I Will Rise (edition 2007)

In his brilliant debut novel, Michael Louis Calvillo tells the story of Charlie, a frustrated and disillusioned line chef who's just trying to fit into a world that he doesn't really like to begin with. He was born with a strange growth on the palm of his hand and eventually realizes that he can bring death just by touching someone. He also that his "purpose" is to destroy humanity. I don't want to give away too much plot, so i'll just say that the writing was superb, and the idea is very original. Like a few others said, it does start off kinda slowly, but if you stick with it you'll get your reward at the end. If you're looking for something other than the ordinary zombie, vampire, ghoust, etc, stories you should definitely give this one a try. ( )

"I Will Rise" is a strange tale from the beginning. The prose is a jarring mix of common, even gutter slang ("super cool", "Nothing super wrong", "soooo") and sheer weight ("ferocity of my utterance"), as if the writer is undecided on his own voice. The voice wavers between a musing reminiscence and addressing the reader in a more conversational tone.

If there wasn't a sense of repulsion from this almost-anti hero from the beginning the narrator's well described efforts to keep himself from masturbating through body-funk visualization in the first chapter should be enough. By the end of the first chapter we know that Charlie is a socially awkward, fat, oily, ugly man who is a victim of the media and society and of the parents who casually called him "a fucking nut job". He fakes seizures and steals, but won't let himself be sexually aroused because God is watching.

Calvillo's voice, the overwhelming main building block of the book, is intense and disarming. Certainly dispirited readers will find much to connect with. But the flow of thought style is distracting, obscuring a plot that doesn't begin until 50 pages in with a half hearted attempt at poisoning people followed by a confusing death and rebirth into being the reformer of mankind. There's a disassembled feel to the story, an expanded, and at times out of control version, of the feel of the cult movie Fight Club. "I Will Rise" absolutely captures the tilting, half-insane, anarchist feel but with more rawness and less refinement.

If readers can accept the hallucinations and ranting flow of thought style in this dizzying tale of horror and social degradation they'll likely list "I Will Rise" as one of their favorites, but definitely as one of the most memorable books they've ever read.

I Will Rise is available in print at major bookstores or ebook form from Lachesis Publishing ( )