A Time To Come

About the Book

A Time to Come is one story in two parts. TIME I concerns itself with finding a reason to perform a play. An old man, Tell, works with a young poet, Bart, to envision a theatre. However, Bart's diary involuntarily ends up in Tell's possession. Tell, in turn, finds different characters to explore the conflicting facets of the young poet's identity, his writings. That is, the diary becomes the play. And the final act is the play within a play - the interpretation of the diary. This question surfaces: is life theater, or, is theatre life? The second question is: does the play work? Has the play within the play been true to the thoughts/writings of the poet? This is not so much a question for the audience to answer. This is a question for the protagonist, Bart, to consider. The audience has but one question: Was I entertained?

TIME II, from the outset, has a story, a plot in mind. It poses the question: Can we maintain cultural and religious diversity in close proximity with one another without creating serious conflict? A renaissance can only be achieved if and when these antagonistic cultures want to change their ways, not when they are forced? Bart is stuck with his own question: is a belief alone equally as potent as its action? And in the end, an old man, Tell, is awoken to the world. Will his dreams now become real? Are dreams real?

About the Author

Dan Paul Rose was born in Oxford, England in 1968. His parents were both middle school teachers, who possessed a rather liberal lifestyle. When Jim was five, his family, brother Joe included, moved to the American heartland - Iowa. His father started an English pub in the town of Des Moines. As a child, Jim was very athletic, and confessed to not reading his first "book" until he was fourteen. In his own words, he preferred images plastered unforgotten. "I like pictures far better." Jim attended Catholic schools until he went to the University of Oregon, graduating with degrees in Literature and Philosophy. He currently resides in southern Arizona, where he works for the Department of Natural Resources. He is married with two young daughters.

Other published works: Crow Search, a collection of poetry and definitions.