Local queer author Kathryn Nolan’s entertaining new novel, “Thrill of the Chase,” has intrepid bisexual reporter Harper Hendrix trying to find famed lesbian treasure hunter Monty Montana in Santa Fe, NM. Monty became reclusive after a big find followed by a bad experience with the media. Harper hopes to write Monty’s story to get a promotion and “save her career.” However, her best lead to finding Monty is Eve Bardot, the “dangerously alluring” co-owner of an antique store and workshop (who has an unspoken connection to Monty).
Of course it is loathe at first sight for these two women, but they eventually team up together to find the Blackburn Diamonds — which Monty is also hunting. If they are, as rumored, buried somewhere in the Southwest, it should lead them to Monty. As Harper and Eve find clues and fight a cougar, they also fall through a false floor in a mining site and, naturally, fall in love.
Nolan, who lives in South Philly, spoke with PGN about their charming romance novel, “Thrill of the Chase.”
This book is as much a “mystery” in treasure hunting as it is a romance. What inspired you to tell these stories and mash these genres?
I loved “The X-Files” growing up. I love in romance novels when characters are doing something together — fighting something together, solving something together, or pushing back against injustice. My characters are on a journey together to unearth a mystery. Working on this novel, I learned more about treasure hunting. It is about extraction; people finding things and claiming them. There are issues of people taking things that are not theirs. I didn’t want my treasure hunters to have extraction or theft as their goal. I liked the idea that the treasure that unites us is a sense of community and the way we take care of each other.
The historical aspect to the novel features queer characters whose lives and actions echo those of the contemporary characters. You write about the past queer lovers being a “tiny revolution.” Can you talk about folding in queer history which gives the book an interesting dimension?
One of the most radical and revolutionary aspects of queer love — be it platonic, romantic or community love — is that we are connected through the people who came before us and fought battles. Ninety-eight percent of them are names we never know. When I discover people in history who are queer, it gives me this sense of absolute euphoria. I dug around queer history in the West. I found a stagecoach driver in the late 1800, and after he died, it was discovered that he was trans. People have been playing with gender and expressing themselves differently and living full authentic selves since we’ve been around. I feel that deepens a love story.
Both Eve and Harper have “complicated” families, and I appreciate how you turn their vulnerabilities into strengths. Can you talk about creating the backstory for these women, both of whom are wonderfully stubborn?
I love a stubborn character! I love pitting two stubborn characters against each other because when they finally break, it is well earned. I love telling the stories of people who quit their stressful jobs to go do something that is more liberating and freeing. I worked a very high-pressure job, and my brain was a closed clenched fist and when I left, it opened up a parachute. I like to give that feeling to my characters. Harper and Eve embody that.
I am always interested in stories of homophobia from families that have no contact, which is extremely common in the queer community. Harper and Eve suffer from a family dynamic that is also common; their family doesn’t see them. They know they are queer, but they are not curious, and don’t ask questions. They basically accept you on a shallow level which is very hurtful and relatable. I wanted to give them a story of homophobia that is not as dramatic as the ones we see but are hurtful in a different way. They can relate about having families that don’t see their true selves. There is an interesting tension to explore there. Their families don’t hurt them all the way. They just don’t see them except as the daughter who brings up stuff that is uncomfortable to them.
Much of the story is driven by Monty Montana, and when her character does turn up, she takes charge and takes over. What can you say about creating her character?
I love Monty. She just appeared to me. The way she appears in the story, that is the scene that has been in the back of my head for four years. I like the idea of characters like Monty who take up a lot of space, who are brash and not afraid of society. Monty is herself and society comes after her for that and she pulls back. I like that she has a healing and growth story too. In a treasure hunting story, we need a cocky, shotgun-over-her-shoulder archetype. Having her be a lesbian — older, unfiltered, cranky and raw — felt very subversive and flipped the trope on its head.
What can you say about developing the action scenes?
I have written five romantic suspense novels before this. They taught me how to write dynamic action. I love when characters have conversations while being chased, or running, or shooting at something, or hiding, or scrambling down a mountain. Those are exciting scenes, but it takes [effort] to get the pacing and timing right. When you write a scene where the tension and the action fit together at the same time — the romantic tension and the emotion tension — that is the high point of any story.
I loved the chapters where Eve and Harper connect in a bar, first on the dance floor then in a back room. What can you reveal about writing the romantic moments?
I love a slow burn. Harper and Eve are rivals at first and kind of enemies. Their arguments start to reveal a new vulnerability or new information, so they are productive arguments. Stubborn characters poke at each other and reveal parts of themselves that only the other person can understand. That is really romantic. True romance is when the other person sees you because they feel that way too.
How much of yourself is in your characters?
Oh, so much! With Eve and Harper, I am a hedonist and an extrovert and very aware of my external surroundings. I am the person who will see a flower and just cry. I notice a lot of things about people. I relate a lot to queerness and being a kid outdoors where society hasn’t gotten its hands on you yet, so you are able to do what feels right to your body or mood. As I realized my own queerness and being nonbinary, there was the same freedom about running around with the fireflies on a summer night. I equate those feelings as being the same for me. That kind of interest and liberation from society’s rules and guidelines shows up in my stories. I am working on myself and being more expansive and freer, so I tend to write characters who are always driving around with the windows down pursuing their dreams. My books are about yearning. This is the deep yearn.
The post Local author Kathryn Nolan on the ‘Thrill of the Chase’ appeared first on Philadelphia Gay News.