Monthly Archives: September 2011

A Real Blossoming of Kick Ass Female Heroines

by Beth Barany Posted on September 28, 2011

Welcome to our weekly guest post on what makes a kick ass heroine in science fiction and fantasy. This week’s author Lynn Flewelling shares about the kick ass heroines featured in her book, Luck in the Shadows, and in her Tamír trilogy, which begins with The Bone Doll’s Twin. Thanks for portraying strong women on the page, Lynn, for us all to aspire to!

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Since I got into the business back in the nineties there’s been a real blossoming of kick ass female heroines, and I like to think I’ve contributed a few.

Some of my own favorites, in no particular order, include Patricia Brigg’s Mercy Thompson, Kristen Britain’s Karigan, Laura Anne Gilman’s Wren, and, if you will, Bram Stoker’s Mina Harker and “that woman,” Conan Doyle’s Irene Adler (the book versions all.)

They span genres and time, but they all share one thing: guts. Which isn’t to say that they don’t get scared or sad or knocked down. But they get up and keep swinging for the fences every time.

I have a number of kick ass female characters in my books, but I’d like to talk about two: Beka Cavish, a secondary character in the Nightrunner Series, which begins with Luck in the Shadows, and Tobin/Tamír, heroine of the Tamír trilogy, which begins with The Bone Doll’s Twin. Beka is the easy one, so I’ll start with her.

Beka’s father is the best friend and long time partner in adventure of Seregil, the hero of the Nightrunner books, who has been a sort of uncle to her. From these two Beka learned sword play and a thirst for adventures of her own. There’s a war on, so she joins the prestigious Queen’s Horse Guard cavalry regiment where she excels and plays a pivotal role in several of the Nightrunner books, particularly the second, Stalking Darkness, in which she and her group of raiders, the “ghost wolves,” turn the tide of battle at a pivotal moment and help save the world.

She’s not only good with a sword, but smart, honorable, crafty, and a good strategist. She also falls in love with a handsome foreigner. Does she leave the cavalry and settle down to have babies? Not on your life, sister. He goes home with her, serves as a scout in her regiment, and she goes on with her career.

Tobin/Tamír is more complicated. She is heir to the matriarchal throne of Skala, but her uncle has usurped the throne and is killing off potential female claimants, except for Tobin/Tamír’s mother who, though he displaced her, he loves enough to spare. Not so her unborn child—or rather, children. She gives birth to twins, a boy and a girl. To protect the girl, the boy is sacrificed to a spell that gives his sister male form for the first thirteen years of her life.

As Tobin, she is sent, with her squire and best friend, Ki, to serve at court with her cousin, who is next in line to the throne. And all this while she has no idea who or what she really is, but has a niggling sense that something isn’t right. When she was very little she was punished for showing an interest in girl’s toys (a well-meaning attempt to protect her) and trained as a boy and a warrior. She finds an outlet in art, a skill inherited from her mad, distant mother.

It all gets very complicated when “he” begins to menstruate in Hidden Warrior and assumes he has plague. The truth comes out, and Tobin is at first not pleased to learn that he has to change gender. By then he’s acclimated to being a boy, although he’s desperately in love with Ki.

As Tamír, she must lead a civil war against her uncle and beloved but flawed cousin to claim the throne and save the land. And all before she’s sixteen. Ultimately she embraces her identity, fights a tragic battle, and assumes her rightful place in the world.

The greatest challenge of writing these characters, and others like them, I think, is to give them what are often considered “male” skills, without allowing them to become the infamous “men with breasts.”

They have to be tough, but feminine—not a girly stereotype feminine, but preserving our strengths: wisdom, persistence, intelligence, compassion, sexuality, resilience, the boundless will to protect who and what we love, just to name a few.

No fictional character is going to embody all of those traits, and each one will have flaws and dark sides, or should, but there is a female essence and you have to capture and bottle it in your kick ass heroine to make her recognizable to the reader as female.

Because that’s the point, isn’t it?

To say to the world “Women can damn well be tough/courageous/wily/strong/wise/what-have-you, and you know what, Dear Reader? So can you.”

Lynn Flewelling

About the Author
Lynn Flewelling is best known for her Nightrunner and Tamír series, but has also published short fiction and articles on writing in publications including Speculations and Writer’s Digest. Her article “The Complete Nobody’s Guide to Query Letters” has appeared in several books on writing. She teaches occassional workshops, including one on a cruise ship, and enjoys interacting with students and readers. She currently lives with her husband Douglas in Redlands, California. When she’s not writing she can usually be found knitting, hiking, and drinking tea.

Website
http://www.sff.net/people/Lynn.Flewelling/

Her Books
http://www.amazon.com/Luck-Shadows-Nightrunner-Vol-1/dp/0553575422/

http://www.amazon.com/Bone-Dolls-Twin-Tamir-Trilogy/dp/0553577239/

http://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Warrior-Tamir-Trilogy-Book/dp/0553583425/

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Kick Ass Heroines Rock!

by Beth Barany Posted on September 21, 2011
Toonopolis: Gemini by Jeremy Rodden

Welcome to our weekly guest post on what makes a kick ass heroine in science fiction and fantasy. This week’s author Jeremy Rodden shares about the kick ass heroine featured in his upcoming book, Toonopolis: Zephyr, third in his Toonopolis Files series. I love what he says! Girl heroes can be smart and kick butt! I look forward to reading his book!

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I am a guy and I love strong female characters.  Maybe it is because an amazing single mother raised me.  Maybe that is why I married a super-focused medical student (now an emergency physician).  Regardless, I love to see strong, confident women in books, movies, cartoons, etc.

I can’t stand the romance novels (young adult or adult) that suggest a woman doesn’t have an identity until she has a man at her hip. Why on Earth would you sit around longing for the handsome millionaire to sweep you up when you are more than capable of becoming the millionaire yourself?

As a writer of young adult fantasy (albeit humorous, cartoon-world fantasy), I try to bear in mind my own feelings when creating a female character.  My debut novel, Toonopolis: Gemini, follows a teenage boy, but the third book in my Toonopolis Files (Toonopolis: Zephyr, due out Spring/Summer ‘12) will have a female main character, Zephyr the Pirate Queen.

Zephyr encompasses all the strengths that I want to instill in any daughters I may have in the future (I have two boys currently). She is clever, strong, confident, and self-reliant.  She had a tragic past, losing her parents at a young age, but still grew up to take over the title of Pirate Queen from her late father, Boreas the Pirate King. This is a title that must be earned and is not hereditary.  Her story is a quest to uncover the identity of her mother, who disappeared shortly after Zephyr was born.

One of the trickiest parts of writing a strong, pirate woman comes in the way of an age-old double standard. A male pirate is easy to write: he lies, cheats, steals, looks out only for himself, and kisses every woman he sees. Reverse that and put “she” instead of “he” and you don’t picture Jack Sparrow–you picture a thieving harlot. Is this fair? Absolutely not.  Is this how Zephyr will come across if I write her as a female Jack Sparrow? Yes.

In history, there are few examples of female pirates who still remained fully feminine. Ann Bonny and Mary Read dressed as men during their Caribbean pirate days. Grace O’Malley, famed “Pirate Queen” of Ireland, was really more of a rebel leader than a morally gray pirate. She is an amazing figure to study, but not quite the embodiment of pirates as we see them in popular culture today.

Therefore, in order to capture the elements of pirate-lifestyle without losing the core of who I want Zephyr to be, I need to look for other role models that may be similar. It is not easy to do. I pull one major influence from the world of anime.

Lina Inverse is the main character of the manga/anime Slayers and is a great example of a strong female who walks a bit of a gray line of morality at times. Lina is a powerful sorceress who defeats bandits only to steal their treasure, inflicts violence upon anyone who insults her small bust, and is just as deadly with a sword as she is with her magic. The last is important to me because often in fantasy worlds, women can be strong magic-users or healers but not strong hand-to-hand fighters.  Lina is both.

All in all, I strive to create a character that a teenage girl can look to and say, “I can be like that.” Sure, Zephyr still may have her dubious qualities–she is a pirate after all–but as she grows as a person, her strong qualities will definitely overshadow her less desirable ones.  I also want to create a character that teenage boys look to and say, “Why can’t I meet a girl like that?” Being both strong and feminine is a reality and a darn good one if I say so myself.

My children are growing up in a household where their mother is a doctor and their father is the homemaker. They need more examples of strong women out there in popular culture. We need more Hermione Grangers and Ginny Weasleys and fewer Bella Swans.  I’m doing my part… are you?

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Jeremy Rodden is a stay-at-home dad and author of the Toonopolis Files series of cartoon novels.  He considers C.S. Lewis and Lewis Carroll his biggest influences as a writer and hopes to create a lasting, fun world that all ages can enjoy.  You can follow him on Twitter (@toonopolis), Facebook (www.facebook.com/toonopolisfiles), or his cartoon review/author blog (www.toonopolis.com).

Toonopolis: Gemini buy links.
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0050P3YXA/
B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/toonopolis-jeremy-rodden/1101314250
Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/58894

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Does a Kick-Ass Heroine Actually Have to Kick Ass?

by Beth Barany Posted on September 14, 2011
The Sable City by M. Edward McNally

Welcome to our weekly guest post on what makes a kick ass heroine in science fiction and fantasy. This week author M. Edward McNally shares about the kick ass heroine featured in his fantasy novel, The Sable City (Book I of the Norothian Cycle), and shares how his kick ass heroine doesn’t actually have to kick ass to be a bad ass.

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“Tilda wanted either to jump up and down, or else kick her esteemed and honorable Captain square in his wide hindquarters.  She managed to do neither.  Just.”
- From The Sable City (Book I of the Norothian Cycle)

I included that quick bit as through the course of the first three books of my Musket & Magic fantasy series, The Norothian Cycle, that is as close as Tilda Lanai comes to being a literal, “Kick-ass” heroine. ;-)

Though in a more metaphorical way, I like to think she qualifies. Tilda is an Island Guilder working for a powerful Trade House, trained as the saying goes, in the skills of “Musketry & Merchandising, Salesmanship and Swordplay.” People from less-polite cultures might call her a “thief,” but a Guilder is more than that in Island society. Yes, she may pick the occasional pocket, and the hooded half cloak does lend itself to disappearing in the shadows. But the business of the Islands is business, and so long as everybody else plays fair, the Guilders are as warm and hospitable as any other employee of a Trade House operating around the four continental coasts of the Interminable Ocean.

Of course if everything went smooth, there really wouldn’t be a story worth the telling. The Trade House that Tilda serves has problems, including the death of the House Lord and an exiled heir, and unless someone steps-up the whole organization will be disbanded, their assets carved-up and parceled around to rival Houses. Those assets include the Guilders, and Tilda is not one to let someone else decide who she is going to work for. If she was, she would still be a shop girl at her parent’s perfumery, not a newly-minted Guilder after three hard years of training.

And so, Tilda goes forth to find the missing heir to her House, and thus begins the requisite adventure part of any fantasy story; a tale of swords and sorcery, dragons and devils, a Lamia and a samurai, and one miscreant mercenary long on charm but lousy with a crossbow. That, as they say, is where the “ass-kicking” gets going.

So yes, Tilda is the lead of a fantasy series spiraling into Epic territory, or at least epic length. ;-) However, if I may be so bold, I like to think it is a series that while it respects the classic tenets of stories of its kind, it is not afraid to play with some of the standard tropes, and perhaps stereotypes, of Epic Fantasy. There is no great evil trying to conquer the world, no magic child foretold in a prophecy, no special destiny for anyone involved.

What there is, is a heroine, Tilda Lanai. A young woman trying to hold down a job, help out her friends, and find her place in a wide, wide world. It just so happens that a dragon might flap by through that world now and again, and oh yes, there is the one fabled Lost City full of demons and devils. But apart from that, the story is really just about people living their lives from day-to-day, and sometimes that can be pretty kick-ass, too.

Thanks much Beth, and everyone for reading!

The Sable City (Book One of the Norothian Cycle) by M. Edward McNally
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004PLNNLS

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Sable-City/M-Edward-McNally/e/2940013131484
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10843259-the-sable-city
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/46661

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A Kick Ass Heroine in Science Fiction

by Beth Barany Posted on September 7, 2011
Space Trippers by A. Lightbourne

Welcome to our weekly guest post on what makes a kick ass heroine in science fiction and fantasy. This week author A.Lightbourne shares about the kick ass heroine featured in her science fiction novel, Space Trippers Book 1 and what it’s like to write about a strong female lead.

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I believe a ‘Kick-ass Heroine’ should be smart and spunky, able to take care of herself but with a bit of a vulnerable side.

Holding a doctorate in scientific engineering Valesque Rhaugh is not the violent type. She believes in the sanctity of life and will do everything in her power to protect the innocent crew of her commandeered vessel.

Not that she can’t take care of herself when the need arises. As a Virrilian she possesses not only four sharp fangs, claw-like nails and a virtually indestructible body but also an exceptional ability she calls ‘hunting mode’, where her warm brown eyes turn a bright silver as they film over and her senses elevate, enabling her to see her ‘prey’s’ circulatory and nervous systems, even in pitch dark, and vastly improving her physical prowess.

Although she has not had much need for this natural ability as a scientist, and has in fact avoided using it ever since she was exiled from her home planet, as her unwanted adventure continues, she is forced to use it more and more: to evade alien scavengers, escape captivity, track potential enemies, gain temporary employment as a ‘lie detector’ and to protect herself from the dark forces that threaten our world.

All ‘Kick-ass’ women have the same challenge: interpersonal relationships. Strong women can tend to be loners, preferring to go it alone and do it ‘their way’. Valesque is no different. She had been on her own for a number of years. After being wrongfully accused and put on the most wanted list of her home planet, she moved from place to place, working on engineering jobs, some of which she found ethically challenging, but all of which were a necessity for making a living.

When her under-construction science ship is stolen, with her onboard, she is reluctantly befriended by a young, genius, science officer and an extremely flirty ex-police pilot. These two people did not have much knowledge of Virrilians — since they lived in IPA space which has been at war with Virrilia for longer than any of them had been alive — and thus were extremely surprised at how much her small frame could take. From having fallen over twenty stories with hardly a thought to being barely singed by laser fire, her natural abilities continue to surprise them.

The first time they see her in hunting mode they are taken aback by her unusually fierce appearance, with her glowing eyes and exposed fangs. She breathes heavily and growls at them in her heightened form. As time goes on they are still wary of the sight of her in that state, never sure which is more in control, the scientist they know and love or the beast that surfaces and grins at them with that cunning, blood-red smile.

Writing a strong female lead can be challenging. You always have to keep a balance of good (sweet) and evil (spunky) in her thoughts and behavior, and in others perceptions of her. Although Valesque is not a ‘hard as nails’, violent or gruff kind of person, she is strong willed, sturdy, a bit scary and aloof. Keeping her true to herself in many different situations, and especially while with people she is not sure about want to keep getting closer to, is something that takes a lot of planing, so that we can see her development along the series of books. Things have to be paced evenly over the course of the story.

Writing a ‘Kick-Ass Heroine’ is a challenge and even more so when she is the star of a series, but they are so much fun! Who doesn’t like a cool, talented, self-sufficient, spunky gal?

Author, A. Lightbourne

About A.Lightbourne
I began writing stories almost as soon as I learned to write. From my 1st grade ‘journal’ full of tales of rabbit adventures to my first full length book at 14, I have always had a love for writing stories. I am happily married with lots of furry little ‘children’. Most of which I raised by hand when a local rescue group or friends brought me orphaned babies to bottle feed. Most of my writing is YA and Fantasy based. Right now I have Fantasy/Sci-fi mixes: the Space Trippers series and Brass Hearts: A Steampunk Fairytale. All of my writing, especially Space Trippers, is generously sprinkled with humor. I hope you enjoy reading my work as much as I enjoy writing it.

For book synopsis, paperback and ebook links (Amazon and Barnes & Noble) go here: http://www.alightbourne.netau.net/Buy_A_Lightbourne_Books.htm

(Remember! You can always read the FREE sample of the books from the Ebook buy pages!)

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A Handbook for The Lady Adventurer

by Beth Barany Posted on September 3, 2011

Women have been adventuring into the world on their own for a long time.

Thank you to Sylvia Warren, MBA, Leadership Consciousness Coach, for sharing her post about Michael Conefrey’s book, How to Climb Mt. Blanc in a Skirt: A Handbook for the Lady Adventurer. His book shares with us that the lost history of female exploration includes women who traveled to every corner of the globe.

Read the rest of the post on her site here.

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