Within a few months, as a masters student at the University of Georgia, she found a subject for her narrative nonfiction study \u2014 Hunter James, a teenage superstar on the local circuits who is trying to do what his father couldn\u2019t and make it big as a wrestler in a national promotion. His home base was the Landmark Arena in Cornelia, Ga., one of the first buildings where WWE\u2019s AJ Styles got his start, but the book actually opens in a friend\u2019s backyard, with James practicing on a ring surrounded by steel cable sheathed in garden hose.<\/p>\n
\u201c(James) was a few days shy of his 17th birthday in the opening scene of the book, which was the first time I ever met him,\u201d Miller said. \u201cBack when I had no idea this would become a book, I was there to see what backyard training looked like and he happened to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cFor Hunter and his father especially, wrestling is the thing that both binds and breaks them; it defines their relationship,\u201d Miller said. \u201cLike so many people that I met, Hunter grew up watching it with his dad, and if you took wrestling out of their relationship, I don\u2019t know that they\u2019d have much of one.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miller purposely keeps the story focused on the independent scene \u2014 James is boosted by a 2023 match on AEW Dark at Universal Orlando and other near-misses at getting TV appearances. She admits that the big time can be out of her comfort zone.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve tried to watch wrestling on TV and it just doesn\u2019t connect,\u201d said Miller. \u201cI took my daughter to an AEW show in Athens and it\u2019s just so different because you feel so removed. When you\u2019re at an indie show, if you\u2019re in the front row, there\u2019s a good chance you\u2019re going to be taken out (by a flying wrestler). You\u2019ve got to be on, and that\u2019s what makes it fun. And you know you\u2019ll see the guys hanging out before or after the matches. I\u2019ve seen how meaningful that is to the fan who shows up every month or every two weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n