Action Heroines

I don't think butt-kicking babes create an illusion of equality. If anything else, it re-establishes the existing inequality.

-- Professor Bettina Aptheker

At paranormal romance author Angela Knight's web site, under Books: Futuristics, there is a bit that looks interesting:

Warfem is a novella in the 2005 Berkley Kickass anthology that is set in the same future as Jane's Warlord.

Naturally I was intrigued, mostly, about the title. An implication that heroines are the "kick ass" type. So I did the net search, but all I could find were those Angela Knight interviews and a couple of references to Rebecca York and Angela Knight's Romance Bite [due out 5 August 2005]. I have to say that Kickass is a horrid title. Romantic Times has a theme page for "Chicks Who Kick Butt" [what's wrong with the idea of using this term "action heroines", for God's sake? Do we say "Dudes Who Kick Butt", uh?]. But Sherri does it better with her list of book recommendations: Female Warriors. Speaking of action romances, you might like Cathy Heath's Romances With Attitude for something different. According to Cathy:

Once upon a time, there was an age now long forgotten, the golden age of romance fiction magazines. From the 1920s all the way thru the 1940s, with titles like Love Story, Ranch Romances and Saucy Romantic Adventures, these popular "Pulps" sold by the millions, and set the stage for the romance novel industry we know and love today! Romances With Attitude continues that tradition, with romances done the good old fashioned way.

On the cover of the February 2003 issue, there is this bloke whose breasts are bigger than the woman next to him, which makes quite a scary sight. I won't even say a word about the cover of the Special Christmas issue. Four words: Get a decent designer. And the fifth: Please. The reason for all that? I overheard a good one on circle line tube today. My memory is crap, so as soon as I heard where she was heading with her speech, I scribbled it down in shorthand on the backleaf of a book. Argh, but I feel it's worth defacing the book. Although I was right there, sitting next to the woman, she didn't even notice [thank God]:

"In my home, my kids know I'm THE Empress. THE Queen. THE Goddess. THE daddyf****r of 'em all. What I say goes. If they are stupid enuff to stir sh*t with me, I'll make them so sorry they will wish they were never born. [at this point, I didn't catch what her friend mumbled] Yeah, yeah, they know at my house I'm the lordess of their universe. You gotta teach them when they are young or you're screwed for life."

Cripes. All that said, this blog entry at La Mancha is worth reading: Temporary Hero, which has the most fabulous opening line: "There are three lessons I learned about heroes from a very young age. My first teacher was Han Solo." I think Temporary Hero is one of most interesting blog entries around. BTW, while searching for lists of romances that feature action heroines, I found this old Salon.com article: Get your bodice-ripping hands off my genre! Which in turn reminds me of another unwittingly memorable article: Romancing the Happy Ending. *eyes roll* The net find of the day: A Few Thoughts on Romance. Be good, be bad & be safe.