ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Erik Hoel received his PhD in neuroscience from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is a research assistant professor at Tufts University and was previously a postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University in the NeuroTechnology Center and a visiting scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Hoel is a 2018 Forbes “30 Under 30” for his neuroscientific research on consciousness and a Center for Fiction NYC Emerging Writer Fellow. The Revelations is his debut novel. He lives on Cape Cod in Massachusetts.

ABOUT THE BOOK

The Revelations not unlike its main character, is ambitious and abrasive, challenging and disarming. Bursting with ideas ranging from Greek mythology to the dark realities of animal testing to some of the biggest unanswered questions facing scientists today, The Revelations is written in muscular, hypnotic prose, and its cyclically dreamlike structure pushes the boundaries of literary fiction. Erik Hoel has crafted a stunning debut novel of rare power—an intense look at cutting-edge science, consciousness, and human connection—and has cemented himself as a powerful new voice in contemporary fiction.

"With the ear of a poet and the eye of a neuroscientist, Hoel pioneers a new marriage between the enchantments of literature and the challenges of modern brain science."
—David Eagleman, neuroscientist at Stanford, bestselling author of Sum and Livewired

“I have been writing and reading daily for decades, and I have never read anything like Erik Hoel’s remarkable debut novel. The Revelations is a deeply compelling, thought-provoking, and frankly, unforgettable work, one that heralds the arrival of an important new voice among us.” —Andre Dubus III, bestselling author of House of Sand and Fog
     
“Sex. Death. Rioting in the streets and aggressive self-lobotomy; brains in vats and the nature of consciousness itself. Dense, literary, and hallucinogenic, The Revelations is an impassioned argument over beers and amphetamines. It will be stuck in my brain for some time to come.”

—Peter Watts, Hugo Award–winning author of Blindsight and Starfish

"Neuroscientist Hoel’s dizzying, impressive debut unloads a series of nefarious plots. . . Fast and furious, this mind-stretching novel makes the grade." —Publishers Weekly

"In this wild and lyrical debut, Erik Hoel merges the dark prescience of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein with the feverish writing of David Foster Wallace, creating a neon-colored cocktail of sci-fi, murder mystery, and love story that is wholly of the twenty-first century. I’ll never think about the brain—or New York City!—the same way again."
—Kate Bolick, bestselling author of Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own