The Book of Revelation is my memoir, still in progress. It tells the story of my childhood and early adolescence in rural Northern California in the '80s. I grew up on an apple farm, raised in a tiny fundamentalist Christian sect. My mother abandoned our family, leaving my siblings and me with our father. She quickly returned and disappeared again, all in the space of five years.
Its title comes from the final book of the Bible, wherein John (no, not that John) (or that one) recounts his prophecies in a letter to the seven churches of Asia, in 95-6 AD. These churches would later be called "Christian," though they wouldn't have used that term themselves. My parents met in the cult, and my siblings and I were indoctrinated into it from birth. I believed in the End Times, Apocalypse, prophecy, The Final Judgment, and destiny, struggling to make sense of my life and where it fit into God's plan.
I broke the memoir up into its vignettes, which can be read separately, though they make the most sense together. It's pretty dreamy and sometimes visceral. It has been compared to Jeanette Winterson's Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and Alexandra Fuller's Don't Lets Go to the Dogs Tonight (much to my delight).
I. The Blood
Adrenaline
Left
Daniel
Salvation
Cocoon
The Church
Fellowship
Family
Blood
Pretend
Talk
II. The Body
Bus Ride
Meat
The Body
Evidence
Sickness
Lullaby
III. Exodus
The Green House
Home
The New Place
IV. Revelation
Thy Faithfulness
Stories
Testimony