Author with east Idaho roots releases youth thriller
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IDAHO FALLS — Lord of the Flies meets The Handmaid’s Tale with a little bit of The Hunger Games.
That’s how Iona native Jeff Sweat describes his debut novel Mayfly – a futuristic youth thriller published by Macmillan Publishers and released May 8.
“The book is set in Los Angeles about 100 years in the future where nobody lives past the age of 17,” Sweat tells EastIdahoNews.com. “Mayfly is the story of a few brave kids going out into a world that’s covered in clues and codes in search of the answers that might change their fate. Kids have to keep society going on their own and it’s really a look at what happens when there are no grown ups left.”
Sweat grew up while the Cold War was underway and remembers thinking that the world could end. Since his childhood, the topic has always been a source of fascination.
“When I started writing, I knew I wanted to write about the end of the world. I thought, ‘What’s the most interesting way for the world to end?'” he recalls. “And what happens to the world if you put it in the hands of kids who are just trying to get through the day? That’s what this book is about.”
Sweat has made a living from words his entire career, starting out as an award-winning tech journalist for InformationWeek magazine and moving into marketing. He worked for Yahoo and currently runs Mister Sweat, a PR and marketing agency based in Los Angeles.
But the father of three credits his Idaho upbringing for helping with the creative process while writing Mayfly.
“I developed a vivid imagination growing up in Iona. We were allowed to do what we wanted and think the way we wanted. That has really helped me as a writer,” Sweat says.
Sweat has just completed a sequel to Mayfly that should be released in about a year. He will be reading from and signing his book at Barnes and Noble in Idaho Falls starting at 5 p.m. Saturday, July 28. The public is invited to attend.
ABOUT MAYFLY
A dystopian tale of a future where no one lives past the age of seventeen, Mayfly is for fans of Lord of the Flies, the Hunger Games, and The Handmaid’s Tale.
Jemma has spent her life scavenging tools and supplies in her tribe’s small enclave outside what used to be a big city. Now she’s a teen, and old enough to become a Mama. Making babies is how her people survive—in Jemma’s world, life ends at age seventeen.
Survival has eclipsed love ever since the Parents died of a mysterious plague. But Jemma’s connection to a boy named Apple is stronger than her duty as a Mama. Forced to leave, Jemma and Apple are joined in exile by a mysterious boy who claims to know what is causing them to die. The world is crumbling around them, and their time is running out. Life is short. Can they outlive it?