Go Fug Yourself Book Club discussion

So a friend and I are obsessed with finding the swashbucklingest swashbuckling heroes, who are of course daring but also generally perceptive, idiosyncratic, merry, charismatic leaders (or lone wolves) and almost always save the day/rescue the kingdom/are unveiled as the mysterious stranger/solve the puzzle/foil the plot/inherit their birthright, etc. Of course there are many anti-heroes and many pretenders and many times the best characters are only incidental to the story (hello, Falstaff.) But for my money, I'd defend:

- Sir Francis Crawford of Lymond, author Dorothy Dunnett
- and, to a lesser extent, Niccolo, also by Dorothy Dunnett
- Erast Fandorin, author Boris Akunin
- Julian Kestral, author Kate Ross
- Jack Shaftoe, author Neal Stephenson

why are there no women on my swashbuckler list? that's lame.

Five words: James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser.

is he the Gabaldon guy? I tried those, but couldn't make them work for me. Lovely descriptions of Scotland, though.

Here are a couple of women for the list! Phèdre nó Delaunay from the Kushiel's Legacy series by Jacqueline Carey and Althea Vestrit from the Liveship Traders series by Robin Hobb.

Also, any swashbuckling hero list has to include Edmond Dantès from Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo.

I'm sure I will think of more...

Michelle wrote: "Five words: James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser."

YES!

Oh, yes, Althea is great! I'm actually not really big on swashbuckling heroes/heroines, so I occasionally wanted to shake her, but she's such a great character. The whole Robin Hobb series (starting with Assassin's Apprentice) is wonderful.

ah! i'm not familiar with this Althea, so she is now my number one purchase (when I get paid next week.) And of course, no list is complete without Edmond Dantes. Holy crap, he's awesome. As is Ivanhoe, and also The Scarlet Pimpernel….the swashbucklers I read about in my youth certainly set a high bar.

I read a couple of the Kushiel books and I do like the idea of her being a clever spy, but is a clever spy a swashbuckler in the same sense? Certainly she qualifies as a brave heroine, and quick-witted.

No, I agree, Phédre probably does not quite fit the category (I was stretching for females), but she is pretty badass. The Liveship Traders series (as well as Hobbs' related series) have LOTS of swashbuckling characters.

If you like paranormal steampunk, Gail Carriger's main characters are some pretty swashbuckling women. And if you like science fiction, Catherine Asaro (who's a scientist and a ballerina and a singer, which is fab), has a galaxy-spanning saga of this Very Large star-crossed royal family that buckles all kind of swash - the men and the women. :)

Michelle wrote: "Five words: James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser."

AMEN SISTA!!

I loved, LOVED Jamie and the Outlander books, but around Book 5, I went off the series.

And for swashbuckling heroes, I'll nominate a few polar opposites: James Mallory, in Johanna Lindsey's "Gentle Rogue" and Sydney Carton in Dickens' "Tale of Two Cities."

I recommend the Outlander series, but always tell people to stop after the third one. Those three make a nice trilogy and the rest just get longer and more complex with smaller and smaller payoffs.

If interested in Spies who happen to be dashing sort of swashbuckling you should check out the Pink series by Lauren Willig, the first of the series is "The Secret History of the Pink Carnation." They are time jump historical romance novels and the hero of the first book is everything a spy during the Napoleonic wars should be.

I would add Aragon, son of Arathorn, once he comes to grips with his heritage and takes the Paths of the Dead. Yes, I've been in Middle Earth lately.

totes down with Aragon (even before Viggo! though he was perfectly cast, IMO) and thanks for the recommendation about the PInk series….I've seen that a couple times in convos on here now and I think that's enough to convince me to try it!

Sydney Carton! Interesting. That was the book that made me LOVE Dickens, when we had to read ToTC in high school: but I don't think I've read it since then. Shameful oversight!

Oh--Francis Crawford--YOU RUINED ME FOR OTHER MEN

Athabasca wrote: "Oh--Francis Crawford--YOU RUINED ME FOR OTHER MEN"

He really did.

Vesper Holly, of The Illyrian Adventure et al. I wanted to name my daughter Vesper, but my husband put the kibosh on it.

Kate wrote: "Vesper Holly, of The Illyrian Adventure et al. I wanted to name my daughter Vesper, but my husband put the kibosh on it."

I freaking love the Vesper Holly books. The library I work at doesn't own them and I am often tempter to harass my boss about this fact. They're so charming, and Vesper is awesome.

Karen wrote: "If interested in Spies who happen to be dashing sort of swashbuckling you should check out the Pink series by Lauren Willig, the first of the series is "The Secret History of the Pink Carnation." T..."
I absolutely agree! Such a fun series! I had a crush on the Scarlet Pimpernel from my high school days in french class. Lauren Willig is one of my favorites! Great character development and interesting stories related to what was happening in history.

Michelle wrote: "Five words: James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser."

ALL OF THE YESES.
I have read the first five books so far, and I will read all of them, even if she writes 60 of them and they are all 3,000 pages each. I just love him so.

Michelle wrote: "Five words: James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser."

YESYESYESYES. Is it August 9th yet? (Also I am reading Written in My Own Heart's Blood right now and it's soooo good.

Michelle wrote: "If you like paranormal steampunk, Gail Carriger's main characters are some pretty swashbuckling women. And if you like science fiction, Catherine Asaro (who's a scientist and a ballerina and a sin..."

Yes! Her YA books are super fun, too!

So I have a story for Lymond fans. I was teaching in Dayton while I scrambled to finish my dissertation, and as I was leaving Kinko's with all my diss copies to mail, I heard on the radio that Dunnett was reading in town THAT NIGHT--it was when the last Niccolo book came out. So I drove straight there. It was INSANE. The bookstore was packed with sixty-ish women in mom jeans and cat sweatshirts (yes, it was Dayton) who hung on her every word and talked about Lymond as if he were real. They had come from Kentucky and Indiana, too. A handful had brought their husbands, whose job was to clearly to take photos of the wives as they went through the line, but it was clear that Lymond was the main man in everyone's lives. And as we went through the line it also became clear that Dunnett already knew half these women--I guess she was an early advocate of online connections with readers (this was 2000, about a year before DD died). One young woman broke down in tears while she and Dunnett talked about her (the girl's) reconciliation with her father, which Dunnett somehow facilitated. Anyway, apparently there are annual DD gatherings all over the world, and group tours to locations in the books, and all kinds of other Trekkie-level fandom activity. It sounds really interesting.

Needless to say, it took a long time to get my books signed. Totally worth it. And now I may need to pull "Game of Kings" out again for my beach week this summer.

(ElizabethT)

I'm throwing in for Captain William Laurence from Naomi Novik's Temeraire series. He fights Napoleon and rides a dragon - what's not to like? There are plenty of swashbuckling side characters of diverse gender, sexuality, and race.

Also: dragons.

Elizabeth wrote: "So I have a story for Lymond fans. I was teaching in Dayton while I scrambled to finish my dissertation, and as I was leaving Kinko's with all my diss copies to mail, I heard on the radio that Dunn..."

Ha! that is awesome, and I'm so glad you got your book signed. I didn't catch on to Dunnett until after she was already gone, and discovering that deflated my euphoria about the Lymond and Niccolo books somewhat, since there would be NO MORE (that was before I found the Dolly books, but those were a poor substitute, much as I enjoy them….) O, DD, you might have been the smartest, cleverest friend I never met.

Sir Harry Flashman.

Andre-Louis of Scaramouche immediately came to mind...though it's been ages :P

Michelle wrote: "Five words: James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser."

I'll add my voice to the chorus for Jamie.

And in case you all haven't seen this: "The premium network plans to make the premiere available free online one week before its planned series launch date. The first Outlander episode will be put online Aug. 2, with the series premiere on Starz as planned Aug. 9. The first eight episodes of the 16-episode debut season will air over eight consecutive Saturdays through September 27."

Captain Corsair from Meljean Brook's Heart of Steel. She's a ruthless sky-ship captain who will not hesitate to throw your ass over the deck of her ship in the middle of zombie-infested Europe if you try to undermine her command. She also loves HARD when she lets herself (which is why she doesn't let herself).

Also, Grayson Findley from Jennfier Ashley's The Pirate Next Door. He's an ex-pirate turned peer of the realm who's trying to be respectable... but he's not that great at it. He can't manage to button his shirt higher than his waist (YESSSSSSSS) very often, is not afraid to bare his naked butt cheeks for all to see if it means he gets to sex up his hot widow neighbor, and is totally raising his preteen daughter in pirate style.

I'm casting a vote for the main character, Jaron, in the Ascendance Trilogy by Jennifer A. Nielsen. Fast paced adventure tales with danger, romance, and a hero worth following.

Ah...Lymond and Niccolo...
How about Captain Cordelia Naismith from Bujold's Vorkosigan books for a female swashbuckler? And for what it's worth Miles Vorkosigan is a pretty swashbuckling hero on his own.

Anne wrote: "Ah...Lymond and Niccolo...
How about Captain Cordelia Naismith from Bujold's Vorkosigan books for a female swashbuckler? And for what it's worth Miles Vorkosigan is a pretty swashbuckling hero on h..."

Love Cordelia, love Miles, love Aral, love Ivan, love these books.

I was hoping there was a book based on the movie Nate & Hayes, because they are two of my favorite swashbuckling heroes. Sadly, it appears to only be found in a collection called The Final Folly of Captain Dancy, which was written after the movie.

Chiming in WAY late, but I've been dying to read Kushiel's Dart. Only it looks really involved and I just don't have the brain power at the end of the day.

I'm all aboard Outlander, though.

I travel a lot for work and I cannot thank you all enough for these recommendations- they are literally saving my life!