A-to-Z Challenge Day 19: The Letter S

Ott Sader

The Feud We Keep With Space

Space Corps Book 4

I've described The Feud We Keep With Space as a sort of rephrasing of Seven Thunders, and as it now stands, I think that may be more true than when I first realized that.  Seven Thunders is the book I finished writing last month, the one I obsessed over for fifteen years.  During that time I developed the rest of the Space Corps saga, and as with anyone else, I realized there were certain parallels that emerged, patterns that helped as I wrote the first book-length adventure.  One of the surprises was that one of the characters I was sure would be a fairly straightforward antagonist ended up having the same kind of nuances as everyone else.  His counterpart in Feud will theoretically be able to remain on the crooked and wide (as opposed to straight and narrow) thanks to the fact that he has at least one well-defined accomplice, Ott Sader, a Space Corps officer gone bad, in the pocket of a weaselly politician.  Surprisingly the majority of the characters I chose to spotlight in this A-to-Z sketch were protagonists.  Rest assured there are plenty of villains as well.

Scimitar

Yoshimi Trilogy

This is warrior orphan Yoshimi's distinctive weapon throughout her story.  Dating back to Excalibur and lightsabers, swords have always had a prominent place in the fiction I've enjoyed.  One of the things I most enjoy about Pulp Fiction is when Bruce Willis starts walking around with a samurai blade.  I continued to love Heroes after the first season because the second season put a huge spotlight on Hiro's experiences with Takezo Kensei, who is first introduced through his sword.  Yoshimi's sword takes its name from Shinzon's ship in Star Trek Nemesis, something else I love in strict contradiction to its popular reputation.  Of course, Yoshimi's Scimitar is also a literal scimitar blade, a traditional curved Arabic sword, something that was in the Peers family for generations (since just after the Civil War, when veterans were seeking adventures around the globe, as represented in the Tom Cruise flick The Last Samurai) and bequeathed to her in Yoshimi and the Shadow Clan.  Though Yoshimi herself finds it a little odd to be walking around with a sword in the 21st century (she's fifteen, not a collector), the rest of her story is very much informed by her relationship with the Scimitar, as much as anything else, even the death of her parents and the traditional path of vengeance.

***

The Sox won on Saturday, lost on Sunday.  They're a game and a half above the Yankees.

The Angels won throughout the weekend.  At this point I'm going to start acknowledging Mark Trumbo in these recaps.  He helped them win on Sunday, and even last season was one step behind the more sensational Mike Trout.  Trumbo's batting average currently sits at .329 (and has been above Trout and Albert Pujols all season).  Trout is at .307, Pujols at .317.  Although Pujols is still playing wounded (which is basically the norm for him), he's hitting better than at any other point with the Angels, which he joined last season following one final glorious season with the Cardinals (and Tony La Russa) in 2011. 

The A's lost both games over the weekend, and have slipped out of the top spot in their division (which incidentally features the Angels as well).  They're playing the Sox today.  I opt to support the Sox in this exchange.

The Cardinals won on Saturday and lost on Sunday.  They've also slipped out of the top of their division, which isn't saying too much at this point.  Most of the teams there are close to even.  If you're all about classic rivalries, the best news is that the team not currently in contention is the Cubs.