Light My Fire
- a radio drama series by Dylan Day
Former Tule Lake incarceree, Akira Yamamoto is content with life: he has a stable job; a wife, Issho, who he adores - and they are about to renew their wedding vows. But when Issho Yamamoto is murdered, a grieving Akira witnesses his paradise become a nightmare. The once model citizen turns vigilante in the hunt for justice, confronted by the city's volatile gangs, poached by the many Civil Rights Groups, and becoming entangled in a deepening conspiracy that could influence the upcoming mayoral election. Light My Fire is the story of how far one man will go to avenge his wife.
Light My Fire is a five-part radio drama series by Dylan Day and a prequel to Those Who Must Fall, the first novel of The Falling Sun trilogy, a collection which explores the fates of a Japanese couple coming to America, and then life inside a Japanese American incarceration camp during World War Two. You can learn more about The Falling Sun here.
Japanese American incarceration is an important research topic for the author, Dylan Day. He has previously written two essays on the subject: To Investigate How US Citizenship was Performed by Japanese Americans Interned at Tule Lake Incarceration Camp During World War Two as a Consequence of the Loyalty Questionnaire & An examination as to whether incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War Two was an act of defence or a declaration of particular prejudice
Light My Fire is set in San Francisco, 1967, to the backdrop of the Mayoral Election between Democrat Joseph Alioto (a real historical figure) and Republican John F. Thorbes (fictional.) The story starts in September at the tale end of the Summer of Love, where over 100,000 people descended on the city to spread peace and love.
San Francisco was a cultural stew-pot of Civil Rights protestors, new immigrants freed by the McCarren-Walter Act, and violent gangs (like the Jo Fong Boys of Chinatown) who battled for control of the drug-markets. But it was also a time of industrialisation as the Democrats pumped millions of dollars into new infrastructure to match the sudden gentrification in places like Haight-Ashbury. Crime versus industrial progress was a key battleground in the 1967 mayoral election, with the Democrats promising further improvement; the Republicans focused on investing in the over-stretched police force.
Light My Fire uses the backdrop of real-life Civil Rights Groups, such as the Black Panthers and Hells Angels, and their anti-Vietnam War sentiment to explore division and one man's hunt for justice in a corrupt world.
Light My Fire is named after The Doors song of the same name to invoke the themes of revolution and heartbreak.
