Garage Sale tomorrow

[pegkerr]

Am exhausted and covered with dust; have been hauling stuff up from the basement for our two-day garage sale which starts tomorrow. This has been a traumatic experience as Rob and I have vastly different opinions about what we should keep versus what we should pitch or sell. If I wasn't married to this man, I'd probably own about a third to a quarter of what I own now.

Started reading another novel today, a first novel. Unfortunately, it starts with a trope that I've really come to hate. So many fantasy novels starring a female protagonist open with 1) a group of thugs rapes the heroine and/or destroys her home and kills her family, and she spends the rest of the novel acquiring magic so she can get revenge or 2) a group of thugs almost rapes the heroine and/or destroys her home and kills her family, but she fights them off with her superior magical powers.

In this one, she fought 'em off. Well, the hero helped. I rolled my eyes when I got to the part about his silver wolf-like stare.

I want to read more novels that get the female protagonist moving without a sexual threat. Please: think of other reasons for women to go out and have adventures.



heidi8 pointed me to this article about the world of fan fiction. Quite interesting.

Peg

Comments

[ex-mahoney365.livejournal.com]

>>>I want to read more novels that get the female protagonist moving without a sexual threat. Please: think of other reasons for women to go
out and have adventures. <<<

This is sort of why I've fallen off the fantasy genre, myself. I hope you'll post if you run across a fantasy novel with a strong heroine who takes initiative to be the heroine, rather than simply reacting (if that makes any sense). Actually, the only fantasy heroine I really love any more is Terry Pratchett's Granny Weatherwax. :P

Do you enjoy mystery novels? Elizabeth Peters has crafted a couple of wonderful heroines. Peters studied archeology, and has written non-fiction texts on ancient Egypt, and her mystery protagonists reflect Peters' frame of knowledge. I prefer her Vicky Bliss novels; Kathleen Turner reads them on audio books, and I only mention that because Kathleen Turner is perfect as art historian Vicky Bliss. Don't be misled by her name; Vicky rocks. Peters has also written a very long series starring Englishwoman/archeologist Amelia Peabody. That series begins in the mid-1800's, is written in a sort of tongue-in-cheek style harkening to pulp fiction of that era, and is set mainly in Egypt.

Jan Burke's Irene is also a nifty heroine. And of all of Dorothy Sayers' Peter Wimsey mysteries, my favorite is Gaudy Night, in which Wimsey's eventual wife, Harriet Vane, takes center stage (the story is told from her perspective, and she solves it with minimal help from Wimsey who is mostly absent).

Mahoney
also in search of good female protagonist

I love Elizabeth Peters!

[pegkerr.livejournal.com]

Although I haven't read too much of her work, only a few of the Amelia Peabody's--but I will always appreciate her for writing Die for Love.

Re: I love Elizabeth Peters!

[ex-mahoney365.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, Die for Love is good!

You should give the Vicky Bliss novels a try. I'm partial to those in which John Smythe appears (my favorites are Trojan Gold & Night Train to Memphis), but in order:

Borrower of the Night
Street of the Five Moons
Silhouette in Scarlet
Trojan Gold
Night Train to Memphis

I'd wax appreciative about what a wonderful character (and heroine) Vicky is, but Netscape keeps shutting down, and now that I'm trying to post this darn comment for the fourth time, it's almost time for me to leave for the day...