The Time Capsule

Written 19 July to 21 September 2012

A Novel

Published: 2014 by Heseltine Fabrics and launched at She Dreams of Liberation

Part of: The White Island Series

Frank’s memory of life before birth creates an evolving dream that expands into the Universe as he grows into his place on Earth.

Frank also witnesses his little brother Charlie’s life evolve: From boy to sports prodigy, from coma victim to healer, from love-struck teenager to modern-day soldier.

Then comes the realisation that one day, having disappeared into his other world of war, Charlie may not return.

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The Time Capsule occupies a special place within the White Island Series and in my development as a writer. Unlike earlier works, which involved a gradual discovery of the streaming process, this novel emerged with extraordinary speed and certainty. What began as a fleeting thought during a flight to New Zealand became a sustained creative flow that continued uninterrupted for sixty-two days.

The novel explores memory, identity, love, loss and the interconnected nature of lives across time and place. Through parallel narratives that unfold across different worlds and generations, The Time Capsule examines the bonds between family members, the persistence of memory and our search for meaning within a much larger universe.

Looking back, the novel represents a period in which the streaming process had become fully integrated into my creative practice. The writing arrived with a confidence and momentum unlike anything I had previously experienced, carrying the story from its first image to its conclusion in little over two months.

The Time Capsule remains one of the most important works of my literary life and one of the strongest expressions of the streaming process in action.

WHY THE TIME CAPSULE MATTERS

If White Island was the moment the streaming method became fully operational, The Time Capsule was the moment the process demonstrated its full creative potential. The novel emerged rapidly, confidently and almost completely formed, flowing from a single image into an expansive narrative that explores family, memory, loss, evolution and the interconnected nature of existence.

The book also represents a rare convergence of writing and painting. During the same period that The Time Capsule was being streamed, a series of “thoughtless paintings” emerged alongside it. The following year both the paintings and the novel would be presented together under the exhibition title She Dreams of Liberation.

FROM SHE DREAMS OF LIBERATION (2013)

“2012, winter, and I’m on a plane to New Zealand. An idea comes into my head about a memory of being in the womb. It flows into another thought, so I begin to write down what I’m seeing in note form on my Blackberry. I write for the entire flight and the flow doesn’t stop after the plane lands; I am in the grip of The Time Capsule and stream it for sixty-two days until it stops.

It has been a productive year: I have also made five thoughtless paintings on recycled canvases.

2013 and it’s time to exhibit again, this time at Depot II Gallery at Danks Street. Thirteen selected paintings and The Time Capsule launched. She Dreams of Liberation: streamed words and thoughtless painting.”

— Stephen Bradley, March 2013

THE FIRST PAGES

The opening chapter of The Time Capsule as it first appeared on Stephen L H Bradley’s BlackBerry during the writing process in 2012. The novel began during a flight to New Zealand and was streamed over the following sixty-two days.

[Insert BlackBerry photograph

CRITICAL RECEPTION

“A thought-provoking work on our place in the grand scheme of things.”

— Literary Fiction Book Review, 2014

In 2014 The Time Capsule received a highly favourable review from Literary Fiction Book Review in the United States. The review praised the novel’s scope, imagination, emotional depth and exploration of humanity’s place within a larger evolutionary and cosmic framework.

⚠ SPOILER ALERT

The reviewer was clearly enthusiastic and, in the process, discussed several of the novel’s key revelations and narrative connections. If The Time Capsule is still waiting on your reading list, you may wish to enjoy the journey first and return to this review afterwards.

RECOGNITION

In 2015 The Time Capsule was shortlisted for the Literary Fiction Book Review Award in the United States. The nomination followed the publication’s highly favourable review of the novel and remains one of the most significant milestones in my literary career.