Fictional Sheroes or Heroes by Jenn McKinlay

 JENN McKINLAY: When I was a kid, I read for entertainment but also for escape. Adolescence is hard, ya’ll. 

My favorite stories were the ones where the female protagonists were for lack of a better description – total badasses. And, of course, if they had a sense of humor as well, they were top tier. This is probably why comic books appealed to me so much. 

I spent an entire summer deep in a female pirate phase where I was obsessed with Anne Bonny and Mary Read, who were real lady pirates, but there was a preponderance of fiction about them at the time (late 70’s/early 80’s) and my town librarian, Mrs. Schneider, tracked down every single novel she could find for me – Yay, librarians! 

I stopped needing to have the sword wielding, uber strong female leads as I got older – probably, a good thing as female pirate is likely a worse job than female novelist most days – and I thought I’d put that crushing on a character thing behind me when I started listening to Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir and I met Eva Stratt. In short, she’s in charge of saving the world and I love her, in fact, much like when I read about those amazing female leads of my youth, I found I wanted to be her. 

Here’s a snippet between Eva Stratt and Ryland Grace:

“I gasped. "Wait a minute! Am I a guinea pig? I'm a guinea pig!" (Ryland Grace, protagonist)

"No, it's not like that," she said. (Eva Stratt, awesomest heroine)

I stared at her.

She stared at me.

I stared at her.

"Okay, it's exactly like that," she said.”

― Andy Weir, Project Hail Mary

Isn’t she fabulous? Connecting with her was a feeling I hadn’t had since I was a kid and it made me remember the heroines who had struck deep chords within me – Meg Murry, Cassie Logan, Lucy Pevensie, Kit Tyler, Anne Shirley, Egwene al’Vere, and Nancy Drew – to name just a few.

So, Reds, it’s your turn. What fictional characters have spoken to you so compellingly in your life that you were inspired by them or wanted to become them? 

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: Lucy Pevensie, definitely! She stands by her story–she knows what she saw. Meg Murry, the best. 

Also, do you remember Donna Parker? Hardly literature, but I still think about the Donna Parker series.  She was very resourceful, and spunky, and her mother taught her “If you want something done well, you have to do it yourself.” Which, now, may not be quite true, but we know what Mrs. Parker meant. 

ANYWAY. Donna was a big planner, and she would think about whatever event she was planning (like the prom, or international day) the night before, and imagine it just before she went to sleep. She’d envision it, and then realize what needed to be done. (Coat racks! There are no coat racks!) I do that to this day. Thanks to Donna.

And here’s a snippet from Donna Parker, Secret Agent. 

“Look, Tommy!” Donna pointed to a corner of the paper. “Did you tack these to a drawing board when you worked on them?”

 Tommy shook his head. “Never. Why do you ask?”

“Look at these little holes in the corner. And they’re in the other three corners, too.”

 Tommy looked at her blankly. “Well, I didn’t put them there. What does it mean?”

“It means,” announced Donna, “That someone has tacked them up on something. And the only reason I know for that is so they can be photographed. Somebody wants a copy of these plans!”

Author "Marcia Martin" is no Andy Weir, and she never met an exclamation mark she didn't use, but she changed my life.

HALLIE EPHRON: Definitely Anne Shirley who was constantly getting herself into trouble. Only the first book, Anne of Green Gables. And none of the movies based on the books have been right. She was NOT pretty, and the movies have a hard time with that. And of course Dorothy Gale of the Oz books. And Booth Tarkington’s Alice Adams, first cousin to Eleanor Oliphant.

I also fell in love with Eloise, Kay Thompson’s cheeky little girl who lived a free-rein existence in the Plaza Hotel with Nana and a dog and a turtle, brought to life so indelibly by Hilary Knight’s illustrations. I read it and reread it, and traced Eloise’s route on the foldout map of the hotel. 

JENN: I loved Eloise!!!

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I never even heard of Marcia Martin,  Hank! Now I feel very deprived that I missed out on Donna Parker. I'm sure I'd have been a much more organized person.

 I never read Eloise, either, can you believe it? But Nancy Drew, of course. And Meg Murray was the absolute best. I devoured A WRINKLE IN TIME and all the books that came after–although I don't think any of them had quite the same impact. I loved Lucy Pevensie, too, although Susan was a bit of a stick. After that, my sheroes were the heroines in the Mary Stewart and Helen MacInnes books.

Jenn, I have Project Hail Mary on my Kindle. Moving it up the list!

HANK: Oh, Debs, I’m sure “Marcia Martin” is a made-up name.  It’s on the inside but not even on the cover! Anyone know?  (Oh, rats. I had to look it up. Her real name was Marcia Levin, and she died in 2006. :-(  )

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Jenn, I loved PROJECT HAIL MARY. Weir’s second book was a bit of a let down for me, but he came roaring back with this one.

My favorite childhood/teen heroines were the ones in Anne McCaffrey’s Pern novels, which have the feel of fantasy, but are actually carefully crafted science fiction, as the descendents of human colonists who settled on the planet Pern struggle thousands of years later with a biological menace -  acid spewing, soil destroying worms that fall from the sky. What stops the “threads?” FIRE BREATHING DRAGONS that people ride! Ah, yisss. The first in the series, DRAGONFLIGHT, centers on a heroine snatched up from her life as a drudge to test as a possible dragon rider - and who imprints on the newly hatched Queen, making her the de facto leader of the community. I think I was twelve or thirteen when I first read it, and the tale of Lessa fighting past her fear and anger to claim her power was straight-up heroin in my veins. 

Jenn: OMG, how did I forget? I was a total Pern head back in the day. LOL.

RHYS BOWEN:  I loved George from the Famous Five series when I was about ten. She wore shorts, ran wild and did everything boys could do. Also she and her cousins were allowed to go camping alone on uninhabited islands!  In my teens it was Arwen from the LoTR. In fact I tried to change my name for a time to hers. I loved that the elf women were not wimps!

LUCY BURDETTE: Aside from the often mentioned Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys and Cherry Ames mysteries, I remember loving The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, Caddie Woodlawn, and my very favorite, THE PINK MOTEL, also written by Carol Ryrie Brink. It's really a perfect prequel to the Key West foodie mysteries--just read the description from this old New York Times article and you'll see it would be a miracle if I hadn't written a quirky Florida series! (I just now noticed that Brink also wrote a book called The Highly Trained Dogs of Professor Petit. Isn't that a fabulous title?? Must go look it up...)

All right, Readers, it's your turn. What sheroes or heroes of fiction have you connected with as a reader? What impact did they have on your life?