The Page 69 Test is not mine. It has been around since 2007, asking authors to compare page 69 against the meat of the actual story it is a part of. I loved the whole idea of it and so I'm stealing it specifically to showcase small press titles - novels, novellas, short story collections, the works! So until the founder of The Page 69 Test calls a cease and desist, let's do this thing....
In this installment of Page 69,
OK,
Robert, set up page 69 for us.
Page 69 marks the start
of the Revelator’s transition from husband and father and butcher’s apprentice
to preacher.
What is The
Revelator about?
It’s a western
horror historical novel loosely based, often very loosely, on the life of
Joseph Smith and the foundation of his church.
Do
you think this page gives our readers an accurate sense of what The
Revelator is about? Does it align itself the book’s theme?
It’s
a rather quiet moment in the book, I think. It’s a transitional moment. The
tone of the writing is a fair indication of the rest of the book. I actually
really like this scene, because it illustrates the awkwardness of a regular
person transitioning toward what he believes is a higher calling. His wife and
son and neighbors still think of him as this person they’ve always seen him as,
while he has moved on from that world. And of course to the outside it seems
like he’s lost his mind and maybe he has.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PAGE 69
THE REVELATOR
And you
commanded your son to place the loose pages of your ministry into the hands of
the townspeople, so he went about saying, “Behold, the new words of the
Almighty.” And stray dogs trotted in his wake and birds overburdened the trees,
watching him by the hundreds. But most citizens he came upon furrowed their
brows and sent your son on his way.
And when they mocked your son’s
claims now you went door-to-door, smiling and preaching and glad-handing. And
when your wife asked to be absented from these excursions you commanded her to
walk at your side. And so she went, whispering how she felt naked before the
eyes of all, saying, “I did not know it would be like this.” And by this you
figured she meant the wife of a great man and prophet. So to her you insisted,
“It will become easier. You will see.” What a fine presentation you both made,
she in her finest blue dress with her red shawl and feather-trimmed bonnet and ink-blackened
hands, while you stood in your soot-black coat, your high collar, and with the
onion-slender pages you outheld as you announced, “Brothers and sisters, the
Almighty has blessed me with His terrible presence.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Robert
Kloss is the author of the novels The
Alligators of Abraham and The
Revelator and the co-author of The
Desert Places (with Amber Sparks and Matt Kish).
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