Book Tour: “The Revelation of Gabriel” by S.L Duncan

I was a huge Michael Crichton and Tom Clancy fan growing up. I know. They are miles apart. But I loved the big ideas and the scope of Crichton and, even as a kid, I loved the detail Clancy put in his books. I didn’t understand half what he said, but it didn’t matter because the story carried through.

But two books inspired me to write: Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist and Marcus Zusak’s The Book Thief. Both made me believe that I had no chance of ever being an author and, at the same time, I had to give it a shot.

How did you come up with the title?

I had a title for the first book and my agent wasn’t crazy about it. In fact, The Revelation Saga and The Revelation of Gabriel Adam were his ideas. Partially, at least. Salvation came from me. I wanted to play with the idea of what salvation could mean. It plays with a religious theme, but the book isn’t about that at all. Salvation is about Gabriel preserving himself, his identity.

Did you learn anything from writing your book and what was it? 

How to manage time terribly, I think. But seriously, I learned through Gabe’s adventure how to question the world around me. Ideas of the universe, identity, love, family – these are all things that are defined or redefined for Gabe and in writing his story, I did the same for myself to some extent.

Do you have a specific writing style?

I’m not sure. I would hope you could tell my style from someone else’s, but it isn’t intentional. I let the story define perspective, tense, etc.

What are you reading now?

I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson.