Formidable Female Protagonists in Science Fiction Part 5

May 142010

This week’s Formidable Female Protagonists contain one of my favorite protagonists, Nimisha. Its fun researching the list; I pick up new books to read all the time. I got 47 more protagonists to go, got six more last week. The females are carefully selected by me, their names written on paper, folded and put in one of two bowls, one for new-to-me and one for read-by-me. I then select four read and one new-to-me and write about them. I am open to suggestions for more females to include.

Margaret Bain – Seven of One (Sheri S. Tepper)
Jenny Casey – Cyborg Pilot (Elizabeth Bear)
Nimisha Boynton-Rondymnse – First Family Castaway (Anne McCaffrey)
Freya Nakamachi-47 – Soulful Machine (Charles Stross)
Nausicaä – Ecological Princess (Hayao Miyazaki)

Margaret Bain – Seven of One

Books: The Margarets (2007)
Author: Sheri S. Tepper
Publisher: Eos (Harper Collins) 2007
Genre: Science Fiction | Fantasy | Space Opera

Margaret Bain grows up a lonely child on Martian moon Phobos and as many such kids she has make-believe friends. The friends include a healer, a telepath, a warrior, a linguist, a queen and a spy who had different names and lived on different worlds. The difference is that her friends come alive as extensions of her personality at different times in her life.

When Margaret is nine Wilvia is the first to split off when she meets her future husband Prince Jozire.
At twelve, she is on earth and is granted a water ration while another one of her imaginary splits off is not granted a water ration. She becomes the foster daughter of the being known as the Gardener on another planet.
At twenty-two another split occurs and one Margaret is sold as a bond slave.
Another Margaret marries the man who loves her and goes to the colony world Bright.
One Margaret is a shaman
The lone male of the split becomes a warrior.

Full of fascinating characters and beautifully detailed settings, Tepper’s complex and multifaceted far-future SF novel follows the many selves of Mars colonist Margaret Bain on a mission to save the human race from annihilation.

Humanity got the eternal hatred of tha foul-tempered Quaatar a long time ago when some pre-humans stowed away on one of their survey ship. Now humankind is at the brink of self-destruction through overpopulation and ecological collapse. The farsighted Gentherans have taken up the human cause within the Interstellar Trade Organization, but as Earthgov struggles to conform to ISTO’s enforced sterilization laws while trading excess children for offworld water, the Quaatar continue plotting to destroy humanity.

Only Margaret, a secret organization called the Third Order of the Siblinghood and the truth behind an old Gentheran folktale can stop the genocide and give humanity a future.

[top]

Jenny Casey – Cyborg Pilot

Books: Hammered (2004), Scaredown (2004), Worldwired (2005)
Series: Jenny Casey Trilogy
Author: Elizabeth Bear
Publisher: Random House
Genre: Military Science Fiction | First Contact | Space Opera

Jenny Casey used to be a former retired Canadian special forces living in the hellish streets of Hartford, Connecticut. Earth is in shambles from environmental disasters. Jenny becomes a pawn in game of world dominance between Canada and China over being the first to reach the stars. In Hammered Jenny tries to survive, in Scardown she has to fly and in Worldwired she has to teach the aliens to talk with each other. The world is a bit noir and gritty as Elizabeth Bear likes to write.

Hammered

Jenny Casey is hiding from herself and the Canadian authorities in former USA. She is half metal since a war accident, now her metal half is acting up. And now her former handler wants her back so he sends her whacked out sister. Mix in an escaped AI and new technologies derived from alien space ships found on Mars and you have a very down to earth Space Opera. Jenny might be the only one that has the reaction time and the wiring to handle the new tech. But she will have to work for people she hates again and suffer another set of operations to replace her failing prophesies.

Scardown

For being about the world’s first FTL ship it’s a lot about earth and staying in orbit. More about the interesting alien tech is revealed in this novel. International tension rises as Canada and China race to be the first to fly faster than light. There are many aspects to this book. I like the ecological aspect and the aliens that comes to visit. I would hate to live in the world she paints, but it is very realistic.

Worldwired

The second book in the Jenny Casey Trilogy, Scaredown left the world on the brink of war just as the aliens arrived. World ecology is in scrambles after centuries of misuse and the PanChinese dropped a meteorite on Montreal, center of the Commonwealth since England sunk under the sea, causing further damage to an already fragile system. The world face a few years of darkness and cold before global warming kicks in with a vengeance. As a last resort Casey and company crashes one of the starships into the sea infecting the world with hacked alien nanites under the command of Richard, the AI.

Elizabeth Bear has an annoying habit of building up to a decisive point and then spending twenty pages talking about other stuff until you get any resolution. Otherwise it is good. It’s all good, it’s just frustrating sometimes. I think she does it just to tease us readers.

Wordwired is the final book in the Jenny Casey Trilogy, but I hope she will write more books in this universe and the people in it. The contact team tries to establish communication with the birdcage aliens and the shiptree aliens. Elizabeth has made up some really original aliens; I haven’t heard anything like the birdcage people before.

The AI’s Richard and his alter ego Andre try to save the planet from catastrophe while the sleazy political intrigue continues unabated. PanChina is responsible for the meteor hit on Canada and the Commonwealth wants them to pay. At the same time both countries are suffering from internal political conflicts. The Unitek Corporation play commonwealth against PanChina and uses the opposition in both countries to help. Unitek wants control of the alien nanotechnology.

Exellent series. Pity it’s over. Hmm, I need more books

[top]

Nimisha Boynton-Rondymnse – First Family Castaway

This is one of my favorite Anne McCaffre books, mainly because of Nimisha’s charming personality, her competence and the emphasis on friendship and romance. The first contact situation and how it is resolved is also quite attractive. If you are new to Anne and into gritty fast paced adventure you should maybe start with her Pern stories.

On Vega III, Lady Nimisha Boynton-Rondymense loves the challenging world of her father, Lord Tionel, owner and principal starship designer of the famous Rondymense Ship Yards. Precociously gifted, Nimisha becomes his secret assistant–and, in the aftermath of a shocking tragedy, his chosen successor at the helm of the Ship Yards.

When Nimisha takes an experimental ship on a solo test flight, something goes horribly awry, marooning her light-years from home on a planet as deadly as it is beautiful. Now the ruthless members of a rival branch of the Rondymense family are given the chance they’ve been waiting for: to reclaim the Ship Yards by any means necessary.

Only Nimisha’s ingenious child, Cuiva, stands in their way. But for how long? For just when her daughter needs her most, Nimisha is in a precarious situation herself–and unable to help. But Nimisha has never given up in her life–and she’s not about to start now . . .

[top]

Freya Nakamachi-47 – Soulful Machine

Book: Saturn’s Children
Author: Charles Stross
Publisher: Penguin
Genre: Science Fiction | Space Opera | Post human

Drunk on battery acid Freya consider jumping from the balcony of the pleasure palace floating in the stratosphere of Venus. It is the 200th anniversary of the extinction of her One True Love, the human race. Some bored Aristos stumbles on her there and take enough interest to start a fight. Annoyed and drunk Freya ripes the head off one of them. That particular Aristo take offence and promise to pay her back. Aristos is the name of the cruel slave owning class. Most of the robots are slaves and called arbeiters.

Freya is of a line of pleasure robots, the Rhea line that help each other out, they buy out indentured siblings and they also share memories of each other’s lives with memory chips. Freya has just put in Juliett’s chip and now she has to get off Venus before the aristo or his henchmen can find her. She is offered a job on Mercury that includes the travel there, she jumps on the opportunity.

After she lands on Venus and make the acquaintance of the sentient hotel she has a run in with some siblings of the offended aristo. Her new job turn out to be to work for the Jeeves Corporation as a courier carrying some organic matter in her womb, avoid the pink police (nice name), and deliver it to the recipient on Mars.

This is when it starts to heat up for her. She learns more about Julietta during her trip. There are enemy operators on the ship but she succeeds in avoiding them and the pink police. She is also more or less force-seduced by Aristo Granita Ford who turns out to be in league with the police.

The rest you have to read yourself.

This is another story about Freedom and self governance. It is thought provoking, action packed, seedy (at least some) and in an imaginative original world. I love it!

[top]

Nausicaä – Ecological Princess

Comics: Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind 1-7 (2004)
Author: Hayao Miyazaki
Publisher: VIZ Media
Genre: Manga

Manga isn’t exactly new to me but it’s not something I usually reads, Nausicaä comes well recommended so I think I can include one as a teaser.

Nausicaä (ナウシカ Naushika?, pronounced [na.uɕika]) is a fictional character from the science fiction manga and anime film Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind created by Hayao Miyazaki. Nausicaä is the princess of the Valley of the Wind, a very small nation with fewer than 500 inhabitants (and steadily declining in population). She is the eleventh child of King Jihl, and the only one to live to maturity. She is rarely seen without her Mehve or her companion, Teto the fox-squirrel. In the legends of Dorok, she is also called “The Blue Clad One”.

Nausicaa is the gifted teenaged princess of a small valley on a devastated far-future Earth, where a growing poisonous forest is threatening the last human settlements. As an excellent gunship pilot, she is drawn by an old alliance into a war between neighboring kingdoms. But the pacifistic Nausicaa is much more interested in exploring the secrets of the forest. This complex ecological adventure epic – a true comics classic – is the only extended manga work by renowned anime director Miyazaki (Spirited Away). His lush, detailed art, reproduced here in sepia ink, is more reminiscent of European artists such as Moebius than of most manga, but manga fans will be drawn into the story nonetheless. Highly recommended for teens and adults alike, this tremendous series belongs in every library.

[top]

Read Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | index | afterword

http://www.cybermage.se/formidable-female-protagonists-in-science-fiction-index/

Share|

10010 Top Military Science Fiction Series

Books 44 Responses »

Apr 212010

This is my totally biased list of the top military science fiction series of our time. These are the ones I found entertaining to read and reread. My focus is as always the characters and the wow moments. Thats why there is lots of space opera here. I have followed some of the authors here for decades others for just a few years. They are all good, the focus in there books lies on different things though.

I like binary counting it seems. Counting down from 10001 in seventeen steps.

Edit: I added RCN, which I love but forgot.

10010. RCN is about Captain Daniel Leary and his friend the formidable Adele Mundy and their military adventures aboard the Heavy Cruiser RCS Milton. David Drake rewrite historical battles and wars and make beautiful military science fiction out of it.The next Royal Cinnabar Navy book to come out is What Distant Deeps that will be out in September 2010. I read RCN 7: In the Stormy Red Sky about a year ago before I started doing reviews.

10001. Starfire Series – is built on a board strategy wargame about interstellar conquest. A survey fleet travels trough a previously uncharted wormhole and run into a hive-like speice called the Bugs, all communications attempts fail and the Bugs ambush the fleet and launch an invasion against the Terran federation and nearby powers. In the center of the series is the arms race with the bugs. Later in the series there are other opponents. Solid political and military technology world building if somewhat weaker in character building by David Weber and Steve White. The fifth book Exodus is written by Steve White and Shirley Meier.

10000. Confederation of Valor – is about the futuristic career of a non commissioned officer fighting aliens for the elder races in the alliance. There is a secret behind the scenes that are gradually revealed. The Protagonist Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr keep her space marines and and superiors alive. Tanya Huff writes good characters and the dialog is to die for. My reviews of the first four books, there is a fifth book The Truth of Valor coming out in september 2010.

01111. Jenny Casey - used to be a former retired Canadian special forces living in the hellish streets of Hartford, Connecticut. Earth is in shambles from environmental disasters. Jenny becomes a pawn in game of world dominance between Canada and China over being the first to reach the stars. In Hammered Jenny tries to survive, in Scardown she has to fly and in Worldwired she has to teach the aliens to talk with each other. The world is a bit noir and gritty as Elizabeth Bear likes to write.

01110. Major Ariadne Kedros – is a woman with a dark military past working as a surveyor. Her past catches up with her, both from old enemies and old friends. The world is built on Greek culture with the dominating race being the Minoans called so because they share symbols with the Greek. Temporal buoy’s play a significant part in the story as well as their weaponization. Laura E. Reeve is the creator of this resourceful and guilt ridden heroine. The third book Pathfinder is out this summer.

01101. Aldenata universe – Posleen War | Cally’s War | Hedren War – takes place in a world where an ancient race, the Aldenata uplifted a number of races, screwing them up at the same time. The only race not uplifted is the humans. When the galactic society is attacked by the ferocious Posleen there is a need for someone that can fight so they turn to the humans, who they fear almost as much as the Posleen. The O’Neal clan unite the different series. The redheaded feisty warrior princess Cally stands out together with her war hero father Mike. It’s John Ringo’s universe and he cooperate with Tom Kratman, Mikael Z. Wiliamson and Julie Cochrane there. This is also another example of a series where other races taking advantage of the human race’s ability to fight.

01100. Stellar Marines Universe – Heritage Trilogy | Legacy Trilogy | Inheritage Trilogy – is Ian Douglas Stellar Marines family saga. The Garroways fight in the sands of Mars to the Magellanic Cloud. Humanity is on the brink of extinction time after time as they fight the Xul, a galaxy spanning race of xenophobics. Built on ‘Hard science’. Ian Douglas is really a pseudonym for William H.Keith.

01011. Tour of the Merrimack – is about the finest battleship in Earth’s fleet and its crew.The series’ arc about how to deal with the ravenous Hive, a race of space traveling insects that devour all life they come across. In The Myriad the Mack was out looking for the Hive’s Home world when they stumbled on the time traveling aliens who eventually caused the universe to throw them into an alternative reality to avoid paradox. In Wolf Star the war between Earth and the New Roman Empire is going at full blast and Merrimack is in a deep strike mission behind enemy lines when they meet the Hive again and the Romans have to bow down and admit they need help. In the Sagittarius Command they go after the cause. I love Rebeca M. Meluch’s characters.

01010. Dahak Series – Earths Moon is in reality a gigantic camouflaged battleship who’s crew become the human race. This is discovered by a lone human astronaut that has to face the ancient ship’s computer Dahak. It’s not enough that he has to deal with mutineers that survived in Antarctica, he also has to do with an onslaught of hordes of genocidal aliens and traitors. David Weber is at his best in this awesome space opera

01001. Empire of Man – Prince Roger is a failure and a brat when his starship is sabotaged and he and his company of marine bodyguards has to land on the other side of an hostile planet and walk all the way to the star port on the other side. Wonderful four armed aliens, an epic journey and a prince that becomes a man and the soldiers that fights with him. Nice technological progression from stone age to space age. Written by John Ringo and David Weber.

01000. Lost Fleet - The Alliance has been fighting the Syndics for a century – and losing badly. Now its fleet is crippled and stranded in enemy territory. Their only hope is a man who’s emerged from a century-long hibernation to find he had been heroically idealized beyond belief . Captain John ‘Black Jack’ Geary’s legendary exploits are known to every schoolchild. Appalled by the hero-worship around him, Geary is nevertheless a man who will do his duty. And he knows that bringing the stolen Syndic hypernet key safely home is the Alliance’s one chance to win the war. But to do that, Geary will have to live up to the impossibly heroic ‘Black Jack’ legend. Victorious the final book in the series is out now in April. Written by Jack Campbell

00111. Seafort Saga - is built on C. S. Forester’s novels about Horatio Hornblower and written by David Feintush. The books are set in a future human society that is largely dominated by unified Christianity. The main protagonist is a naval officer who strives always to do his duty, both to the navy and to his God, at great personal cost. Beside the personal story there is an interesting race of fish like aliens central to the story.

00110. Kris Longknife – is about a formidable woman with a knack for getting in trouble and getting out. She is one of them Longknifes and if life wasn’t enough complicated being an officer in the navy, the society of humanity dissolve and her grandpa is named King making her a reluctant princess. The Peterwald family with their long standing grudge with the Longknife set up their own little pocket empire and starts to make life for Kris and her family difficult. Lots of humor, fantastic characters by Mike Shepherd. The next book Redoubtable will be out in November this year.

00101. The Vorkosigan Saga - is about Miles and his mother Cordelia Naismith. It begins with Cordelia’s military career and the unlikely love story between her and Miles father. Miles is crippled in vitro by an assassination attempt but grows up to a crippled formidable interstellar spy and mercenary admiral. Lois has modeled the series after Hortio Hornblower with a taste of Lord Peter Wimsey. The novels stand alone pretty well but benefit from each other. Another Miles novel, CryoBurn is coming later this year. Written by Lois McMaster Bujold.

00100. Safehold – is the world where humanity hides from extermination from the Gbaba, something went wrong thou, the leaders of the colony reprogrammed the colonists in cold sleep creating a medieval world ruled by the church and themselves as Angles. When a fraction tries to revive advanced technology they are ruthlessly exterminated by orbital strikes. 800 years later their second line of defense wakes up. Nimue Alban is an android with the mind and memories of a long dead starship captain. Her mission is to restore civilization and prepare Man for the inevitable re-encounter with the Gbaba. David Weber’s knowledge in history comes to life in this beautiful military saga. The latest novel A Mighty Fortress is out this April (it arrived April 20 for me).

00011. Family’s Regnant universe – Heris Serrano Trilogy | Esmay Suiza continuation | Suiza and Serrano - is about two formidable females Heris Serrano of an old navy family and Esmay Suiza of an old army family. Characters easy to love and formidable old ladies. Much of the driving force for conflict in this universe comes from longevity treatments. Those who get it and will live long life, those who fear the consequences or those who wont wait their turn. Elizabeth Moon is an amazing crafter of characters and worlds.

00010. Honor Harrington is about a competent man kind of military woman with an empath treecat called Nimitz that becomes the foremost military commander of her time battling expansionist empires and human slavers. She is called the Salamander because she thrives in the heat of battle. There are so far eleven books in the series that starts with On Basilisk Station and the next book Mission of Honor will be out this summer. The series is written by David Weber and the success so far have lead to two sub series Saganami and Wages of Sin. The first written together with Eric Flint.

00001. Old Man’s War start with protagonist John Perry joining the army on his seventy-fifth birthday and goes off to fight in The Colonial Defence Force where he meets the love of his life, fight aliens, become leader of a colony and in general make himself useful. I am afraid to tell you much about this series because I so enjoyed the surprise I got as piece after piece fell in place. John Scalzi is one of my favorite authors, I love his characters and his humor.

And before you say how could he miss Hammer Slammers, I didn’t. I tried to read them a couple of times but never really fell for it. Bolo is another ‘series’ that I considered but I feel its less a series and more of a loose concept even if i love them. I have probably missed some, because I haven’t read them, so as usual give me a comment, I love to get to know more military science fiction series.

Share|

Best Science Fiction Books of 2009

Books 1 Response »

Dec 312009

The Best of My New Books 2009

These are the best books i have read for the very first time in 2009. There was quit a few authors I discovered 2009, and many of them are already favorites. To mention some of them John Scalzi of course he is my favorite of the year, Jaine Fenn is another strong new author, Elisabeth Bear is much better than the covers of her books, Laura E. Reeve with her strong Greek influence and Tony Bellantyne with his robot series is novel to say the least. I don’t doubt for a second I have missed some of this years greatest new authors and books. I would love to read them if you tell me about them.

Old Man’s War Series by John Scalzi (Old Man’s War, The Ghost Brigade The Last Colony, Zoe’s Tale)
The Graveyard Book by Niel Gaiman
Storm from the Shadows by David Weber (Saganami 2)
The Anderoid’s Dream by John Scalzi
Mote in God’s Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
By Heresies Distressed by David Weber (Safehold 3)
Torch of Freedom by Eric Flint & David Weber (Wages of Sin 2)
Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross
The Dispossessed by Ursula Le Guin(Eukmen 5)
The Magicans’ Guild by Trudi Canavan (The Black Magician 1)
The Sidhe Series by Jaine Fenn (Principles of Angels, Consorts of Heaven)
Mothership by John Brosnan(Mothership 1)
Undaunted by Mike Shepherd (Kris Longknife 7)
The Coyote Series by Allen Steel
1632 by Eric Flint (Ring of fire 1)
Empire Series by Richard Allen Stotts (Midshipman, Heir to the Throne, Majesty, Acheon, Citizen of the Empire) – All are Free Online Books
Relentless by Jack Campell (The Lost Fleet 5)
Southern Vampires Series (1-9) by Charlene Harris the inspirationt to True Blood the TV Series
Seeds of Earth by Michael Cobley (Humanity’s Fire 1)
The Jenny Casey Series by Elizabet Bear (Hammered, Scaredown, Worldwired)

The Best Re-Read Books of 2009

Remnant Polulation by Elizabeth Moon - This is the best First Contact book I ever read. It might be the best book.
Honor Harrington Series (1-11) by David Weber
Kris Longknife Series (1-7) by Mike Shepherd

Interesting and Notable Books not on the list 2009

The Wess’har Wars Series by Karen Travis
The Merchant Princes Series by Charles Stross
Contact With Chaos by Michael Z. Williamsson
The Lost Xuyan Bride by Aliette de Bodard
Twisted Metal by Tony Ballantyne
Pushing Ice by Alastair Reynolds
Jennifer Government by Max Barry
Major Ariane Kedros Series by Laura E Reeve

Share|

Worldwired by Elizabeth Bear (Jenny Casey 3)

Books 2 Responses »

Dec 262009

The second book in the Jenny Casey Trilogy, Scaredown left the world on the brink of war just as the aliens arrived. World ecology is in scrambles after centuries of misuse and the PanChinese dropped a meteorite on Montreal, center of the Commonwealth since England sunk under the sea, causing further damage to an already fragile system. The world face a few years of darkness and cold before global warming kicks in with a vengeance. As a last resort Casey and company crashes one of the starships into the sea infecting the world with hacked alien nanites under the command of Richard, the AI.

Share|