A-to-Z Challenge Day 25: The Letter Y

David Yates

The Feud We Keep With Space

Space Corps Book 4

I've referenced previously how The Feud We Keep With Space took a good portion of its shape from 9/11.  With the recent Boston explosions we were once again confronted with terrorists who were anything but the WASP archetype that still dominates the American social landscape.  I seriously entertained the possibility that it was just a regular Bostonian who was responsible.  From Oklahoma City to the presidential assassinations of Lincoln, Garfield, and Kennedy (McKinley sort of counts, too), plenty of homegrown monsters have preyed on the public, not to mention all the school shootings or serial killers.  Anyway, David Yates exists as a reflection of this rather than the paradigm shift.  Jack Bauer need not investigate.  The interesting thing about Yates is that he's exactly the reverse of the new template.  Like John Frederick Paxton  in Star Trek: Enterprise (watch the two-part episode "Terra Prime"/"Demons," especially for the last spotlight on the Trip/T'Pol relationship with an incredible emotional climax), he's a xenophobe (so he's also an ideological descendant of Sigmund Alexander, whom you met all the way back on A Day) who violently opposes aliens on Earth.  There are some great Superman comics from Geoff Johns where he visits the future with the Legion of Super-Heroes and confronts this issue, too.

Yoshimi

Yoshimi Trilogy

Seriously, there's literally no other character more relevant as a listing for Y Day than Yoshimi, because her namesake story...is about her.  So let's recap everything we know about her.  Yoshimi's parents died when she was five.  She was subsequently placed in thirty-six foster homes, but rebelled against the concept to such an extent that eventually it was decided that it was a really bad idea.  "Uncle Henry," a.k.a. Alan Babbage, finally decides to lay the truth on her, that her parents were murdered, and that Yoshimi's whole world must change as a response.  She becomes a warrior orphan, and begins training under a number of senseis, including James Peers (who gives her the Scimitar blade), Jim Nguyen, and David Halliday.  Babbage says it was Ronan Quinn (here's a spoiler for you: it wasn't) who was responsible.  Quinn runs the Assassins Guild, which is first represented by its junior league, the Shadow Clan, led by Bill, whom Yoshimi falls in love with.  She undertakes a whirlwind tour of the world, ending in Ireland, which leads to England, where the story concludes.  Yoshimi and the Shadow Clan covers the the arc up to Bill, Yoshimi and the Assassins Guild covers up to Ronan Quinn, and Yoshimi and the Spider's Web brings us to the last battle (not in Narnia).  I've modified my release schedule.  Shadow Clan has been released.  If you've noticed, there's a giant image of its cover on the right.  Assassins Guild will be released in June, Spider's Web in September.  It was going to be month-to-month-to-month, the way Michael Abayomi released his fantasy epic last year and what Pat Dilloway had planned to do with Scarlet Knight this year (he kind of got grumpy, though), but things change. I spent all month yammering about Yoshimi.  I'm a little grumpy myself.  But that's life.  (Lesson learned: Trust in the Dilloway.  The Dilloway is good.)

***

The Red Sox won both ballgames over the weekend.  John Lackey got his first win of the season yesterday.  In a season about jumpstarting continuity in the team, he's a name fans should be glad to see still around.  (As with what happened a few seasons ago, there's an alternate version of the Sox playing as the Los Angeles Dodgers.  True story.)

The Angels lost both games over the weekend.  Mark Trumbo is quickly joining Mike Trout and Albert Pujols in their slumps.  He's now got a .296 batting average, while Trout has .263 and Pujols a measly .244. Of course, in comparison Josh Hamilton has a .219.  The team is obviously doing pretty miserably overall.  Maybe change their name to the Devils and cowboy up a little?

The A's lost on Saturday, won on Sunday.  Josh Donaldson won a Player of the Week award.  Read about it here.

The Cardinals lost both games over the weekend.  Yesterday was a 9-0 blowout.  Maybe I shouldn't get cocky about the success of these four teams?