Posts in the "Favorite Female Characters" Category

• Nyx, Honoria Glossop And Other Formidable Females

  Favorite Female Characters

  This week’s post celebrates the release of Kameron Hurley’s novel God’s War, which can be pre-ordered now at the Night Shade Books site  — the term pre-order being a misnomer, since copies are already arriving. You can also check out the book’s site, view the video trailer, and enter our contest to win a copy of God’s War by commenting on this post (or any of this week’s Night Bazaar posts) and telling us your favorite strong female character and the novel she comes from.

  This week, Martha and Courtney both point out that “strong female character” doesn’t have to mean a badass fighter. I agree with them, strongly. I, too, LOVE bad-ass female fighter characters — because I love bad-ass female fighters, because I love bad-ass fighters in general, and because I love females.

  I do NOT believe that women and men are “essentially” different. This is a philosophical position that comes from seeing too many people who fit between the lines, in one form or another.

  But a person who grows up as a woman (or, for that matter, choose to become one later) brings a perspective to the world of literature, science, politics, education, medicine, and every other field that is different than the one brought by people who grow up with male privilege. (more…)

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• Pavlov and the Female Protagonista

  Book Giveaway

  Wow, did you see the the video for God’s War? Very awesome, plus if you comment you might get a free copy. There’s no downside.

  I’m embarrassed to say I got stumped for a minute, trying to come up with awesome female characters in books.  Movies, I can list a million drool-worthy ladies (Starbuck.  Zoe from Firefly.  Salt.  See, you’re salivating right now, aren’t you?) and comics?  Where to begin?  But books?  There obviously aren’t enough.

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• On the Strength of Women, Fierce and Terrible

  Favorite Female Characters

  This week we’re celebrating the release of Kameron’s novel, God’s War, by blogging about our favorite strong female characters and holding a contest. Comment on this, or any other of this week’s blogs, and you have a chance of winning God’s War.
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  Note: This post assumes a familiarity with George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice And Fire. If you haven’t read this ongoing series, what the fuck is the problem with you? Are you stupid or something? Go read it. Hurry, before the HBO series starts. Try to be ahead of the curve for once in your life. Sheesh.
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  So, I’ve held my breath for the last three days, hoping no one would take my chosen female character. Unlike Kameron and Courtney, I didn’t grow up looking for strong female characters, but since I grew up in what most would consider a matriarchal family, dominated by strong women, I always felt something was off when I read books without much feminine strength and will. (more…)

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• Strong Female Leads

  Favorite Female Characters

  First of all, congratulations to Kameron for her book debut! That’s fantastic, and it’s going to be great seeing it (and all the other books from the blog) progress from infancy into… What happens to books? Do they become mature? Yes, I suppose they do, and I think God’s War is going to grow up to be a fine young book.

  So this week we’re talking about strong female leads. I’ll rattle off a few of my favorites, in no particular order. The first that comes to mind is Electra, from the Daredevil comic book. She was my first exposure, I think, to a female kicking some serious ass. But it was more than that. I’ve never been one for action for action’s sake. The story that Frank Miller created for her and Daredevil was engrossing to me. I liked the far East flair the storyline had. I liked the tragic love affair the two of them had. I liked the dark tone of it. And I’ll admit, it didn’t hurt that Electra was a looker.

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• Battling the Wendy-Bird

  Book Giveaway

  Congradulations to Kameron on her debut novel (God’s War) release! Good luck, Kameron and much success. I’m so excited and happy for you, and how kick-ass is that amazing cover? Damn.

  Quick aside: Dearest Readers, remember you can win a copy of Kameron’s book by naming your favorite strong female characters in comments this week.

  And now, my favorite strong female characters…

  One of my earliest memories is of my mother reading Peter Pan out loud pre-afternoon nap. It was a mild, mid-west summer day, and we were on the screened back porch. I remember lying on one of the window-seats with my eyes closed and being transported to Victorian London. It was magical. That is, until the moment when Wendy was shot down by one of the Lost Boys. Her arrival on Neverland island was downright horrific. Buried alive inside a cramped mausoleum that didn’t even protect her from the elements, Wendy was left in a semi-comatose state by the arrow wound. As fate would have it, my mother stopped reading at that point and never finished the book. (She was, after all, a mother of four and very busy.) For me, that’s where that book ended. The message was clear: boys got to have adventures, boys got the power to choose their path in life, and girls absolutely didn’t. Any attempt at doing so brought dire consequences. Simply growing up meant a living death.

  Imagine my amazement when I read A Wrinkle in Time years later. Not only did Meg have adventures, her mother was a scientist!

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• Blood, Sex, and Cross-dressing

  Favorite Female Characters

  I had a tough time finding books about tough women growing up. That might sound odd now – the YA landscape has changed a lot since I was negotiating it 20 years ago, but back then it was a bit thin. When I was ten years old, I ran into a lot of “plucky” heroines who are just kind of out having adventures until they got married. It’s not like this is a real way of life, or will lead to any kind of career. (more…)

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• Give me guts, any day

  Favorite Female Characters

  

  First off, huge congrats to Kameron! After God’s War‘s long and painful road to publication, what a joy to have the novel out in the world at last. And hey, you readers have a chance to make the story have a truly happy ending – if you like your sf mindbending and your heroines asskicking, then run out and buy a copy. Assuming you haven’t won one in this week’s giveaway, that is! (Please, tell me your favorite female characters! I’m always on the lookout for great books I might’ve missed.)

  I agree with Martha that “strong” doesn’t have to mean “badass fighter.” Don’t get me wrong, I love me some kickassery, but the female characters that most influenced me as a kid didn’t have mad martial skillz, just heaps of smarts and courage.

  Take Meg Murry in Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time. She’s physically awkward, grouchy, prickly, stubborn, quick to judge – and smart, brave, fiercely loyal, and in the end it’s her sheer force of will that saves the day. (more…)

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• My Favorite Women

  Favorite Female Characters

  This week on Night Bazaar we’re talking about our favorite female characters. One of my favorites is the main character of Zelde M’tana by F.M. Busby. I was 16 when the book first came out in 1980, and I still remember the impact the cover had on me. Zelde, facing the viewer, with a gun in her hand and that expression. There were a lot of books with female protagonists, and sometimes the covers didn’t show them as just sexy victims, but they aren’t as memorable to me as this one. The book more than fulfills the promise of the cover, as Zelde fights her way up from street kid enslaved by a dystopian government to become a space pirate captain and a rebel. It’s a rough raw R-rated story, and I was probably a little young for it, but I feel like it was what I needed to read at that time.
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