Time Is the Fire

Fiction. Science Fiction. TIME IS THE FIRE recounts a day in the existence of Leopold Bloom OBoyle chronophobe travel writer would-be novelist and husband ofthe Reverend Annabel Chance. The day is September 8 1992 and the place is Harvard Square and environs. Like his namesake Leo dips into and out of a stream of consciousness as he considers and reconsiders the most important decision of his life. In his quest for an answer he struggles with his fear of time a fear inextricably meshed with the fateful choice he and Annabel must make. Along the way he encounters characters real and imaginary including the shade of his late father; his friend Alf; the temptress Silvia; and the poet Stratis Haviaras. He argues with Philip Larkin and harkens to the words of James Joyce and Seamus Heaney words that suffuse his heart and mind. He works feverishly to finish a draft of his languishing novel the protagonist of which like himself is trapped in the riddle of time.