A Chat with Author Ben Rehder

Walk us through the thought process behind and the effort that went into going from an ad exec to one of Texas’ favorite writers.

Favorite? I like that. Not sure it’s true, but I’ll take it. I wasn’t really an ad exec, I was a copywriter, first at various ad agencies in Austin, then as a freelancer for many years. That’s where I really learned to write—at the ad agencies way back when, starting when I was in college. Later, I was able to set my own schedule as a freelancer, which gave me time to work on writing fiction. At first, writing the novels was sort of a lark, just to see where it might go. The novels did fine through my publisher, but once the Kindle and ebooks started to build a big market, I was able republish some of my out-of-print books, and that’s when things began to take off. Over the course of several years, I was able to do less ad work and focus more and more on my novels, until I was finally able to become a full-time novelist about ten years ago. There was a lot of luck and good timing involved, so I consider myself to be very fortunate.

Novelist Carl Hiaasen was an important fixture early in your writing career. How is it too often be compared to him today?

I was always an avid reader, but it wasn’t until I read Hiaasen’s Double Whammy and his other works that I was inspired to make an attempt to write a novel. His novels are so fun and wacky and imaginative, that I wanted to try something like that. I will always welcome any comparison with Hiaasen, because he is truly one of the best writers of comic fiction out there. He combines a sharp wit with meaningful messages and I love it.

Where did the idea for your Blanco County Mystery series come about?

My wife and I had bought some acreage in Blanco County in 1995, so when I decided to write my first novel, which was in 1998, Blanco County just seemed like an ideal setting. I was a hunter, so it was easy to envision some sort of hunting-related mystery set in Blanco County, and from there it was only natural to make a game warden the protagonist. I went on several ride-alongs with a game warden who quickly became a good friend. He answered (and still answers) a lot of questions for me, so I could make my main character, John Marlin, as realistic and accurate as possible. As for the specific idea for my first novel, I was hunting one day and wearing a headset to listen to the radio, and I heard a news report about drug mules who had swallowed condoms filled with drugs, then boarded planes bound for the US. I don’t want to give too much away, but the idea for Buck Fever grew from there.

How about for Roy Ballard, who serves as the protagonist in your series of the same name?

I always like the idea of a protagonist who starts on a case that is kind of small, and then it unexpectedly expands from there. That’s usually what happens with John Marlin, and I wanted that to happen with Roy Ballard, too. Somewhere along the line I stumbled across an article about a legal videographer, and while most legal videographers don’t get into the type of investigations Roy gets into, I take a little literary license, because, hey, it’s fiction! Roy was inspired by Spenser, Fletch, and a bunch of other wisecracking investigators and detectives. That series is set in Austin, my hometown.

The Driving Lesson is first young adult novel - and my favorite of your works. I especially enjoyed the Texas you had protagonist Charlie Dunbar drive through. What makes a good Texas road trip and any plans to continue writing in this new market?

I wrote that book about twelve years ago, and since it was a road-trip story starting in Texas—and because the protagonist and his grandfather were on the run—I thought it made sense to have them follow a meandering path, so why not have them visit various landmarks and attractions? I considered it a young-adult novel when I wrote it, but I’d guess 99% of the readers are adults. My focus now is on my two series, and I alternate between the two.

How have you adapted to writing about Texas and Texans when the idea of what both of these actually represents changes almost daily?

I wouldn’t say I set out to write about Texas or Texans, I just create characters and write them, and since I’m from Texas, most of them are, too. Blanco County has been insulated from a lot of the change in central Texas in the past twenty years, but it’s obvious that won’t last much longer. Land and home prices have skyrocketed in Blanco County, and new homes are going up all over the place. The little caliche road going past my cabin used to get maybe a vehicle or two per week. Now it might get fifteen or twenty cars or trucks per day, with many of them being service vehicles and delivery vehicles as new homes are being built on the tracts past me. It makes me wistful and sad, but that’s the way things go. Roy Ballard feels the same way about the massive changes in Austin. Like me, he’s an Austin native (what a coincidence), and he can hardly recognize his town anymore. Most of the new residents are coming from out of state, so you’re right, what it means to be Texan is changing fast, and that will continue.

I’m always entertained by the game camera pictures you post to social media of the water trough in your backyard. You have a ton of animal species back there. Tell us about the wildlife you’ve witnessed back there and what joy you take from that.

I have game cameras both at my house and at my place in Blanco County. You never know what you’re going to see. Here at my house, it’s deer, birds (including screech owls), squirrels, raccoons, foxes aplenty, and occasionally coyotes. No wild pigs yet, but I’m sure that will change. In Blanco County, I had a very primitive game camera in the late 90s that showed me all kinds of exotic animals, mostly sika and fallow deer, plus plenty of wild pigs. There were even a few elk running around, and then some aoudad sheep. Most of those exotics, minus the pigs, have disappeared in the past ten or fifteen years, belying the idea that exotics will push natives out and take over. You also catch the occasional person trespassing on your place, but all of them have had a reasonable excuse, such as rounding up loose cattle or looking for a lost dog.

Where the best place for folks to find you?

I’m sort of a homebody, but when I get out, it’s to Dripping Springs, Bee Cave, Johnson City, and occasionally into Austin, but please, not during rush hour!

This piece first appeared in the Fredericksburg Standard.

Like what you see? Want to keep the adventure going? Fire a PayPal or Venmo in my direction & you may get a shout out! Hot Tip: Include blog idea in the description…