Merritt, Tom. Pilot X Inkshares. Mar. 2017. 200p. ISBN 9781942645313. pap. $13.99; ebk. ISBN 9781942645320. SF
When we first meet the titular protagonist, he is Pilot X, but over the course of the novel, he has other names—Ambassador X, Instructor X, Citizen X. His people, the Alendans, face two adversaries in a secret struggle known as the Dimensional War. These foes are meddling with the stability of the space-time continuum, and X is the key to stopping them. Ifsome ofthis setup seems familiar to fans of the long-running TV show Doctor Who, that appears to be a calculated move on the part of Merritt (cohost of the podcast Sword and Laser, and author of Citadel 32: A Tale of the Aggregate). His Alendans are Time Guardians rather than Time Lords, but plenty of clues sprinkled throughout the narrative wink at his influences, such as a planet that is an anagram of "Gallifrey" and X's self-aware spaceship Verity, which holds a singularity at her heart, allowing the ship to be significantly "bigger on the inside." VERDICT Whovians may enjoy, forgiving the sometimes unpolished prose for the sake of the adventurous plot. Others could give this one a pass.--MM
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