Madsen, Mike – The Pilot’s Voyage

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The Pilot’s Voyage

Imagination will win out over coherence for me every time. And that’s not to say that this story was incoherent, just that I’m not sure that I understood all of it but, as always, your interpretations may differ. This story all takes place in a fantastic future world (or maybe just another section of space entirely) where a pilot is joining with his living ship for the first time. The training is referenced, as is the need for these two beings to be completely in sync to survive their voyage. This part was inventive as all hell, and I particularly enjoyed the way that the ship spread out tendrils to anchor itself during its voyage into a black hole. The trouble is that this is where things start to get confusing, as the scene shifts to two people who are watching a third person enter a walking dream state. I think I got what they were going for in the long run (although I can’t talk about it here without ruining the surprise), but the way the pages were laid out could have been done a little more clearly. Oh, and fix a spelling error or two (not that there were a bunch of them, but still). There’s more than enough in this book to make it worth a look, at the very least so that you can see his unique interpretation of the concept of a living ship (not to mention some of those dream creatures), so don’t mind my quibbles.