As part of the book tour for Elizabeth Lang's latest book, we are excited to host a guest post from the author today! She is sharing her top 5 list of strong, female, science fiction characters with us today! Enjoy her guest post--and check out The Andromedans: Book Three of the Empire Series. Don't forget to enter to win the tour prize pack at the end of this post!
Guest Post by Elizabeth Lang.
My Top Five List for Strong Female Characters in Science Fiction
I’m a sci-fi and fantasy nut from way back. I used to devour books, often reading late into the night, or the next morning. As a young girl, I’d never really noticed the gender statistics of the books I read. It wasn’t until much later that I realized how badly represented females are in genre fiction. I’m not referring to the presence of females in the stories, but how they are used.
I was introduced to a new term recently and wonder why I’ve never heard of it before, which is the idea of agency. Generally, it refers to characters having independent, personal action and motivations.
Fewer
female characters in sci-fi and fantasy have agency compared to their
male counterparts. A women’s part in a story invariably revolves around a
male, whether she is the goal, the inspiration, the thorn, the
follower, or
a source of melodrama. Often, she is the only female in her plotline
and she rarely has a chance to interact with other females in the story,
because her life revolves around the men. Often her weakness is an
excess of emotion, or she’s headstrong or childish, or she is strong but
secretly, or not so secretly, yearns for a man to dominate her. Things
happen to her and she reacts instead of taking proactive action.
Fortunately, as more females enter the field, that is changing and people are more sensitive, or careful about how females are portrayed in fiction. That is not to say that there weren’t strong female characters in the past, but nowhere near as many as men, which isn’t surprising since the stereotypical sci-fi/fantasy reader was young males. But that too is changing.
So, here are my top five list of books that had strong female characters that impressed me.
Menolly, Harper Hall Trilogy, Anne McCaffrey. Menolly was one of my first. I loved her spunk, her tenacity, her talent, and she could speak with fire lizards.
Meg, A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L’Engle. I loved how real she felt with her awkwardness and glasses, her defensiveness and insecurity because she never realized how wonderful she was.
Honor Harrington, Honor Harrington Series, David Weber. A kick-ass female military officer, brilliant leader who commands the respect of men and an influential politician. She has agency in spades.
Amanda Morgan (First, Second, Third), Childe Cycle, Gordon R. Dickson. For a series that is so predominantly male, the role of the three Amanda Morgans were amazing counterpoints to the Donal Graeme - Paul Formain - Hal Mayne trinity, giving a story that already had depth, even greater depth. I loved The Spirit of the Dorsai.
Do you enjoy science fiction? Who is your favorite female character?
Quick Summary of The Andromedans: Book Three of the Empire Series by Elizabeth Lang. Sometimes you have to lose yourself to find out who you really are.
After being kidnapped by a bounty hunter and getting mixed up with a band of rebels, Adrian and Kali are finally together. They find a quiet corner of the galaxy to live in peace and...who are we kidding...
Just when they think it's safe, the unthinkable happens. Adrian, a man who prides himself on the perfect mind, loses everything, forcing Kali to revisit what she is willing to do in order to save him, and this time the stakes are even higher. Not only does Adrian's life hang in the balance but the survival of two galaxies.
Just who are these Andromedans and why are they willing to go to such lengths to destroy us? What do they want with Adrian? And who is crazy enough to go to the Andromedan galaxy to rescue him?Buy onAmazon
About the author:
Elizabeth Lang is first and foremost, a geek with the obligatory love of science fiction and fantasy. She spent most of her life in the computer industry designing computer systems for world domination the mundane industry of life insurance, which is surprisingly, not as exciting as it sounds.
Now she creates enchanted worlds of magic, explores the human condition in the light of future technology and civilizations, and dreams about world domination. Or at least, some of her characters do.
Her first book, The Empire was fortunate enough to be a finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards and she has never looked back.
Author Social Media Webpage: www.elizabeth-lang.com Facebook: Elizabeth Lang Twitter: @Elizabeth_Lang Pinterest: Elizabeth Lang
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