Doors of Sleep

October 12, 2020
Pratt (the Axiom series) takes readers on an exciting if repetitive chase through parallel universes in this standalone adventure. An encounter with a mysterious woman leaves Zax Delatree with the power to travel to different “branches in the tree of worlds” when he falls asleep. He has no control over what new universe he’ll land in upon waking, but he can take others with him by holding them close. Traveling with his new friend Minna, a skilled “senior grafter” from a “garden world,” Zax finds his life doubly dangerous when his former traveling companion, a scientist called the Lector, reappears hoping to violently steal the key to Zax’s ability. With the Lector on their trail, Minna and Zax hop from “non-Euclidean” mansions to “post-scarcity” pleasure domes and abandoned techno-utopias, struggling to learn how to control Zax’s ability. Part high adventure and part travelogue of alien locales, this sci-fi romp has plenty of YA crossover appeal and will prove just the thing for mature readers who appreciate a classic Golden Age vibe. Agent: Ginger Clark, Curtis Brown.

December 15, 2020
Whenever he falls asleep, Zax's body hurtles through the multiverse and jumps to a new world. He's adapted to his lonely condition, carrying stimulants and sedatives in order to control his travel to often-dangerous places such as a mining platform being attacked by a sea monster, a burning city, and a vast desert hiding a mushroom-filled cavern. Sometimes, hoping to help the people he meets, Zax brings companions along, and Minna is one such friend, an organic being with extensive knowledge of plants and other biomatter. But their lives are threatened when a mad scientist, the Lector, decides to use Zax's ability to try and take over as much of the multiverse as he can. Doors of Sleep is a compelling tale reminiscent of the episodic explorations of Doctor Who; the book is rooted in the details of the new environments and people Zax encounters with his companions. Pratt uses his rich imagination to craft a vast variety of possibilities, and the friendship between the pixie-like Minna and idealist Zax ties these worlds together into one core story.

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January 1, 2021

Zaxony, a onetime social worker who aims to promote harmony, finds his worldview challenged by the reality that every time he falls asleep he awakes in a different world. For three years he has been traveling the multiverse with no control over where he'll land next. Able to communicate with all because of a linguistic virus, he takes on fellow travelers only to lose them to violence, madness, or their desire to stay put. Always a stranger, Zax records his travels and travails in his digital journal. After nearly 1,000 worlds, he meets Minna, a generous life-form who can sense plants and animals and adapt her own cells to suit any needed purpose. The two find themselves on the run from an earlier companion, the Lector, who wants to use Zax's special ability to take over the world. VERDICT Readers will sympathize with Zax and his fellow travelers as they are yanked into new worlds every few pages or even every few sentences. Pratt's (The Fractured Void) skillful worldbuilding will appeal to sf fans.--Catherine Lantz, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago Lib.

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