[QCRIT] SENTRY 900, Adult Contemporary Sci-Fi, 94k (1st attempt)

Hello! This may be vaguely familiar to those of you who listened to TSNOTYAW’s latest bonus episode :) They recommended crowdsourcing due to being stumped on comp titles, and I figured I may as well get a query critique as well, while I’m at it!

Dear [Agent],

SENTRY 900 is a contemporary sci-fi novel complete at 94,000 words. The Mandalorian meets Hollywood Homicide in this dual-POV work where an actor newly embroiled in a career-careening scandal comes face-to-face with the space vigilante he plays on TV.

Fueled by his anxiety and the weed-laced brownies he accidentally ate, Alex Rhomeo is unprepared when the public viewing of the season finale of Sentry 900, the hit TV show he stars in, is evacuated. Rolin Set-Arh—a masked vigilante rumored to be more machine than man, as well as the lead character on the show—is equally surprised to find that his final sacrifice to save his loved ones has somehow crash-landed him in an event center far from the universe he recognizes.

Alex’s exodus coincides with an erupting media storm with accusations about him cheating on his ex-girlfriend with a current co-star. Rolin, initially oblivious to his doppelgängar, makes his way outdoors with a burgeoning head injury. He's immediately harassed about a sex tape he knows nothing about followed shortly by an attempt on his life.

Upon learning of the actor who shares his face, Rolin pursues Alex, believing the other man to also be in danger, even after he kills the man who made the attempt on him. Alex is alarmed to see his duplicate and shocked even further to learn that same duplicate just murdered a man even more famous than he is. As the pair of them seek to get Rolin home before his brain injury can kill him, they have to navigate the front-page cheating scandal, the police investigating Alex for the murder, Alex’s co-star who shares the face of Rolin’s dearest friend revealing to know more about the multiverse, and the ex-girlfriend who started the media cycle in the first place being the likely ticket to get Rolin to safety. Alex’s pursuit to understanding his relationship to (a)romanticism is hardly at the forefront of his mind in the face of adventures he’s ill-equipped for.

[Personalization]

Thank you for your consideration,
This Reddit Rat

This novel is in the process of a revision, so this is the first attempt of a query that attempts to reflect many of the new goals of that revision. I'm also (as stated in the podcast) clueless as to whether or not "contemporary sci-fi" is a thing, so advice there would also be awesome!

Thank you all so, so much in advance!

Posted Apr 2, 2026, 10:47 PM UTC

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