Speculative Feministas

In recent years I've been loving the feminist turn to YA and adult paranormal series. Especially books that turn the doomed heroine Twilightesque theme its head.

Note: The photo above is the opposite of what I'm talking about. I recently saw this cover in a used DVD store near me. Some merchandising exec decided it would be a good idea to take Katherine Bigelow's masterful and bloody vampire slasher, and market it as a Twilight watch-alike. Anyone who has ever seen Near Dark knows two things about it. 1) It contains one of B-Pax's finest performances as the sadistic Severin. 2) It is most decidedly not a Twilight watch-alike.

But I digress.

In the past few years, The Hunger Games, Divergent, and the whole dystopian genre have had their up and down swing. Now, we are seeing more kick-ass female heroes and feminist male protagonists throughout speculative fiction. Here are a few that I recently discovered or am currently reading.

The Awesome by Eva Darrows. Maggie Cunningham is a 17 year old apprentice monster hunter. Think Dean Winchester, if he were a teenage girl. All she wants is to get her Journeyman's license so she can go on more lucrative jobs with her endearingly foul-mouthed mother. The catch is that she needs to lose her virginity to do so. That whole vampire's frenzying for virgin blood thing. This is written from Maggie's first person POV and I heart her so much!

The Awesome reads like the plot of an 80s coming-of-age sex comedy, with Supernatural and True Blood thrown in for good measure. It was marketed as YA, but any paranormal fan with the slightest love of horror pop-culture will probably enjoy this.

Half-Resurrection Blues (A Bone Street Rumba Novel Book 1) by Daniel José Older. I've written about my love for this author before. But I just recently got to finish my audiobook of this novel, which I've been listening to in fits and spurts for the last year. It is fantastic! Read by the author, the narrative is intricate and heartfelt. Humorous in places and heartbreaking in others. And oh, the swagger!

Older writes protagonist Carlos Delacruz as a much put upon half-dead ghost hunter at the mercy of the bureaucratic Council of the Dead. The action is on point, but the most compelling part of the story is when Carlos falls for the mysterious Sasha. A swashbuckling female "halfie" that kicks as much if not more ass, than Carlos himself. It is a complicated and painful relationship that is at times cringe-worthy or heartwarming, but never boring. I cannot wait to continue the series!

The Epic Crush of Genie Lo by F.C. Yee. For all you mythology remix fans out there, I cannot recommend this book highly enough!

While there is a distinct presense of mythology based fiction out there right now between authors like Rick Riordan, Patricia Briggs, and Neil Gaiman, you don't often see Chinese mythology in the mix. This book is the perfect mix of a Buffy style superpowered high school student with traditional Chinese characters like The Monkey King, the Goddess of Mercy, and the Jade emperor.

Eugenia Lo is mostly concerned with getting into an Ivy League school until demons start showing up to tear apart her school. With the help of the arrogantly enticing new student Quentin, Genie must discover powers that she forgot she had. Then the battle for the fate of the world really begins!

The Zanna Function by Daniel Wheatley. I had the privilege of reading and reviewing this in advance of publication and it was another one that I started and finished in a day.

Zanna Mayfield is accepted to the prestigious St. Pommeroy's School for Gifted Children to become a Scientist. A human who can manipulate matter and space by altering the mathematical equations of everyday objects. On her first day, Zanna narrowly escapes a kidnapping attempt by a shady woman known as the Variable. Zanna must solve the hardest equation she knows in order to stay safe, her own.

This book is very much in the vein of Harry Potter and Percy Jackson, in the idea that a tween character discovers amazing here-to-for hidden powers. It incorporates science as a form of magic, which works surprisingly well. My favorite part though, is that while her relationships with others are important to the plot, it is Zanna's relationship to herself that is paramount.

Friday by Robert Heinlein. While this is by no means new (it was initially published in 1982), Friday is easily my favorite of the author's novels that I have read.

Friday Jones is a pansexual covert courier operating in a futuristic multi-global economy. She is plain speaking, open minded, brash, and deadly when needed. She is also an "artificial person". This book examines prejudice and the nature of humanity from so many perspectives. All while being poignant, sexy, and extremely funny.

Children of Blood and Bone (Legacy of Orisha) by Tomi Adeyemi. I'm currently reading this, so the verdict is out at the moment. But the concept is right up my alley. Magic, old gods, rebellion. 

I enjoy Adeyemi's voice so far. And this book is blowing up the boards on social media. So I have high hopes. Updates to come.