I Was a Runner Before I Was a Thief

• Other Authors: Seabrook, William Todd (authoraut)
• Format: Others
• Language: English; English
• Published: Florida State University
• Online Access: http://purl.flvc.org/fsu/fd/FSU_2016SP_Seabrook_fsu_0071E_13135

The story follows James Offenbach, a 25-year-old nomadic runner, who has spent seven years as a transient, stealing whatever food and supplies he needs to allow him to continue his self-inflicted isolation. He breaks this isolation when he meets Hieronymus Loom, an inventor, physicist, and shop owner, who sells, among other inventions, boxes of "pure space." After Loom takes a suspicious interest in James, the runner finds himself living in Loom's building—a place where rooms change size and shape, cats can be in two places simultaneously, and, somewhere, there exists a machine that splits spacetime into units of pure space and pure time. While James tries to find out the secrets behind Loom's work, Loom's reasons for keeping James around slowly reveal themselves. === A Dissertation submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. === Spring Semester 2016. === April 8, 2016. === Includes bibliographical references. === Virgil Suarez, Professor Directing Dissertation; Roberto Fernandez, University Representative; Robert Olen Butler, Committee Member; Andrew Epstein, Committee Member.