Chicks with Swords: A Book Club discussion

I agree with the general outrage concerning the NY Times review of the HBO Game of Thrones adaptation. I am extremely offended by the idea that as a woman I would only be pulled into reading or watching fantasy for the romance aspect, one exaggerated solely to lure in my demographic.

That being said, I also consider myself a fan of fantasy, without necessarily limiting this to female authors or running it through a litmus test concerning the perceived strength of the female characters. I do not feel that, for example, Sansa Stark proved to be, in the end, any less of a woman for all her love of clothing, sewing, etc. than Arya with her love of sports and tomboy ways. I guess the distinction I am trying to make is that I was offended by the writer trying to put all women into a single category, but do not find anything wrong with the existence of or the women who inhabit that category. Am I completely out of sync with this group?

I agree completely, Denae. You're not out of sync with me!

Denae, I am with you 100%. I was offended that the author of the NY Times article that brought many of us together dared to suggest that we would only be interested in such a series if it had plenty of romancey goodness. I also think using Sansa and Arya Stark is a great example of two young women who found their strength at opposite ends of the spectrum and that is what I would love to explore with this book club.

Those are the types of discussions I'd like to have in this group. Character comparisons and contrasts, what constitutes feminine strength for different readers, what intrigues and draws us into the character and books we read.

The Chicks with Swords group title was really tongue in cheek after the discussion on ASoI&F group that brought many of us to this group. It seems a lot of us do enjoy high fantasy and as women (no high feminism intended,) relating to the female characters in the books we read feels like a natural part of the process.

I told my guy friend about this group and he thought Babes With Blades would make a good title. I thought Chicks in Chainmail would be a cute name. I am just disgusted about that review because I felt the author was basically saying the only reason women would like Game of Thrones is because of the sex and frankly, that isn't how i base if I like a fantasy book or not. I think in the past, fantasy literature has done a great disservice to women. There are a few authors who do write fantasy for women with good, strong, positive female characters ex Anne MCCaffrey, Tamora Pierce, and Mercedes Lackey and those are the authors I am going to read.

P.S. I think that if there are any guys who believe in our mission, they should feel free to join as well. After all, I don't feel our group should just be open to women.

Jayme(the ghost reader) wrote: "I told my guy friend about this group and he thought Babes With Blades would make a good title. I thought Chicks in Chainmail would be a cute name. I am just disgusted about that review because I f..."

Personally, I prefer most of my fantasy to not have sex stuff. Sure a scene here or there or some romantic tension between characters, but if I want to read a romance, I don't go to fantasy for that. I know where to find a romance novel! I used to read Conan comics all the time when I was a teenager and I wished there were more Babes with Blades and Chicks with Swords and Chainmail in the stories.

I agree with your P.S.

I agree with Jayme's PS as well. If there are men who like our mission, they should be free to join the discussion group.

Yup - as a teenage girl growing up in rural, small-town Canada, Lackey, McCaffrey, and Bradley changed the way I thought of being a girl. I went through a serious stretch of wanting to be a Renunciate :). WAY better stuff for a teenage girl to be reading than a lot of what my niece is into at the moment. I just lent her my whole Dragons of Pern collection.

I guess I missed all this hubub about the NYT article and the author of it. If I was paying attention at the time, I think my attitude would have been much as it is now, which is along the lines of, 'Who cares what some rando at the NYT thinks about anything?"

I will say, fantasy has definitely opened up to many women. Women have jumped into the video games and RPG's and anime conventions, and it should not be surprising that they are enjoying more and more content from books and video.

More power to them.

While all that is true, women do also bring a different set of interests to the genre which some cater to and some don't. Its a deep and vast sea and there is room for all of it. I dont mind reading Feyre getting on with her brooding and sometimes monstrous faye lord, and I dont mind if others would prefer an epic quest like Hobbits trying to destroy a ring with almost no women or romance in it.

Fantasy is about the human condition as well as the epic earth shaking stuff. No matter what happens in a world, women are a part of it. And I hope its written in way that they too will enjoy.

There is no accounting for individuals though. Everyone knows there is a wide array of who likes what, and does not like something else. None of that really matters to me.

I hope readers will like my book. I hope all of you will like it. But I get that some probably wont, and maybe just for personal reasons. That's just the world.

If you were to read my book and say, this is just what I want, a bad ass babe who kicks butt with a sword, I would be very pleased to have a cadre of women who enjoyed it. My books never really dive into smut, but there is a fair amount of romance scattered about. Romance is not the focus though...the epic quest, and the struggle to stand up to great evil is.

I don't care what the NYT says about it, or why anyone chooses to like it. I just want it to be something you liked. The NYT can go suck eggs.

I see below, all the Deed of Pakksenarion books on the bookshelves.

I'd like to add, Pakksenarion is a character my books have been compared to several times. If you enjoyed those, you will probably enjoy mine.

(Though I would like to say, I had not read those books until I was already four books in, Pakks was not in inspiration for the character. The true inspiration for my character came from many others, including people I knew, and things I grew up with. Some of the guiding characters were Joan of Arc, Samurai Jack, Superman, Xena... Pakks just was an unkown to me. But...I agree, there are some similarities.)