I said, this, the world felt real to me. And a lot of

times, when I've tried different sci fi that I couldn't get through, if you will, I

think it was because I just couldn't, I couldn't picture, the world that they were

living in, but for some reason yours, is so full that I, I feel it, but that's exactly

what you were saying. All, all that you've talked about for this podcast has just

shown me, the amount of work and depth that go into this makes it what it is.

Ruby Dixon: Oh, well, thank you. I mean, I don't want it to, I worry that it

sounds like I'm bagging on science fiction and

Christina: Oh

Ruby Dixon: am not.

Christina: no. Yeah.

Ruby Dixon: like, I love it, but it's like you do. I have always felt like,

whenever I can't get into a book that everybody's like, Oh my God, I love this.

Read this.

You will love it. And, and I like bounce off of page one because it's throwing so

many words at me. I feel like it's a me problem, not, not the book. so, I guess

that's one of the things that I try to solve in my own writing. I try to make it

accessible for me. Because I'm trying to write what, what I want to read,

ultimately, you're, you're writing what you want to see in the store on the, on the

page, because I know when I first picked up Ice Planet Barbarians again, I had

read a book by an indie author, and I believe they, uh, I don't know if it's a man

or a woman, it's R.

Lee Smith, And they wrote a book called The Last Hour of Gan, and it was this

really epic, very, very, very, very, very, very dark science fiction with a romanticstory in it, and I in love with that book. And after that, I read absolutely

everything I could find in the science fiction romance category, and there just

wasn't enough there.

And I think that's when a lot of writers start. Pulling ideas. I'm like, I'm gonna

have to write this if I want to see it out there because when you're writing it, you

get to spend all that time in that world with it. That's like the best part of writing

is like you get to live in that

Matt: Yeah,

Ruby Dixon: and so for me with even with Ice Plane Barbarians and like Bull

Moon Rising, I was in a whole of like, I was Just watching archaeology

documentaries, reading books about Egypt, the great pyramid archaeologists,

they had archaeologists in the time of like, I want to say it was like Ramsey's

the, the, the 19th, Ramses the Great, Ramses the Great, Ramses II, had a son, I

want to say maybe it was his 19th son, who was a big archaeologist, because at

the time that he was born, which is like 1200 BC the Great Pyramid was already

like 1500 years old,

Matt: oh gosh,

Ruby Dixon: so he was like, well, we've got to go and save these historical

sites, and you don't think about you've That there's some ancient Egyptian

thinking, Oh no, there's this stuff is really old and it's ancient even to us.

Christina: Wow.

Ruby Dixon: me, that was really interesting. And that kind of built. Some of the

groundwork for the setting for Bull Moon Rising where you have people living

in this city and under the city is this old civilization and everybody's still using

stuff from it. So it's like you pull pieces from everything that you read about that

you watch on TV and you pull it all into like this little happy ball and then you

write it.

Christina: Yeah. Yeah.

Matt: that's awesome. That's awesome.

Christina: just, just a question. You don't have to give us any details, wink

wink, but you said there's going to be a second one ofRuby Dixon: there it is.

Christina: stand alone but separate.

Ruby Dixon: Yes, same world. Some of the same characters, not the same hero

and heroine, because their story is complete in book

Christina: Yeah.

Ruby Dixon: And so it's going to be It's two of the characters that you do meet

very, one you meet very briefly, one you are very familiar with in book two.

And I wanted, it's the same sort of setting same city, same fantasy world, but I

wanted to have somebody else's story.

Christina: Yeah.

Ruby Dixon: I

Christina: I like that.

Ruby Dixon: or six books to

Christina: Yeah.

Ruby Dixon: end. I say I don't like it, I am obsessed with Sarah Maas's books.

She has me

Matt: Yeah.

Ruby Dixon: single one and I will happily read all of her cliffhangers But it's

hard for me to write one and just be like aha readers can wait two

Matt: Hmm.

Christina: Yeah. Yeah.

Ruby Dixon: that I need to wrap it up and give it a little happy bow and then

send them on their way

Christina: Well, I can definitely tell you as I was reading it, I kept thinking, Oh,

this character has to have more screen time. This character at, or is thischaracter, Ooh, is this one going to get a story? I mean, I just, I think as

romance readers, we've kind of been trained that, characters are going to appear,

so I'm happy to hear that, that there's going to be more stories from this universe

for sure.

Matt: Absolutely.

Ruby Dixon: so

Matt: That's awesome. Well, again, full moon rising comes out tomorrow and

it's on bookshelves and ebooks and everywhere. Right? So is there anything you

want to kind of say to, like, just tell us a little bit about, like, where you might

want them to go to find the book or any special messaging around tomorrow's

launch?

Ruby Dixon: Support your indie bookstores. I mean, Barnes and Noble is

amazing. Amazon is amazing. However, indie bookstores need your support.

There are a bajillion focused indie bookstores. I actually sent a bunch of

bookmarks and swag to some of them. Like the Ripped Bodice I sent to Oh,

Blush Books.

I sent to a couple of different places. So if you have a indie romance bookstore

near you, you can always contact them and see if they have swag and book

plates. you can contact Story on the Square. They are a partner that I work with.

They ship all over the U. S. They will send you a copy with bookplates and

bookmarks.

Cause I'm, for me, as a, starting out as a Kindle Unlimited author as Ruby, I try

to include bookmarks and bookplates I can. As a way of saying thank you.

Thank you for buying a paper copy. Because it helps my books stay on the

shelves. And if the books are on the shelves, then I get more readers. And

everybody's happy. But indie bookstores Pantigo Books in Arlington will have

copies. I'm

Matt: Nice.

Ruby Dixon: with them. So you can go on my website and look, I have links to

a bunch of different places. But go to a, go to a, uh, brick and mortar store and

throw your dollars down.

Matt: Awesome. That's awesome. And of course, we are going to have a link

for the book as well to bookshop. org. Which if you're not familiar with, you geta chance to support your local indie books bookstore as well through that. So,

wherever you can find Bull Moon Rising, you should absolutely pick it up

tomorrow because you're going to love it.

We know it. Awesome. So Ruby Dixon. Thank you. Thank you very, very much

for joining us. I hope you had a blast. Yes, we, we loved it. Uh, we hope to

come back again, maybe in the future. Awesome. Awesome. All right. Well, that

is going to do it for us for now, but again, Bull Moon Rising on bookshelves and

on your E readers everywhere tomorrow.

So get it, get it now, read it. Love it. All right. Thank you very much. My dear

Christina, as always appreciate you and thank you so much for listening.