Crystal Yorkshire
Crystal Yorkshire is a German book series for young people by the author André Linke , which contains elements from science fiction , fantasy , manga and satire . According to the critics, the texts are considered unconventional and experimental.
action
Volume 1 Attack of the Flukes
Dennis Stevens is a young man who works as a taxi pilot in the distant future - the earth has since been destroyed by the sun, and the human species lives as an outlawed species scattered in space. During a night shift, Dennis's spaceship collides with that of two young women, and after an argument, they kidnap the man to their space station. The station, Crystal Yorkshire, is a training camp for secret agents that takes its own action against criminals. Unlike most other organizations, people are treated well here. Dennis Stevens decides to stay and become an agent. His adventure begins with training, his affection for Agent Ashley, and the attacks of a hostile species called Flukes.
Volume 2 War for Nothing
With the Flukes killing countless agents and failing to abide by agreements, Crystal Yorkshire has declared war on them. A great battle is to decide which of the two groups will survive. This state of emergency causes Dennis Stevens and other budding agents to be sent into combat prematurely. He and his team stand out as good pilots and warriors. The President of Crystal Yorkshire decides to create an elite team from them. After a temporary truce, the Flukes are destroyed by a surprise attack. A game of cat and mouse is emerging between Dennis and Ashley.
Volume 3 The rocket team
In addition to Dennis and Ashley, there are four other junior agents in the elite team. As a “rocket team” they have to carry out the most dangerous jobs. The six agents will therefore be given preferential treatment with immediate effect and be equipped with the latest technology. They put their lives at risk in a raid or a hostage rescue. At the same time, Crystal Yorkshire is growing with the next first year of prospective agents, which also includes Dennis' younger sister, who is now experiencing her first adventures. The situation between Ashley and Dennis is getting worse. Ashley's rejections lead the man to take offense. In the end, he accidentally hurts her.
Volume 4 The Botvirus
All over the world, apparent malfunctions of various spaceships and devices lead to death and injuries. Behind this is a virus that the evil ice goddess Sicilia sent to blackmail Crystal Yorkshire: The space station is supposed to destroy its energy source, since its presence weakens the ice goddess and stands in the way of her magical powers. In human form, the goddess also succeeds in infiltrating Crystal Yorkshire and becoming friends with agent Ashley in order to gain access to secret data. The rakerteam sets out to destroy the realm of the goddess. But Sicilia's false friendship with Ashley leads to Ashley protecting her from the other agents. A deadly fight takes its course.
Volume 5 Under time pressure
Ice goddess Sicilia had killed Ashley Cathy-Jo Oak from the rocket team before agent Dennis Stevens could defeat her. Dennis is in deep mourning for his love until the President of Crystal Yorkshire reveals to him that the first time machines were developed at their weapons supplier, RCTM. The fact that these are secret and not yet tested doesn't stop Dennis from going back in time to save Ashley. For the first time he turns against RCTM and takes one of the machines under his control. Together with Lara, Erik and Kessie from the Raker team, he sets off - accompanied by Kessie's mother, a queen with magical powers, and a stranger with a veiled face who claims to be familiar with time travel. But instead of carrying out the action as a well thought-out mission as usual, the heroes lose themselves in an attempt to understand the different timelines. The rescue threatens to fail and to claim even more victims.
publication
Crystal Yorkshire is published by Machtwortverlag and is finished with the fifth volume. The first volume was published in December 2006; Volume two for the Leipzig Book Fair 2008, volume three 2009, volume four 2011, volume five 2012.
The publisher has also released offshoots of the series: the short manga Crystal Yorkshire: Huna Omega by Kim Ngyuen, the short story Gaps-Duell der Liebe - Crystal Yorkshire Bravo by Stephanie Torreiter and the free short comic Geschwister at Work by Diana Lazaru. André Linke only worked on the latter.
Style and characteristics
Crystal Yorkshire is not pure science fiction , but an overlap of different genres. The colorfully designed figures, heated dialogues and detailed descriptions show criteria of the Manga narrative style, matching the illustration. The occurrence of energy sources in the form of glowing stones and an ice goddess with magical powers can be assigned to fantasy . The comparison between the relaxed extraterrestrial and the rushed human, however, belongs to satire .
Written Crystal Yorkshire in youthful language with some childish, even flapsigem expression. Who the narrator is remains open. It is characteristic that it is described very often and in different variations how big, calm and fascinating the space appears to the figures. The phrase "The universe was silent" represents the story in the eyes of many readers.
The feature of the series is that the actual plot apparently plays a subordinate role. Main thread and arcs of tension are interrupted again and again - mainly by the narrator as a depressed person, once also by a pseudo commercial. The narrator himself later refutes his own statements and makes it clear that he is above the reader. In the course of history, various political and social issues are mentioned critically, but all of them are treated rather superficially. There are many allusions to other films, books and public figures of our time. Parallel to the plot and the interruptions by the narrator, there are further secondary lines and individual interludes. So God and Jesus with world domination plans, two aliens named Henry and Larry as bored radio operators and a certain grandma and her deformed frog appear again and again. Many facts of the (temporally not clearly defined) distant future are explained with the help of excerpts from a fictional history book - based on Douglas Adams ' The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy .
Each volume contains around twelve illustrations by Lorenz Hideyoshi Ruwwe and Jinxin Li. The cover images are also from the two mangaka . In addition, Chibi drawings by Zita Galambos (volumes one to three), Lisa Theobald (volume four) and Lena Haupt (volume five) can be seen in the afterword . Together with the add-on by Diana Lazaru, which was also printed in the fourth volume, there are a total of six mangaka that contributed drawings.
background
The result is Crystal Yorkshire originally as an English fan fiction for the computer game Descent . André Linke's enthusiasm for mangas like Sailor Moon and the works of Douglas Adams has turned the story into a project in its own right over the years. This is how the series got its name: The "Crystal" can be traced back to the fictional city "Crystal Tokyo" from Sailor Moon . The author worked on the first volume for six and a half years.
For the fourth and fifth volumes, Léontine Mandela acted as a ghostwriter , as André Linke was working on several other projects at the time. Mandela had previously worked with Linke as the lead author on the illustrated novel aka Cynthia .
success
The first part, The Flukes' Attack , was nominated for the German Fantasy Prize 2007 in the categories of Best German-Language Novel and Best German-Language Debut Novel . As a result, André Linke gave a laudation to Markus Heitz at the award ceremony and presented him with the prize for the best Internet site .
criticism
"" The plot sometimes seems lengthy when no important topic is being dealt with. ""
“On 327 pages, André Linke criticizes today's society, which considers itself to be the most intelligent way of life, well packed with humor and irony in the story of a 19-year-old boy, which is partly quoted from a history book of the future. It doesn't get boring: Dennis repeatedly speaks up, breaking through the he / she narration and completely throwing the reader out of the plot. Sometimes a dialogue is a bit confusing, but one shouldn't look for a deeper meaning [...]. The reader will also come across quite a few contradictions […]. That is precisely what makes this book so lively and worth reading. "
“The reviewer thinks [...] that it is inadmissible to imprison or terrorize authors like Panizza (The Love Council) or Rushdie (The Satanic Verses), but that freedom as a writer also has or should have limits. Hopelessly antiquated, this line flapper. "
"A brilliant, flippantly written, funny and at the same time profound SF satire, which also contains socially critical elements."
"" For all those who are already exploring the depths of the science fiction of HG Wells or Jules Verne, this novel is certainly not new territory. On the contrary, it will not impress you particularly, but perhaps only make you think of your own youth with a smile identification with the protagonist, which is so important for a good mood, does not take place. For young people up to their early 20s I can recommend the novel with a clear conscience, because it brings everything that is important for this target group with it: tension, action, love - but unfortunately no chocolate. ""
“If the actual story is left aside, just reading it is pure pleasure. By the way, dialogues come across as choppy and dashing: No sophisticated, designed conversations, but short phrases and onomatopoeia. This way of writing is very fresh and at the same time parodies today's literary world. [...] So it is not uncommon for the narrator to interrupt the action in the middle to express his own personal opinion on the event. [...] These are breaks that are not only innovative, but also a completely new form of writing apparently [en] ""
Individual evidence
- ↑ Review of the Flukes attack with the announcement of four more volumes
- ↑ Kim-Quy Nguyen: Crystal Yorkshire: Huna Omega . 1st edition. Machtwort-Verlag, Dessau 2008, ISBN 3-86761-527-6 (24 pages).
- ↑ Stephanie Torreiter: Gaps duel of love - Crystal Yorkshire Bravo . 1st edition. Machtwort-Verlag, Dessau 2008, ISBN 3-86761-419-9 (16 pages, 21 cm).
- ↑ Amazon reviews on "Attack of the Flukes" on Animexx
- ↑ List of the contributing artists on "Crystal Yorkshire"
- ↑ FAQ on André Linke on a fan page ( Memento of the original from August 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Interview with André Linke on Pummeldex ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archive of the German Fantastic Prize 2007
- ^ Photo taken during the laudation from André Linke to Markus Heitz
- Jump up ↑ Attack of the Flukes - Crystal Yorkshire Alpha. (No longer available online.) In: Pummeldex.de. Formerly in the original ; Retrieved June 15, 2009 . ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Christoph Schubert: Attack of the Flukes - Crystal Yorkshire Alpha. In: LORP.de. January 24, 2008, accessed June 15, 2009 .
- ↑ Stefan Rakebrand: "Attack of the Flukes" (Andre Linke). (No longer available online.) Formerly in the original ; accessed on June 15, 2009 (full review including video at jugendstil-magazin.de). ( Page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
