Guest Post: Favorite Kick-Ass Heroines

Today I welcome Fiona Jayde,a fellow Samhain author. Her motto is "Action Adventure Romance"--you can already see why I like her! Without further ado, here's Fiona to talk about kick-ass heroines and why she loves them.

With my upcoming release Night Haven featuring a kickass heroine, I thought it would be fun to list some of my favorite kickass heroines: :-)

1. Buffy The Vampire Slayer – I rewatch Buffy every year. (Those of you who know me probably aren’t surprised) I love everything about Buffy – she fights and embraces her destiny, she is as strong as she is vulnerable, she can kick major ass and yet fall head first in love like the rest of us.
2. Faith The Vampire Slayer – unlike Buffy, Faith seeks redemption.In her past, she used her gifts to hurt people, and now she is paying the price. There’s always something vulnerable about Faith –hidden deep under the tough girl clothes and f – u attitude.
3. Lt. Kara Thrace AKA Starbuck from the re-imagined BattleStar Galactica: a kickass pilot, a smart mouth, a headstrong stubborn willful arrogant woman who is told she is the harbinger of death and is terrified that she just might fulfill that prophecy.
4. Sarah Pezzini from Witchblade (The TV show): I can’t say I ever read the comic version, but I loved Yancy Bulter in this role. A tough NY cop who relies on tangible facts to do the job, Sarah must learn to trust and control the Witchblade before the Witchblade can control her. We never know if the Witchblade is a gift or a curse, but I loved trying to figure it out during the run of the series.
5. Eve Dallas from J.D. Robb’s In Death series. I adore Eve – she is tough on the outside and trying really hard to hide her inner softie. My favorite In Death book is the second in the series (Glory In Death) where Eve has to admit her feelings for Roarke – and the struggle of accepting her own emotions is incredibly moving.
6. Lt. B’Elanna Torrez from Star Trek Voyager. Half Klingon and half human, B’Elanna always struggles between the dualities of her nature. I’m always fascinated by characters who in conflict with their own nature – and B’Elanna is the epitome of this struggle.
7. Max from Dark Angel, played by Jessica Alba. Here’s a heroine who was literally created to kick ass and look good doing it. I loved Max’s determination to discover her past, her abilities and her humanity while using her skills to help people.


To The Readers – who are some of your favorite kickass heroines and why?

About Fiona:

Fiona Jayde is a space pilot, a ninth degree black belt in three styles of martial arts, a computer hacker, a mountain climber, a jazz singer, a weight lifter, a superspy with a talent for languages, and an evil genius.
All in her own head.

In life, she is an author of kickass, action packed, steamy romances, possesses a brown belt in Tae Kwon Do and blue belt in Aikido, a web developer, scared to death of heights, loves jazz piano, can bench-press about 20 pounds — with effort, was taught English by Nora Roberts and Growing Pains, and when not plotting murder and mayhem enjoys steamy romance novels, sexy spy thrillers, murky mysteries and movies where things frequently blow up.

She can be contacted by emailing her at fiona [at] fionajayde [dot][com]

A different kind of guest post

If you've been paying attention, you've noticed I've been guest blogging all over the place.

Today I did another one, hosted by the lovely, talented and terrifyingly prolific Delilah Devlin. Only today's is a bit different. It has a link to my latest book, sure but I'm talking about Flags on the 48, a hikers' commemoration of 9/11/01, and a bit about 2020 Vision Quest, an inspiring non-profit founded by a friend, and a bit about changing the story you've been handed to something better.

Check it out.

Randy Pierce: Blind to Failure Video

Nothing to do with writing this time, although a number of books, from adventure to romance* to nonfiction** could be spun off from this story.

Randy Pierce: Blind to Failure Video

One of my real-life heroes, caught on film.

* Position of real-life heroine has been filled but that doesn't mean you writers of contemporaries can't invent your own story. It might be almost as good as the real one.

** I suspect he'll take care of that one himself. Yeah, he writes too.

Much Ado about Earl

We did not get a hurricane yesterday or even a proper tropical storm in this part of Massachusetts. Even the Cape and Islands, which had been bracing for trouble, got brushed rather than hit full on and, judging from the pictures I've seen, it turned into a party atmosphere. As people realized they were getting wild surf and rain, but not the fierce storm they'd feared, they headed out to the beaches.

I think it's windier here today than it got last night, and by windy I mean normal late summer/early fall occasional gusts.

But I can't deny that the passage of a hurricane, even well off the coast and much diminished in strength, affects me in a curious way. I was antsy, unable to focus on anything except reading, keyed up, ready to jump out of my skin. If Himself had been home, I'm sure I could have found an outlet for the restlessness :-) or we might have ended up joining the slightly mad people watching the surf. As it was, I picked up books and put them down, started projects and couldn't finish them, felt exhausted but couldn't contemplate sleep, read great chunks of a book review blog without absorbing much of anything or remembering to write down the titles of books that sounded interesting. When I finally went to bed, I tossed and turned restlessly, even though I'd finally headed upstairs around 1. Eventually, though, surrounded by cats, I passed out.

And woke up full of energy to bright, clear weather.

Any interesting Earl stories where you were? Not too interesting, I hope!