Nate Wilson - A Thrilling Caribbean Adventure of Sailing, Scuba Diving, and Dancing With Danger

Nate Wilson went to Tortola looking for answers after putting his ambition away. At first, this novel was a journal, a memoir, as most of the action and diving scenes he experienced. The British Virgin Islands took him in for a time and fiction wove its magic into his memories. He now lives in the northern Colorado mountains, too far from the sea, though he makes it a point to go there twice a year. As our Author of the day, Nate tells us all about his book, Chasing Kane.

Please give us a short introduction to what Chasing Kane is about.

A year ago Chase Bryson was a happy successful entrepreneur, having just signed a three-year contract with a top Wall Street Firm. Unfortunately, he didn’t realize the deal would require his soul. His conscience told him what The Firm did was wrong. Knowing that resigning means running, the Caribbean seemed to be the best place to hide. The laid back island life provides Chase with welcome distractions: sailing and scuba diving, rum and beer. In Tortola, British Virgin Islands, he meets and befriends Kane, the mysterious island local who shares Chase’s belief that living life to the fullest means not being afraid to dance with danger. After a series of precarious escapades and increasingly risky deep-water dives with Kane, Chase has to come to terms with how valuable his life is, despite the money he owes the firm and the temptation of the easy convenience of escape.

What inspired you to write about someone that escapes to the Caribbean?

Anyone that’s ever seen the Caribbean has secretly thought of leaving it all and running away there. This tale takes the reader on that voyage.

Tell us more about Chase Bryson. What makes him tick?

Chase is hard wired. He’s ridged and so are his beliefs. Uptight, all about the success. Thing is, he learns that life is more valuable than all that. It takes some hard knocks and quite a bit of self-destruction before he comes to terms with that and pieces together some relevance of redemption.

In which way is this book a voyage of self-discovery?

All of our individual lives are our own reality. Where the reader falls in love with the story is when it's met with all our deep down desire to just burn that reality down. Thing is I was willing to do just that, I had to and it altered my life. Since that experience, I’ve never made another decision ‘because of the money’.

Interesting cover. Please tell us more about how it came about.

The cover has intentional detail. The divers are going down into darker waters. This envisions the chapter, The Fearless, which by far is one of the reader’s favorite.

Readers say that the book really kept their attention throughout the book. How did you pull this off?

Readers what to feel something, that’s why they read fiction. When I wrote, I had limited time from four in the morning till when I had to go to work. In that compressed time, my goal was to end with some strong emotion. Be it a shiver down my spine, gut wrenching fear, or adrenaline pumping thrill.

What did you have the most fun with writing Chasing Kane?

Reliving the memories. Rereading my dive journal.

How much of your own life experiences have you written into this story?

Loaded question. You have to understand my mom, friends and someday my kids may read this novel. Let’s just say the story has the addition of fictional characters, yet the original title had memoirs in it as it was from my journal. The diving was straight out of my dive log book. I did get pursued and I did run. Thank you to the British Virgin Islands for taking me in for a time.