The Revelation
Behind the high-rising walls of Southern Guard, a fortified city built to protect its citizens from a catastrophic pandemic disease, Darvin Flint is graduating from his youth military regimen. Unable to escape the childhood trauma of his sister’s infection and abduction, Darvin is determined to uncover the thirteen-year-old mystery behind his sister’s disappearance as he leaves his family for special ops training in the capital city of New Province.
After a routine operatives mission turns disastrous, Darvin and his best friend, Merrin, discover just how little they knew about the world outside the sheltered walls of Southern Guard. From the impoverished slums of The Black Valley to the secret biotech research institutions of the Revelation Territory, Darvin must find the courage to unearth the supernatural secrets of the world he thought he knew as the mystery behind his sister’s disappearance unravels into something much larger than he could have ever imagined.
About the Author
Jared B. Sharpe is a creative fiction writer and social-emotional wellness professional from Vidalia, Georgia, where he lives with his identical twin brother, Jackson, who is also an aspiring writer-storyteller. Over seven years in the making, The Revelation, Book 1 in The Revelation Series, is his debut novel.
From a young age, Jared loved to use his parents panasonic vhs video camera to make movies with his twin brother and their close friends. That desire for creative story-telling fueled his interests in creative writing in high school where he first took writing classes with his most influential teacher, Mrs. Ann Smith. After four years of being guided and inspired by Mrs. Smith’s invaluable expertise, Jared enrolled at Georgia Southern University. Here, he double-majored in Creative Writing and Spanish and later graduated Magna Cum Laude.
In the following years, Jared has invested his time serving the students of his home town community where he has worked as an after school program manager and a social-emotional learning teacher at J.R. Trippe Middle School. He continues to write to honor his own creative voice while hoping to inspire his students to value their own dreams and life stories.
Qn 1: Can you tell us more about your book What is it about?
Even though I started writing my novel over seven years ago, it is coincidentally about a pandemic disease that has drastically altered the structure and function of society. Although the effects of disease spread presented in my book, The Revelation: Book I in The Revelation Series, are much more disastrous and life-altering than Covid-19 has been, I think any reader will be able to strongly empathize with the characters based on what our world is currently experiencing.
Unlike most post-apocalyptic novels dealing with disease spread, the infected characters in my novel are not zombie-like. They suffer the psychological effects of undergoing a drastic physical transformation while being ostracized from society.
My protagonist, deuteragonist, and many of my supporting characters are people of color. I feel the representation of people of color is widely lacking in YA literature and science fiction novels in general. Being a middle school teacher, I want my students and my readers to experience a creative fiction novel with a diverse cast so that everyone can see a part of themselves reflected within my characters.
Qn 2: Who do you think would be interested in this book, is it directed at any particular market?
I’ve been highly influenced by popular culture books like The Hunger Games series and Harry Potter, so I really wanted to create a book series that would excite and unite readers of all ages through a story that was socially and culturally relevant to our current world today. I feel like The Revelation would most likely have the greatest appeal with a young adult and new adult audience, but I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback from readers of all ages.
Qn 3: Out of all the books in the world, and all the authors, which are your favourite and why?
When I was a kid, I quickly fell in love with The Chronicles of Narnia series by C. S. Lewis. As I got a little older, I found the Wicked series by Gregory Maguire, which captivated my interest in reading about uniquely dynamic and quirky characters. In my early years of college, I was highly obsessed with The Hunger Games series. I even wrote for a fan site called Jabberjays.net and worked on the set of Mockingjay Part I. However, my greatest literary love has been the Harry Potter series. I started very late in the game with Harry Potter, but after quickly becoming obsessed with the movies, I began reading the incomparably magical words of J.K. Rowling’s books. In the past few years of my life, I’ve become obsessed with reading self-help books, especially anything by one of my all-time favorite people, Brené Brown. I try to incorporate a lot of the gold I’ve found in her books into the more meaningful conversations shared between my characters.
Qn 4: What guidance would you offer to someone new, or trying to enhance their writing?
I would certainly suggest people take writing classes, especially at the college or university level. I was blessed by having some incredibly valuable poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and screenplay writing classes where I learned from many professors who were thriving in the field where I hoped to one day be successful. I also would suggest investing in professional editing services with anything that is being prepared for publication. Having friends who are honest and willing to give constructive feedback is an incredible gift I’ve been able to have, but professional services have taught me almost as much as having an additional writing degree.
Qn 5: Where can our readers find out more about you, do you have a website, or a way to be contacted?
My Instagram bio contains my Link Tree link that connects all my important websites together, including my book website and my Amazon Author Central page. I love to interact with people on Instagram, so I’d love for people to follow me @jaredbeasleysharpe.
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