Fantasy authors with non-straight female protags and/or characters with development

[hawkwing_lb]

A list for my own convenience

Elizabeth Bear
Naomi Kritzer (second-world)
Kristopher Reisz (urban)
Mary Gentle (fantastical alt-hist)
Laurie J. Marks [?] (second-world)
Jane Fletcher (effectively fantasy with SF justification)
Phyllis Ann Karr (second-world)
Gael Baudino (medievalesque, second-world {?})
Catherine M Valente (fairy-tale)
Kim Harrison (urban, vampire!sex)
Tanya Huff (second-world)
Manda Scott (Boudica, fantastical historical re-imagining)
Jacqueline Carey (second-world, but fudging the lines to include her, really)
Mercedes Lackey (likewise, in a different fashion)


*counts*

So, fourteen authors. I've read works by nine of them. One is out of print, two only marginally fit the criteria of character-with-development, at least two are small press and damnably hard to find except online, and one has one of the most annoying casts of characters I've ever read.

And no, these sets don't overlap.

If I've missed someone - specifically fantasy, now, and with actual narrative arc for non-straight female characters - feel free to point them out.

Hmm. Now I'm tempted to ask the same question of science fiction, just for the purposes of comparison.

ETA 21-10-07:

I'm told I should add Elizabeth Lynn, Ellen Kushner (Privilege of the Sword) and Jo Clayton to the list.

So. Seventeen, then.

Comments

[gryphart.livejournal.com]

What about Kushner's The Privilege of the Sword? The female protagonist in that is non-straight.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Is she? I didn't read her as one way or the other, but I can be somewhat dense and lacking in memory at times.

[gryphart.livejournal.com]

I guess it could be sort of questionable, but (assuming I remember it correctly) she masturbates to two women kissing, kisses a woman, and seems to be far more emotionally fascinated by her female friend than the male one, so I thought the combination of those was intended to imply that she grew up to be either bisexual or a lesbian. I could be off-base, though, since it's certainly not explicit.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Point. I still don't take it as indicating anything one way or the other, beyond her being an adolescent, but I see where you're coming from.

I should probably put it on the list.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

Elizabeth Lynn, I think, though it's been YEARS since I read her. I seem to recall a couple of women who were lovers in one.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

*annotates list*

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

Jo Clayton (who is sadly no longer of this world). She had lesbian and bisexual characters of all genders. ;-)

[etumukutenyak.livejournal.com]

Definitely her stuff.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Right. *adds*

[aquila1nz.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty sure one of Tamora Pierce's later books has a main lesbian character (yep, seems to be Will of the Empress). I haven't actually read past the Alanna books.

Um, hi, I'm Aquila, and I've actually read Jane Fletcher.

More examples from lesbian small press publishing, all romance that rose from Xena online fandom - The Chosen by Verda Foster features the leader of an army of rebelling slaves who was raised as a man falling for the kings daughter. Faux medieval.

Future Dreams, and Present Paths by C.A. Casey. I also haven't read these.

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Hi, yourself.

I'll update the list. I've found a couple of other readable authors from the same publisher who publishes Jane Fletcher. It's occasionally a relief to read a novel with strong female characters where one is assured of a happy ending.

Thanks.

[aquila1nz.livejournal.com]

Well you can usually count on that with uber, it's practically a requirement, even if the cliches can get to be a bit much.

Here's a list of the lesbian fic I own, some of which I liked and some I don't - I've tended to buy whatever I can get hold of, here at the bottom of the world.
http://www.librarything.com/catalog.php?tag=lesbian&view=Aquila
I'd love to discuss any of them.

Incidentally Rangers at Roadsend is probably my favorite Jane Fletcher, maybe because it was the first one I read, online, as The Wrong Trail Knife. http://www.amazontrails.com/fiction/wrongknife1.htm

[hawkwing-lb.livejournal.com]

Thanks.