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Unexpected Heroines
Why is it always the teenage girl who is the heroine? These are the stories of the female protagonists who are never cast into the feature films. The awkward, the old, the forgotten, the different. Their adventures were never meant to be. Their save-the-world expeditions shouldn't have happened. They are the ones who stepped forward when no-one else would. Our unexpected heroines.
Featuring stories by Gareth Lewis, Russell Hemmell, Lucy Stone, Lindsey Duncan, Richard Marpole, Lucy Hounsom, Jacey Bedford, Teika Marija Smits, SH Mansouri, Kevlin Henney, Christopher Stanley, Aleksander Cristea, Madison Estes, Keris McDonald & Gaie Sebold.
Featuring stories by Gareth Lewis, Russell Hemmell, Lucy Stone, Lindsey Duncan, Richard Marpole, Lucy Hounsom, Jacey Bedford, Teika Marija Smits, SH Mansouri, Kevlin Henney, Christopher Stanley, Aleksander Cristea, Madison Estes, Keris McDonald & Gaie Sebold.
- GenresShort Stories
268 pages, Paperback
First published September 17, 2021
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 13, 2022
This is an excellent anthology. Released on International Women's Day 2022, it celebrate heroines who aren't stick thin teenagers, hence the title.
The introduction to this collection notes that hero (from the Greek heros) "literally means 'protector' but is associated with warriors who pursued epic quests, fought brilliantly, and were often gifted with divine powers." Which is probably why Jonathan Gotschall's 2005 study The Heroine with a Thousand Faces: Universal Trends in the Characterisation of Female Folk Tale Protagonists the number of men who were main characters outnumbered the number of women by 2-3 to 1*.
Gotschall's study also noted that the few heroines whom we do read about are "overwhelmingly young: either 'sexually mature teenagers' or aged in their twenties. Only 8% of protagonists are aged over forty, whereas 40% of female antagonists were over forty. They were also far more likely to be described as attractive than their male counterparts.
What Unlikely Heroines sets out to do, therefore, is change things up, giving us older women protagonists, some of whom are not conventionally attractive, and some of whom are not even human (one is a tree, another is a Selkie - and while a Selkie woman may well be attractive, at no point is she described thus!).
Of the tales within this anthology, I particularly enjoyed Lucy Hounsom's 'Half Sick of Shadows' (a new take on 'The Lady of Shallot'), Gareth Lewis' 'The Tax Collector', Lucy Stone's 'Kate Crackernuts: A Re-telling of an Orcadian Fairy Tale', 'Delphine as Daedalus' by Teika Maija Smits, 'The Ajani's Sister' by Aleksander Cristea, 'The Cook's Wife' by Keris McDonald, and 'The Wind from the West' by Gaie Sebold.
But this entire collection is well worth your attention if you're looking for women who have seen a bit of life already but aren't yet ready to hang up their boots and settle in a corner by the fire to knit!
(*All quotes from the introduction to this anthology)
The introduction to this collection notes that hero (from the Greek heros) "literally means 'protector' but is associated with warriors who pursued epic quests, fought brilliantly, and were often gifted with divine powers." Which is probably why Jonathan Gotschall's 2005 study The Heroine with a Thousand Faces: Universal Trends in the Characterisation of Female Folk Tale Protagonists the number of men who were main characters outnumbered the number of women by 2-3 to 1*.
Gotschall's study also noted that the few heroines whom we do read about are "overwhelmingly young: either 'sexually mature teenagers' or aged in their twenties. Only 8% of protagonists are aged over forty, whereas 40% of female antagonists were over forty. They were also far more likely to be described as attractive than their male counterparts.
What Unlikely Heroines sets out to do, therefore, is change things up, giving us older women protagonists, some of whom are not conventionally attractive, and some of whom are not even human (one is a tree, another is a Selkie - and while a Selkie woman may well be attractive, at no point is she described thus!).
Of the tales within this anthology, I particularly enjoyed Lucy Hounsom's 'Half Sick of Shadows' (a new take on 'The Lady of Shallot'), Gareth Lewis' 'The Tax Collector', Lucy Stone's 'Kate Crackernuts: A Re-telling of an Orcadian Fairy Tale', 'Delphine as Daedalus' by Teika Maija Smits, 'The Ajani's Sister' by Aleksander Cristea, 'The Cook's Wife' by Keris McDonald, and 'The Wind from the West' by Gaie Sebold.
But this entire collection is well worth your attention if you're looking for women who have seen a bit of life already but aren't yet ready to hang up their boots and settle in a corner by the fire to knit!
(*All quotes from the introduction to this anthology)
Displaying 1 of 1 review