Ask the Author: Monica Nolan
Answered Questions (8)
Monica Nolan
Some of them come from Chicago. But hey, what's a hard-core lefty like yourself doing on this Jeff-Bezos-owned "social" platform? My excuse is that I was told way back when I was an active author that I gotta be. What's yours?
Monica Nolan
Oh dear. So many careers, so little time! Maybe when I'm done with my MLIS degree (end of this year).
Monica Nolan
Hi Joolie--I don't have any books scheduled for publication, but I just started a serial using the characters from earlier books on my blog. It's another pandemic-provoked experiment--let me know what you think!
Monica Nolan
I can't think that far ahead. I have a whole notebook full of books I'm meaning to read, which I wouldn't get to the end of if I was to read for the next five years solid. Right now I'm reading {book: Wheelmen: Lance Armstrong, the Tour de France, and the Greatest Sports Conspiracy Ever], Bold! Daring! Shocking! True!: A History of Exploitation Films 1919-1959, A Suitable Boy and on my kobo I have two library books, the second Stephanie Plum book by Janet Evanovich (forgot the title) and J.K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy. I want to read Hillbilly Nationalists, Urban Race Rebels, and Black Power: Community Organizing in Radical Times and a french book about Barbara Loden. Although sometimes it's hard to say whether I want to read a book, or just want to have read it.
Monica Nolan
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Monica Nolan
You must mean Mabel Maney's books, and yes, I've read them all. Loved them. I actually own a kind of art book version of "The Case of the Not So Nice Nurse" (I think it was something that maybe Maney did in art school, a precursor to the published book). They were such an improvement on the actual Nancy Drews which I was never a fan of. I preferred the Hardy Boys.
Monica Nolan
Thank you, Tuulia! Yes, I definitely included Mimi and Beverly as characters to diversify the all-white cast. Diversify is probably too strong a word--they're tokens of diversity and deliberately so. They act as reminders that the world isn't all white, but the books hardly represent an accurate picture of mid-century America's actual racial diversity. The stories are told from the point of view of protagonists who have all the obliviousness (at best) of the white middle-class of that era, and part of the fun of the series for me is showing that gradually changing. Obviously (given this long-winded answer) this is something I wrestle with and I don't think I've gotten it quite right; for example I think I probably should have tried to show that Francine's clientele was more diverse than the girls at the Magdalena Arms and that the Knock-Knock Lounge was more diverse still. I love the idea of Beverly as a lead character! She has a lot of potential, what with her crankiness and reformist zeal.
Monica Nolan
Hi Laurah. I'm so glad you've enjoyed the books. Naturally I like all my characters, but of my heroines I probably have a slight preference for Maxie--maybe because her trail of jobs tried and discarded resembles mine. I'm also very fond of Mrs. Pierson from Lois Lenz, Lesbian Secretary because she was so much fun to write.
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