The book of time travel, 20 Jan 2004

By	David Roy (Vancouver, BC) - See all my reviews

The Book of the Still is something that should not exist. It's a book that acts as a lifeline for time travelers. If you're trapped, just find the book (it exists in all time zones), write your name in it, and you can be instantly rescued as other time travelers find your name and location. Whether its existence is due to the strange time effects taking place since The Adventuress of Henrietta Street is unclear. Whatever it is, the Doctor has been suffering some weird physical effects from his proximity to it since landing on Lebenswelt. He's been fainting, experiencing different psychological problems, etc. So he tries to steal it in a high-tech burglary that unfortunately goes awry.

Anji despises Lebenswelt and wants to get away as soon as possible, and she's greatly worried about the Doctor and his 20 year prison sentence. Fitz finds himself fitting in to the party lifestyle that exists on the planet, falling back into his "'60s groovy" persona until he falls into the wrong crowd. He falls in love with Carmodi, a woman who also has designs on the book. When Fitz disappears, Anji is beside herself wondering what she is going to do to rescue the Doctor, find Fitz, and get off the planet before things go from bad to worse.

So, of course, things fall apart before she can do any of that. Who are the Unnoticed? And why are they willing to destroy whole worlds to prevent the book from falling into anybody's hands? The Doctor tries desperately to keep as many people alive as possible while still making sure the flow of time is not damaged. But can he do both?

Paul Ebbs has been involved with Who fandom for quite some time, but this is his first professional publication in the genre. At times, you can tell, as a bit of prose falls flat or a character seems a little off (or, even worse, pointless). However, you can also tell he