Robert Alfaro

Tomorrow Sinks Manhattan Robert Alfaro

Carp, a teen who looks about fourteen, emerges from one of the old underground transportation tunnels in the center of New York City after an incredible evacuation had taken place. On his route from the bedroom borough of Queens, he has encountered mutated life forms such as enormous worms, a giant lobster-man, a crazy person shooting fireworks, and a human with a mechanical head. Now, he must kill quickly in order to join one of the remaining tribes of men on the island of Manhattan that battle for survival, not only with the force of their savage brutes and massive warrior heroes, but also by using dogs, drugs, knives and magic.

The novel is composed in mosaic sectors and non-linear, fragmented time segments that present the contrasting desolation in two opposite communities in the city. Like a symphony where orchestral groups perform in different meters and harmonic centers, Tomorrow Sinks Manhattan rhythmically records the jabs, hooks and combinations which a cast of diverse characters utilizes to fight the alienation and desperation of their existence.

Those who have ever lived in New York will recognize precise geographic locations that are referenced. Furthermore, they will be able to corroborate that the ethnic tensions, violent gang rivalries, and perverse fates recounted in the novel are more of a daily reality rather than a fabrication.