Q&A with ‘The Surviving Sky’ author Kritika H. Rao

In ABF’s November book club we discussed The Surviving Sky, a Hindu philosophy-inspired science fantasy that follows a husband and wife racing to save their living city, as well as their troubled marriage, high above a jungle world besieged by cataclysmic storms. We were honored to have The Surviving Sky author Kritika H. Rao join us for a Q&A. You can find the transcript for the session below, lightly edited for clarity and to remove any sensitive or identifying information of book club attendees.

Saamiya Seraj  (facilitator): Kritika, tell us a little bit more about yourself and your writing journey. What drew you to become a writer, and especially, write a story in this epic fantasy, science fiction genre?

Kritika H. Rao: Thank you, first of all, for having me. It's really exciting to be meeting readers virtually. It's always a special experience, I think, no matter how long you've been in the industry.

So, for me, I feel like I've been writing forever. I grew up around books—my mom was an English teacher, and my dad would bring us so many stories. And we would go around in India into little libraries and have memberships and all of that. And I just remember being a voracious reader all my life and it just kind of spilled from that. As you start reading, I think, eventually, you kind of want to try your hand at that. And for me, it was very much like my form of expression. There are other artists who have drawing and dancing and all of that. But for me, writing was always when I was clearest, and I think many writers kind of feel like that as well.

I kind of stumbled upon science fiction and fantasy.  I grew up in India, and then I lived in Muscat, which is in Oman and studied in Australia. Now I'm in Canada, but majority of my early life was in India and Oman, and a lot of the books that I was reading then were across different genres. And I think I just kind of stumbled upon science fiction and fantasy. I actually started reading science fiction because I was really into Jurassic Park and Michael Creighton and his works and they will never market it as science fiction, even though they obviously were. They were always marketed as thriller, because he was Hollywood adjacent. Like most of his books, Jurassic Park included, became movies.

I just realized that I'm a big nerd. *laughs* My journey kind of started from that. And I started reading a lot more science fiction and fantasy. The Surviving Sky. for me was very much like this combination of all of the things that I really love: Hindu philosophy, which I studied, and just all the nerdy science fiction stuff in terms of how things work. And I kind of threw all of that in the Surviving Sky along with relationship drama, which is always fun and exciting, when it's not happening to you. So, yeah, that's really how I came to this point.

Saamiya Seraj: We were actually just talking about how special the Surviving Sky was. This is my first time reading a science fiction, epic fantasy with Desi protagonists. I love science fiction, but I've never imagined myself in it, but seeing characters with kurta and Rudra beads and jasmine flowers. This is why representation matters so much, but thank you, thank you for that.

You were talking about how the book was inspired by Hindu mythology. But can you dive into a little bit more details about what you wanted to convey to the world with the story and setting? What were some of the thoughts percolating in your head as you imagined this world and created its society and its rules?

Kritika H. Rao: I like to think that the Surviving Sky and the Rages Trilogy are not necessarily (based on) Hindu mythology. I think they're very much based on Hindu philosophy. And I like to draw that distinction, because oftentimes, when people are thinking of Hindu mythology, they're very much thinking of gods and goddesses and those multiple beautiful stories that our tradition has. But for me, I trained as a yoga teacher, I studied the Vedas and everything on my own time. And it's so subtle. These philosophies are so beautiful and so subtle, and especially, I think, when you strip away the stories in a manner of speaking, can you get down to the mathematics of it. It is so, so beautiful and elegant. And I wanted to bring that out in the Surviving Sky in whatever way. So, I didn't want to necessarily associate it with gods and goddesses of mythology, even though there's nothing wrong with that, and I could certainly write books like that. But that's not what this story was really about.

I think oftentimes also what happens is that people don't really know very much about Hindu philosophy. You ask a common stranger and they might be able to name Ganesh or Shiva or Vishnu. You know, a couple of gods. They probably know some of the famous gods but philosophy I feel has been neglected and has also been appropriated quite brutally, especially yoga has been appropriated quite brutally. And this was in my own way a bit of reclamation of it and especially the elegant, beautiful mathematics of it.

Kritika H. Rao: I find at least in the world of the Rages Trilogy, questioning is very important. I've made a very clear decision not to side with either Ahilya or Iravan. And when you're reading each of their perspectives, you're like, 'Oh my god, they're kind of right'. And you get into the other perspective, and you're like, 'Oh my god, they're right'. Or you hate both of them, which is perfectly valid. But I make a very clear distinction not to make a judgment call, because I think questioning is so important, and especially in Hinduism, the Hinduism that I know, and that is the value of questions. Constant discovery is essential. And that's one of the things that I wanted to bring in the Surviving Sky, the constant peeling back of layers and mysteries and secrets.

Saamiya Seraj: We were actually talking about how you see each possibility as a star. It's like the inner universe of our consciousness. We thought that analogy and that imagery was very beautiful.

Kritika H. Rao: Thank you. Yeah, that's exactly how I kind of pictured it as well, the universe that we carry within ourselves. So definitely like a core tenet of Hinduism.

Saamiya Seraj: Let's talk about our main characters Iravan and Ahilya. One of the things that really stood out in the book was the dynamic that happens when two people who love each other come from different ideologies. And it's feels super relevant now, given how divided the world is. So, tell us a little bit more about what gave birth to this idea. And what's your hope for these two characters’ journey and their relationship?

Kritika H. Rao: Well, I can't tell you my hope for them, because that would be a huge spoiler for the rest of the trilogy. So, I'm going to leave the hopes and dreams with you guys, rightly, where it belongs, so you can follow along in your own minds and as you read the story. I always knew this was Ahilya and Iravan's story, right from the get-go. I knew that this was a story about these two married protagonists who saw the world so differently, who had some different privileges in life, but who are also tied to each other through some of the ideas about their world, and what they really cared about. And it was very much like Hinduism is as well in so many ways. It's such a dualistic philosophy, right? Like, it's always like, you have Shiva and Shakti. You have two opposing forces, which are constantly opposing, but also being in balance with each other, right? That momentum and that wavelength, and that balance that they constantly are in and the fight that they're constantly in. And Ahilya and Iravan in some ways personify that. Not necessarily in the most positive way, but they do. That push and pull, the constant reinterpretation of each other, whether in a good way or a bad way. Allowing themselves to be so many different things, while still being very, very human people. For me, that was very critical to the representation of Hinduism that I was trying to do in this book. So right from the get-go, it was very much their story. It was very much a husband-and-wife duo who cared about things so much, and was so similar in so many ways that they couldn't see that they were mirrors of each other, except with a few things, you know, tweaked and different. I love them. They're such disasters, and they're awesome.

Saamiya Seraj: Part of the reason why we opened this book club was because we found out how white the publishing industry is. And we want to elevate diverse stories and authors who are women of color. Like what you were saying earlier—people don't know about Hindu philosophy, and they can probably only name the most popular and famous gods. So, we wanted to ask a question related to that. What was it like navigating through the publishing world as a woman of color? Did you have any struggles, for example, with wanting to explain concepts that may not have been familiar to Western readers? Or, did you lean towards letting the readers do their own work? What were some of the unique struggles that you faced as a woman of color writing in this industry?

Kritika H. Rao: I can't say that my struggles were extremely different from any other woman of color. As awful as that sounds, as an industry, as you said, we're extremely white. We do constantly get underpaid, we do have to advocate for ourselves constantly, whether with editors or with agents, or just generally in the industry. We have to be our own biggest advocate. I think as a person, I'm quite relentless. So like, I don't think that kind of advocacy was particularly hard for me. It can get really tiring, sometimes, but I've also been really lucky that I work with an incredible team in publishing. The Surviving Sky was published with Titan Books, and some of my other unannounced work is also with some other publishers here and there, but every single team I have worked with has been so incredibly open. Accepting is the wrong word. I think curious is the right word—they have been extremely curious and very open to learning and having those conversations and being challenged, which is incredible. And I can't say that that's everybody's experience, like other women of color, but for me, I think I've just kind of lucked out a little bit.

It also helps that I do tend to kind of advocate for myself. And I think at the end of the day, for anyone entering the publishing field, especially if you're a woman of color, or a person of color, or marginalized in any other way, I think it's really important to be your own advocate. I think the biggest thing for me, which I'm not gonna say was a shock, it was just a hard kind of a moment—every once in a while, I stumble upon a review which is unfavorable. And when I do read it, I realized that that review has little to do with the story itself, but it has to do with not necessarily understanding what the story is about. And that, to me is just an issue across publishing. It's because there's so few writers writing in the Hinduism culture, for example. Like, there's a handful. I can literally count them off my hand. They're my peers and my friends. Things have been so white and European for so long that when this different perspective comes in, and suddenly people want to question and say things like, 'I don't think you quite understand how to write a story'. And I'm like, I don't think that is the issue here. So I'm quite content to be like, the story might not be for you. And that's okay. I'm certainly happy if people buy the books, that makes me some money, that's nice. But if the book is not for them, because they didn't necessarily understand it, or if they're not curious about it, then that's okay. I think I have other readers, as evidenced by this book club. So, I mean, there are struggles, but you kind of have to take it with a pinch of salt, and realize that you have a place here and be a fierce advocate and ensure that you are not going anywhere. So, just being relentless, really. That's my philosophy. It's to be adamant and to stick my feet in and be like, I'm not going anywhere.

Attendee 1: Can I ask you about the plants? The idea of plants quickly breaking their bonds and remaking themselves in a different shape—that was really fascinating for me. Can you tell us about the background and inspiration for plant transformation that you've depicted in this book?

Kritika H. Rao: Um, I wish I had a really smart answer for this, but I feel like this decision was made so long ago. When did I start writing the book? It was I think 2017/18. I honestly can't remember why this was a decision. But my instinct tells me that at least one small part of it was a tribute to my mom. My mom is an avid gardener and she loves plants. Jasmine is actually one of her favorite flowers and I kind of made that one of Ahilya's favorite flowers. In terms of world building and storytelling, I'm not entirely sure. I think it was the jungle that came first. And it was very much a jungle planet and a jungle topography. And in the very initial stages of writing Surviving Sky, the ashrams weren't even airborne, they were within the jungle. In Hindu philosophy and Hindu mythology, you had ashrams in the middle of the jungle. So it's very much similar to that. And then they took to the skies in a little bit of a later iteration. And the plant magic came from that communication between the jungle and plants in the sky. But yeah, I think at a very, very early stage, this was a bit of a tribute to my mom.

Attendee 2: Are Ahilya or Iravan based on any personalities that you know from real life?

Kritika H. Rao: *laughs* Wow, I wouldn't out them by telling you that if they were, but actually the answer is, no, they're not based on any one. I think Ahilya and Iravan kind of came almost fully baked to me. Ahilya didn't quite but Iravan did come entirely fully baked to me as his character. And if he's based on anyone, he's actually based on me, because, I can kind of see a lot of myself in Iravan, which I don't know what that says about me. There are a lot of things excused in men which are not excused in women. And in some ways, this was my way of expressing those things in this character. But no, I don't think they are really based on any one person or anything. As characters, they very much kind of became their own people. I picked a few things about their characteristics, like how competent Iravan is, and how he's always so certain of himself and how his morality and integrity are things that rule him, almost to the point of being blind to the effect that it has around him. Things like that are things that I kind of knew right from the beginning. But then a lot of it just kind of evolved in writing. And now they're as real to me as any real person.

Sarah Seraj (co-facilitator): I was really super impressed with the world building in your universe, and how imaginative and creative it was. And I guess as someone who occasionally dabbles in fiction as a hobby, I was wondering if you had any tools or tips or tricks about how to keep track and conceptualize such a complex and intricate world?

Kritika H. Rao: Yeah, I don't know how I keep track. When I first started writing, I had a bit more of these are the rules of the world and that kind of thing. But everything evolved and changed. At least in The Surviving Sky and the Rages Trilogy, everything is so layered—the words characters speak to their lore and history and everything is so intricately tied. Don't know if I have a good answer for keeping track. You have your regular tools, like a whiteboard and making notes and trying to understand the limits of your world in terms of this is a cause, this is the effect, this is the origin, these are the users of magic, this is how they got the magic, this is how they can use it, and what is the visualization of all of these things. These are fairly normal things. But the things that excite me are the connections that I end up making while writing which I don't see coming. And I'm just like, 'Oh my God, this connects to that in this gorgeous, beautiful way' and those are the moments that I really enjoy when I'm writing. And those are moments I hunt for when making my way through the story as well. And that's what I want to present the readers with. I think the complexity of the word building for me really comes from not underestimating the reader.

Again, people say that this is a great complex world, and it absolutely is a complex world. But it's also understandable. I think it also works on rules and logic and that kind of thing. And I personally don't like speaking down to my readers or assuming that they're not going to get that kind of complexity. I like to treat my readers with respect in that they are going to get what I'm trying to say and if not they'll be curious about it and still come along for the ride. And I certainly do that. For every single book I read, I don't understand all of it, but I (can say) this was a great trip and I'm glad I came on it. So, I think being curious and excited about your world is a philosophy that I follow. And every single time that I come upon writer’s block it's usually because something in world building is not connecting. Like, I haven't thought deep enough, or I'm trying to make crap up which is not connecting. And so, there's a few false starts with that. But the minute I, like an archaeologist, start digging a little deeper, things start to connect. So being curious and excited about your world is one of the less repeated pieces of advice for world building. Honestly, if you are excited about your world and your story and your characters, then I guarantee that there will be other readers out there who will respond to that.

Attendee 3: In sci-fi, and fantasy, if there is a romantic throughline, a lot of the times it's two bright-eyed, bushy-tailed young lovers that meet for the first time and fall in love over the course of the story. And so I was just really curious about what made you decide to start our story not only with more seasoned protagonists, but protagonists with a history and not only a history but in the middle of a conflict, something that they're having to work through right at the start. What made you feel that that was a good center point for your love story?

Kritika H. Rao: The short answer is that I like chaos and that seemed like a good chaotic way to start. The long answer is that I'm a Millennial and what did Millennials grow up with? Look at our world right now. Like, we are supposed to own our world. We're supposed to be in this position where we have control. At least those are the dreams that I grew up with. You become an adult you suddenly have power and you're able to do good, right? I think a lot of us are brought up like that. But in the course of our 30-some years as millennials, we've seen awful things: pandemics, wars, genocide happening right now. It's hard to function as a normal human being in today's world. I think a lot of that I put into Ahilya and Iravan and their relationship. So their relationship, yes, it's a marriage, but it's also in many ways a conversation with how they respond to their world.

Kritika H. Rao: At the beginning in their relationship, they were each other's world. The things that they now have started to personify—Iravan being an architect and having power, Ahilya being a non-architect and having no power, just one of the few basic things about them. I just knew that I wanted older protagonists who were kind of jaded in life. They were dreamy-eyed once upon a time, but through the course of their life, decided, like, wow, this life that we have is not cutting it. Even for Iravan at the end of it, right? Like he felt quite trapped right from the beginning. In his very first chapter, he's quite trapped, because part of him is telling himself like, 'get going, talk to your wife', and he's like, 'Well, I don't want to do that'. So even though he has a lot of power, both of them did feel quite trapped. And it's not a loveless marriage. They clearly love each other. So that wasn't the problem. Yeah, I think for me, it was just very much about making two people who possibly could belong to our generation in a different world deal and contend with things that make them so different and yet so similar also now jaded. I just knew that their marriage was always going to be a source of conflict right from the beginning.

Attendee 3: Yeah, I think I hear all that and then also wanted to compliment that one part where he says basically in any of my past lives you're the best, you're the most amazing. It's like wow, nobody can top that compliment. If you ever got a compliment like that, I guess that's who you should be with.

Kritika H. Rao: I know right? See this man, he's so infuriating. He does all these things that make you want to slap him but then he goes and does these things and says these things and you're like, okay, you can kind of tell why Ahilya was so seduced by him and the reason behind their relationship being the way that it is. Anyway, obviously I love these characters so.

Saamiya Seraj: It helps to have older characters when going through all of these things, because you feel like, hey, I'm not alone in trying to figure this world out. So thank you. Thank you for building such a beautiful world and beautiful characters.

Kritika H. Rao: Yeah, no worries, I'm glad that you responded to that. With Ahilya and Iravan right from the very beginning it's the kind of thing that where you believe in something so desperately, and you obviously want to make a change in the world, and you're constantly fighting and you're constantly pushing uphill. And it is exhausting, it is tiring. But the other option is to give up and stop. And that's not a good option. So you just kind of keep pushing, because you kind of have to make a better world in whatever ways.

Sarah Seraj: As a disillusion millennial myself, I really love that.

Kritika H. Rao: I'm a mom, and it's still trying to raise your kids to a better world and everything. But you're also aware of all of the awful things happening around and yet, you come home and you have to be joyful for your kids, because they're your kids, and you want them to grow up in a joyful way and everything. We carry so much within us and yeah, so do Ahilya and Iravan. I think that's what makes them very realistic characters.

Saamiya Seraj: What can we expect from the other parts of the trilogy? Is there anything you're open to sharing about themes or where we're headed with the characters?

Kritika H. Rao: Ahilya comes in a position of power at the end of Surviving Sky and early in Unrelenting Earth. Now, she's a council member, which she has been fighting for for so long and Iravan, who was in a position of power is more or less an outcast, because he lives in the jungle and he's an Ecstatic which everybody fears. I feel like the Unrelenting Earth is the darkest of the three books. And I'm still in the middle of writing the third book, so we'll see how dark that gets but yeah. I love Unrelenting Earth. I found myself opening up different pages every now and then on my screen and just reading it for the joy of it because of the things that cruelly happen to Ahilya and Iravan. It's not an easy journey for them at all, but I don't think it'd be doing my job really well, if I just give them a nice easy journey for the rest of the trilogy. Things get interesting and I think both Ahilya and Iravan go through some things which really kind of make them reckon with themselves, their relationship, their own powers and personalities and their place in this world in a way which they hadn't thought about before. Despite all the knowledge of being 30-something characters and living through the events of the Surviving Sky, there's definitely more dramatic, upscaling of stakes. I want to say, it's gonna be a ride, I think you'll enjoy it.

Saamiya Seraj: Thank you, thank you very excited for it. And then our final question, what are some things we as readers can do to support women of color authors such as yourself and ensure the success of your books?

Kritika H. Rao: I mean, buy these books and read them and review them and share as widely as you can. I think it really helps to speak about these things, not just in communities of color, but also outside. Publishers and marketing people respond really well to reader feedback in terms of volume. So as much as I have issues with Goodreads sometimes, that is still one of the best places to receive reviews and that has a direct impact on marketing of books and oftentimes on the kinds of deals that authors end up making. So yeah, just reading and widely reviewing, continuing to do what you're doing with book clubs and that kind of thing. Keeping this alive in people's minds, so people think of this as a going concern, as opposed to, 'oh, this is a trend now, we're going to publish women of color for the next five years', and then let's go back to publishing just cishet white men. So, showing that there is a readership for these books, I think can go a long way.