By Alex V. Cruz
Brenda Peynado’s Time’s Agent is a sci-fi novel set in a near-future Santo Domingo, where the discovery of pocket worlds reveals hidden dimensions of our reality and where time flows at different speeds. Some pocket worlds can be as big as a town, others as small as a purse.
These newly uncovered worlds within our own offer limitless possibilities not only for our future, but also for our past. Agent Raquel Petra dreamed of uncovering a lost tribe of Tainos, while her wife, biologist Marlena, was captivated by the unique flora and fauna that evolved parallel to our world. The couple’s professional passions underscore the novel’s exploration of human curiosity and the drive to connect with lost histories and untouched environments.
Call it an accident or carelessness, but Raquel's life shattered the moment she touched that pocket world, losing 40 years of relative time on standard Earth. She returned to a world ravaged by war, corporate greed, climate change, and the loss of her daughter. Marlena, overwhelmed by grief, retreated into the pocket world hanging from Raquel’s neck, seeking solace in the distorted flow of time as she grappled with the enormity of her loss.
Time’s Agent paints a futuristic Santo Domingo where drones deliver fruits, and headlinks replace smart devices. Yet, alongside these technological advancements, the novel confronts the very real issues plaguing today’s society—social inequality, environmental destruction, and the exploitation of resources. At its heart, Time’s Agent is a story of grief, exploring how a queer couple copes with loss in a world where escape is a tangible possibility. As in many of Peynado’s short works, she skillfully tugs at our heartstrings, drawing us into the characters' emotional depths before thrusting them into heart-pounding, imminent danger.
Chapter One places Raquel in the middle of the story, where much of the plot has already unfolded. This chapter is crucial not only for understanding the unfolding events but also for appreciating Peynado’s storytelling approach. The subsequent chapters then recount the story chronologically, revisiting points from the first chapter and leaving the reader with a sense of satisfaction that’s rare in contemporary novels. This nonlinear approach mirrors the disorienting effects of time within the pocket worlds, effectively immersing the reader in Raquel’s fragmented reality.
The novel’s strengths lie in its rawness. Peynado doesn't shy away from addressing difficult topics that afflict both our world and our comunidad. The narrative delves into issues like homophobia, colorism, and racism, while portraying the struggles of a couple grappling with the death of their daughter, Raquel's guilt, and the emotional barriers erected by Marlena, the biological parent, who holds Raquel responsible.
Grief isn’t the only emotion stirred by this novel. It also touches on corporate greed, which destroys pristine worlds for oil and obliterates the habitats of magnificent creatures. Peynado portrays people sacrificing their lives working in pocket worlds only to return home aged and exhausted to families that have experienced just a few days of standard time. This novel compels you to draw parallels between these fictional worlds and our own, provoking thought on why we allow such things to happen today. The world Peynado crafts is both a cautionary tale and a mirror, reflecting the consequences of our choices and the fragility of our connections.
There is a brief learning curve when reading this novel. It may take a few tries to grasp key concepts such as pocket worlds, short-time worlds, long-time worlds, time dilation, relative time, and standard time. However, the effort is well worth it, as these concepts deepen the reader’s engagement with the narrative’s complex layers. I believe this novel is an excellent choice for English teachers who want to challenge their students and encourage them to engage in critical thinking.
Time’s Agent not only pushes readers to contemplate the ethical implications of technological advancements, but also to reflect on the ways in which time—whether accelerated, slowed, or stolen—shapes our lives, relationships, and sense of self.
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Watch our full interview with Brenda Peynado on DWA's YouTube page:
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Visit our BookShop to purchase a copy of Time’s Agent.
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About the Author:
Brenda Peynado is a Dominican American writer of fiction, nonfiction, and screenplays. She often writes about Latina girlhood, class, race, and commodity culture through literary realism, magical realism and near-future science fiction. After a BA in Computer Science from Wellesley College, she worked as an IT auditor for IBM. She graduated with her MFA in fiction from Florida State University, where she held a Kingsbury Fellowship and was Fiction Editor of The Southeast Review. In 2014, she received a Fulbright Fellowship to the Dominican Republic to write a novel about the 1965 Guerra de Abril. She received her Ph.D. in fiction from the University of Cincinnati, where she taught screenwriting, fiction, and science fiction & fantasy writing.
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Alex V. Cruz is a Paterson-born, Dominican-raised speculative fiction writer. His short fiction is heavily inspired by his time spent in the Dominican Republic and his teenage years in Paterson, New Jersey. He loves animals and is the proud “pawrent” of two dogs and two cats. Alex graduated Magna Cum Laude from Columbia University with a degree in Creative Writing and Hispanic Studies, and he is currently pursuing an MFA in Creative Writing in Spanish from NYU. He is a Clarion West 2022 and a Tin House’s 2021 alum. He’s been nominated for Somos en Escrito’s Other Fiction and a Pushcart Prize. His short fiction can be found in SmokeLong, LatineLit, and others. Discover the writings of Alex V. Cruz on Instagram and Twitter @Avcruzwriter.
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