Wednesday, April 17, 2013

A-to-Z Challenge Day 15: The Letter O

Not to be confused with Oprah's magazine, the movie "O," the letter people say when they mean "zero," or my "O" face.


Odlaw
Dead Letters
Space Corps saga Book 6

By the time the notes hit Dead Letters, they've taken a considerable leap forward.  Space Corps being space opera, it already takes place, naturally, in the future (of course, if you're Star Wars you take place "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away").  Dead Letters is about a period where all the rules have been broken.  The Space Corps, in fact, doesn't exist.  Humans have become considerably marginalized.  The Corps has been replaced by the Vodrantine Thalassic, and Odlaw is a captain in this fleet in much the way Mendez and Drummond (you remember them from M Day and D Day, correct?) are captains in the Corps.  He's not a lead character in Dead Letters, but his role reflects the kind of choppy waters this particular era features, where you never know who to trust and there's one big surprise after another.  His name doesn't come from Where's Waldo's evil doppelganger, it's just something that sounded awesome to me, especially when phrased as Captain Odlaw.  He sounds like he should be in a web series like Voyage Trekkers, but he's not a comedic character, unless when I get to writing this one he turns out to be someone who could be played by Edward Norton...

Oxnard
Yoshimi and the Shadow Clan
Yoshimi Trilogy Volume 1

Oxnard is a small town that happens to be the location of warrior orphan Yoshimi's first encounters with the Shadow Clan.  This is before she meets Bill, erstwhile love interest and leader of the Shadow Clan.  At this point all she knows is that these guys are her enemy, after all they're associated with the Assassins Guild, run by Ronan Quinn, the man responsible for the death of her parents.  Oxnard has no particular significance for me except that it's a unique name, so that's your tie-in between the Space Corps and Yoshimi entries today.  Oxnard also happens to be the site of a baseball game, by the way.

***

As noted in my comments section already, "Sweet Caroline" has been playing across the league in tribute to the Boston Marathon explosions.  Although loyal Sox fans might just as well associate "Tessie" from the Dropkick Murphys.


They did win yesterday, meanwhile, against Terry Francona and the Indians.  And while you're feeling all kinds of positive things about the Sox, why not enjoy the Jimmy Fallon flick Fever Pitch, the movie that literally changed its ending thanks to the 2004 World Series win?

The Angels lost.  Mike Trout is at .300, Albert Pujols at .280.

The A's won in the eleventh inning, and they're also the first team in the American League to have eleven wins this season.  They've got a hot-hitting player who's been in the same situation as the Sox's Jose Iglesias, playing in the Majors while his position counterpart sits on the disabled list.  Here we're talking about Seth Smith, who's got a .424 batting average in eleven games.  That's the number of the day, I guess...

Rain spoiled the Cardinals, though.

10 comments:

SpacerGuy said...

Go Voyage Trekkers!

Tony Laplume said...

It's funny stuff!

Nigel G Mitchell said...

That space corps series sounds pretty detailed. Nicely done

Tony Laplume said...

I've tried to make it lively.

Crystal Collier said...

Goodness, what fascinating details. I've never gone for the space opera angle, but I've advise writers on the production of musical tones/terms. This sounds sounds fascinating.

The Armchair Squid said...

I've got a "Tessie post" planned for this summer - no joke.

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Dead Letters sounds like outlaw time.
Any song could replace Sweet Caroline and I'd be happy.

Tony Laplume said...

Crystal, thanks!

Squid, awesome!

Alex, another acceptable replacement would be another Dropkick Murphys song, "I'm Shipping Up to Boston," which can be heard prominently in The Departed.

Maurice Mitchell said...

I wonder how the movie would have ended without those eight straight games winning the 2004 American League Championship Series and World Series? It fit so well with the story!

Tony Laplume said...

As the story goes, it would have had an unhappy ending. I guess like (500) Days of Summer.

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