(click to download chapters 1 & 2 as .pdf)
The child he loves. The idea of a child, he’s beginning to understand, is where everything will go wrong. |
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William Lowson has less than two months until fatherhood – a state he abhors, existing in this world governed by the limit of a human lifespan. To birth is to ultimately kill. His admittedly pessimistic view comes as a result of his work as a Human Remains Removal Specialist – professionally cleaning the stains left from dead bodies. As his fiancée nears term William becomes increasingly desperate for a solution to, what he calls, “this fault of human ego.” His friend and mentor, Mrs. Rose, an elementary school principal, nurtures and sympathizes with his cynicism, blaming his dilemma on an imperfect world. But she has a plan around this impediment: a group of strangers-a devout collection of kindred minds who have dedicated their lives to cultivating a unique idea of perfection, and she wants William to join. But once he is in can he get out? |
| In this novel of impending fatherhood, an idealistic teacher recruits a pliant protégé to join her group of Strangers – a devout collection of kindred minds who have dedicated their lives to cultivating a unique idea of perfection.
But joining is easier than leaving. |
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Advance Praise “As someone who teaches, edits and reads for a living, I’m always looking for the scene, the character, the story I haven’t read a thousand times over and over. Something with the spark of originality and the courage to be different. When I see that something new, it’s always a joy. And, thanks to Caleb Ross and his STRANGER WILL, I had those moments of joy repeatedly throughout the book. This is an original—unlike anything you’ve ever read before. “ |
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| “Caleb J Ross is a dangerous writer. He wields an impressive collection of hazardous, black-hearted ideas, and he has the skill to feed them right into your gray matter. Even if you’ve already got an obsidian-dark sense of humor, a cast-iron stomach, and a membership in Misanthropes Monthly, you are letting Caleb J Ross into your mind at your own risk.”
-Jeremy Robert Johnson, author of Angel Dust Apocalypse and Extinction Journals |
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| “[Caleb] is gifted, in that his characters exhibit grotesqueries that somehow seem encoded with the same flaws of the world they inhabit, as if they are not constructs, but victims: the fruits of a tree growing upside down.”
–Jason Kane, Oxyfication.net |
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“More nihilistic than a chainsaw-wielding midget who wants to be the tallest man on Earth.” -Bradley Sands, author of It Came from Below the Belt |
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| Sightings |
| Google Story – “Stranger Will,” a novel by Caleb J Ross |
| Sample Chapters |
| Status: | complete, unpublished |
| Genre: | Literature – dark, confrontational/transgressive |
| Words: | 70,235 |
| Pages: | 266 |
