What would you do for a fresh start – especially if it comes at someone else’s expense? What makes a life worth living? These are some of the questions explored in Assistant Professor Brenda Peynado’s new novella, “Time’s Agent,” a story following humanity’s discovery of “pocket worlds” – alternative realities with limitless potential.
Peynado, an assistant professor in the Department of English, centers her story around Raquel, an archaeologist desperate to redeem herself who uses these pocket worlds to seize the chance to confront what it means to save something—or someone—from time.
“As I started writing Time’s Agent, I grappled with my ideas of what makes life worth living, or whether creating a new life is worth doing, in an imperfect world that can cause so much sorrow,” Peynado explained.
“In many ways [working in IT] was a dream job: I traveled all over the world, snuck into data centers, tracked hackers, set traps for those hackers…However, something was missing from my life, and I found myself more and more disengaged with what I was doing,” Peynado recalled.
“As part of that, I had to put on the page what I see as the source of all that sorrow, not just in this world, but in a plethora of worlds where humanity could have started over and created itself anew. I also had to contend with [the main character’s] own complicity in the sorrows of the world.”
“Time’s Agent” is set in the Dominican Republic, where Peynado’s family is from.
“[The Dominican Republic] has a history of colonialism, neo-colonialism, political violence, and economic exploitation. What does it mean to have a fresh start or hope for a better future in the context of that history? How can we both grieve that history and stop those forces without ignoring our past?” Peynado said.
“I hope my readers leave the book with a feeling of contemplative hope, a suspicion that there is a better world for humanity, but we have to open our eyes to how we get there and defend it with everything we have.”
Though creative writing has always been a passion for Peynado, it was not originally a part of her career plan. With a bachelor's degree in computer science, she worked as an IT auditor for a time before returning to Tampa to be with her family. There, she took a creative writing class with the Department of English that changed everything.
“In many ways [working in IT] was a dream job: I traveled all over the world, snuck into data centers, tracked hackers, set traps for those hackers…However, something was missing from my life, and I found myself more and more disengaged with what I was doing,” she recalled.
“Taking a creative writing class at USF helped me realize how much writing stories fulfilled me, and it was the tipping point for me deciding to do an MFA and later PhD in fiction.”
Today, Peynado teaches fiction in the same classroom where she made this life-changing decision.
“In the end, I left the career path that was the most interesting to follow the one that was the most personally meaningful.”
When asked about her writing process, Peynado explained that writing “Time’s Agent” was a unique experience compared to her short story collection, The Rock Eaters, which explores Latina girlhood, and the novel she is currently working on, about the 1965 Dominican Civil War and a girl who can see all possible futures.
“This one started simply with a very crystalized idea and plot that grew from there.
It really informed my teaching of novel writing, how to pull out a singular seed that
can grow from the massive tangle that students often bring into my novel-writing classes."
Her advice for students and other creatives looking to get their work published: Don’t
rush it.
“If you’re viewing writing as an end product, you will waste your whole life chasing the next mark of approval that will validate all your effort. Instead, find joy and validation in the process of writing itself. Then, if publication comes, so much better.”
Learn more about “Time’s Agent” and Peynado’s work.