5/21/18 at 9:30am pst - Jeff Sweat joined Janeane to talk about his book, "Mayfly, " (MacMillan/Feiwel and Friends, May 8, 2018)

LISTEN to today's conversation
with Jeff Sweat!

Jeff 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 led the content marketing team for Yahoo and pioneered its use of social media. He directed PR for two of the top advertising agencies in the country, Deutsch LA and 72andSunny. He now runs his own Los Angeles–based PR and marketing agency, Mister Sweat.

A futuristic thriller that pits teens against teens. 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?


Advance Praise for Mayfly

“There’s an almost mythological quality to this tale, as the resourceful protagonists maneuver through a barely recognizable landscape, with modern culture filtered through generations of oral history and misinterpretation, and debut novelist Sweat does an admirable job of maintaining the tense atmosphere and underlying desperation.” ―Publishers Weekly

In a world where everyone dies at 17, survival is of the utmost importance, love is an afterthought, and producing enough children to keep civilization alive is of the utmost importance. The novel reads a bit like a blend of "The Handmaid's Tale" and "Divergent" set in a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles.

"Mayfly" received a fantastic review from "Publishers Weekly": “There’s an almost mythological quality to this tale, as the resourceful protagonists maneuver through a barely recognizable landscape, with modern culture filtered through generations of oral history and misinterpretation, and debut novelist Sweat does an admirable job of maintaining the tense atmosphere and underlying desperation.”

Jeff speaks on the following topics and more:
Dystopian writing and how his work respects the long history of masters like George Orwell and Margaret Atwood

Writing Process shaped by his years in journalism and how he feels about word rhythm

GIPHY’s first-ever book promo campaign partnered with Jeff!

Jeff's experience as a first-time author after many years working (and still employed) in advertising


Mayfly's Los Angeles scavenger hunt: a Snapchat Ghost that leads to a special Mayfly filter—and if you look around your environment while using the filter, you see a promotional login.


Generation K: What is it, and why might they be more inclined to read Dystopian Lit.