Tom Merritt · Author · edited over 8 years ago · 1 like

Thanks Jonathan! And I am almost certain that my affinity to the name stems from my love of Speed Racer as a kid.

Jonathan Mooney · Reader · edited over 8 years ago · 1 like

Lol, is it okay that I was secretly hoping the origin of the name Pilot X was in some way related to the Racer X character from the Speed Racer anime cartoon of the ’60s?

Congratulations on the publication! I’m about a quarter of the way into the ebook and it’s really great so far!

Tom Merritt · Author · edited over 8 years ago · 3 likes

Slight tidbit about the origin of the name Pilot X.

Pilot X became a character for me on April 16, 1997, when I wrote a story on my satirical news website about a crashed pilot in Colorado. I didn’t call him Pilot X in the story but that’s how I thought of him. http://www.subbrilliant.com/subarc0497.html#Jetcrash

He kicked around in my head for awhile and I began using him as a byline on November 5, 1997. The idea is the crashed pilot from the earlier story would be Subbrilliant News’ reporter from heaven or hell.

http://www.subbrilliant.com/subarc1197.html

The name kicked around for awhile. And when I started toying with the idea of a story with a timeship pilot, I pulled the name out of cold storage in my brain.

On December 17, 2013, I jotted down the first bit of story on my experimental blog, called Pilot X: The Tower.

http://www.subbrilliant.com/blog/?p=413

I kept posting little snippets and treatments until September 20, 2014. Then in November 2014, I wrote Pilot X as my National Novel Writing Month project.

Anyway, not sure who interesting that may be but figured I’d share a little of the history of Pilot X’s name as he steps out into the published stage of his existence.

Tom Merritt · Author · edited over 8 years ago · 3 likes

Happy Valentine’s Day! Have an ebook!

So thanks to the brilliance of Avalon and team, we decided to get the ebook out to you as a special Valentine’s Day present. While paper copies are in the mail, this is the first actual chance for backers to read the finalized version of Pilot X.

I’ll just be over here in the corner chewing my fingernails while you read....

Hope you enjoy!

U R 2 Good 2 B 4-gotten