Top 5 Wednesday: Favorite Villainess

Top 5 Wednesday is a GoodReads group where people discuss a different bookish topic each week.

Last year we talked about our favorite villains, so let’s give the ladies some love and feature our favorite villainess’ in fiction! The topic was for last week, but better late than never.

1, Dark Phoenix from the X-Men comics

In the original Dark Phoenix saga, one of the X-Men, Jean Grey, is possesed by a cosmic entity which is almost all-powerful. In the end, the power is too much for Jean and it corrupts her. We readers know Jean and (presumably) like her a lot, so it’s heartbreaking to see the team try to take down one of their own. Jean’s personality comes to the surface a couple of time and she begs for the others to kill her before she can hurt anyone.

2, Mystique from the X-Men comics

In the movies, Mystique was made into a hero. But in the comics, she’s ruthless, determined, and selfish. When it suits her own ends, she’s can work with the police or the heroes. She’s determined and ruthless. She’s also Rogue’s loving mother and in a devoted relationship with a woman.

3, Catwoman from the Batman comics

Selina Kyle makes a point of never killing anyone. Yet, she enjoys both the money and the thrills she gets from heists. She’s attracted to Batman but not enough to give up crime. At least in the main timestream. There are a couple of alternate universes where Bruce and Selina are together.

4, Jadis the White Witch from the Lion, the Witch, and Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis

The White Witch was responsible for keeping Narnia is forever winter but without Christmas.

5, Drusilla from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Drusilla first appared in the second season of the show. She’s a vampire with the gift of foresight. She’s also insane and enjoys tormenting people before killing them.

 

Top 5 Wednesday: Books with Robots or Futuristic Reads

It’s National Robotics Week! To celebrate, what are some books you would recommend that have robots or are futuristic/techy reads?

Science fiction is one of my favorite genres but I haven’t read much about robots. There are far more androids, cyborgs and artificial intelligences in the books I’ve read. Here are some of my favorites:

1, A Psalm for the Wild-built by Becky Chambers

In this novella, a robot is one of the two main characters. Splendid Speckled Mosscap hasn’t met a human before so he’s very excited when he finally meets one. The human wants solitude but the robot tags along with their travels.

2. All Systems Red by Martha Wells

The main character calls itself Murderbot. It’s a Security Unit, SecUnit, who is an android with both mechanical parts and cloned biological parts. It’s designed for security on various sites. Despite the fact that it’s (it doesn’t have gender nor sexual parts) clearly a thinking and feeling being, legally it’s the property of the company and not a person.

3, Metamorphosis by Jean Lorrah

I can’t have a list like this without Data from Star Trek: TNG. He’s a fine side charater in many novels but I think he’s the best in the show, especially in episodes centered on him. Still, Metamorphosis focuses on Data and also makes him a human for a short while. It’s an interesting idea and really depends on the reader on how successful it is.

4, Lock In by John Scalzi

In this book, some people have a disease called “lock in”. They’re fully aware but can’t move. So, they have neural implants which allow them to take over a robot body or interact with each other in a virtual world. The main character Chris Shane is an FBI agent working in a robot body.

5, Avengers Epic collection vol. 4: Behold the Vision

Another of my long-time favorite androids is the Vision from the Avengers, especially in the 80s and 90s when he was married to the Scarlet Witch. I didn’t care for his emotionless version (one of John Byrne’s rare missteps) but Kurt Busiek brought his personality back almost to what he was. I also really enjoyed Paul Bettany’s version of him in the movies. (Disney, I know you can bring him back. We’ve waited long enough…)

 

Top 5 Wednesday: Favorite Caretakers

Top 5 Wednesday is a GoodReads group where people discuss a different bookish topic each week.

This week’s topic is favorite or best healers. Healers are often side characters unless the story is set in a hospital. Indeed, in comics a doctor often appears just to heal someone. However, loner heroes often need a caretaker who reminds them to eat and sleep in addition to patching them up after a fight. These are some of my favorite caretaker characters.

1, Maid Marian

In many retellings of the Robin Hood mythos, Maid Marian and Friar Tuck take the caretaker roles.

2, Mender from Elfquest

The Elfquest comic has a couple of remarkable caretakers: the healer Leetah and the gentle plant-shaper Redlance. But I just adore younger Mender whose magical talent is healing but he’s also a warrior. And he’s very charming, too.

3, Alfred from Batman

When Batman gets hurt, his butler Alfred Pennyworth nurtures him back to health. Alfred also tries to make sure that Batman eats and sleeps enough and doesn’t skip all of his social engagements.

4, Penric by Lois McMaster Bujold

Penric was already a gentle soul when he bonded with the demon Desdemona. So, Penric already wants to help people and solve their problems. With Des he can also heal people, although with difficulty.

5, Aragorn by J. R. R. Tolkien

Aragorn is the son of kings so he can use the herb Athelas to heal people. Others consider it just a weed.

 

Top 5 Wednesday: Gal Pals

Top 5 Wednesday is a GoodReads group where people discuss a different bookish topic each week.

Seeing romances unfold in a beautiful and breathtaking way is always wonderful, but today let’s take some time to talk about those beautiful girl friendships in fiction! Who are five “gal pals” you would love to talk about and share how wonderful they are to others?

1, Black Canary

Dinah Laurel Lance is an experienced superheroine and supports her teammates, both male and female.

2, Oracle

Barbara Gordon, the former Batgirl, formed a team of female superheroes, the Birds of Prey. While Black Canary was the founding member, Barbara took the Huntress under her wing.

3, Storm

Ororo Munroe is best friends with Jean Gray and she supported Kitty Pryde when she join the X-Men. They are still best friends.

4, Power Girl and the Huntress

In the Worlds’ Finest published 2012, Power Girl and the Huntress are from Earth 2. They managed to escape moments before it was supposedly destroyed. However, they’re looking for a way back. They’re strangers in this world and support each other.

5, She-Hulk

Jennifer Walters has lots of friends among her fellow Avengers, such as the Wasp and the Hellcat.

 

Top 5 Wednesday: Married Couples

Top 5 Wednesday is a GoodReads group where people discuss a different bookish topic each week.

Happy National Marriage Week! For today’s prompt, we’re celebrating our favorite married couples in fiction! These could be couples who are already married right from the start, couples who get married later on, or maybe even married couples who are more of “background characters” but we still love nonetheless.

I like established couples. Many, many books and comics have starting romances so I appreciate all couples.

I’m less familiar with DC so most of my favorite married couples in comics are from Marvel:

1, Rogue and Gambit

They were married a few years ago after far too many years of an on-again off-again relationship.

2, Reed and Susan Richards

They are the heart of Fantastic Four.

3, Spider-Man and Mary Jane Watson-Parker

I really enjoyed the too brief years they were together.

4, Cyclops and Phoenix

One of the most iconic marriages ever.

5, Superman and Lois Lane

Another iconic relationship.

 

Top 5 Wednesday: Favorite Genre(s)

Top 5 Wednesday is a GoodReads group where people discuss a different bookish topic each week.

September 13th: Favorite Genre(s)

I think almost every reader has a certain genre they gravitate towards and super enjoy. For today’s prompt, share five books that reflect the genre (or genres if it’s hard to narrow it down to one!) you absolutely love reading and can’t get enough of!

It is hard to choose the genre I enjoy the most. But today I chose fantasy in all the various subgenres.

1, Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire

The Toby Daye series is set in modern day San Fransisco was well as in the faerie realm. Toby is a half-blooded fae. She’s also a knight in the service of Duke Sylvester Torquill of Shadowed Hills and in the human world she’s private detective. The series starts with Toby at her most lowest.

2, The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

Irene Winters is a junior Librarian in the Library which exists between alternate worlds. Her mission is to save books from various worlds. To do that, she often has to use cover identities and get into places where she shouldn’t be.

3, Jhereg by Steven Brust

Vlad Taltos is a human in a world where humans are second-class citizens. The Dragaerans, the elves of this world, are the rules. Vlad’s father managed to buy them a seat in one of the noble houses of the Dragaerans. That house, the Jhereg, are the quivalent of mafia. So, Vlad is a crime books and occationally an asassin.

4, City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett

Bulikov and Saypur: two cities which inhabitants hate each other with passion but which are linked by the past, present, and mostly likely by the future as well. Shara Thivani from Saypur arrives to Bulikov to find out who has murdered her dear and respected friend Dr. Efrem Pangyui. Shara is also a spy to the Saypur government.

5, Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett

I enjoy almost all of Pratchett’s humorous fantasy books, but the Witches are my favorites. This one is a riff on Hamlet. Our trio of witches are Granny Weatherwax, Nanny Ogg, and the young Magrat Garlick. Nanny has a large family and is rather easygoing while Granny is one of the most experienced witches alive and the “most highly regarded of the leaders, of [whom the witches] don’t have”. Magrat is a new witch who is trying very hard to impress the others.

 

Top 5 Wednesday: Need to Finish Collecting

Top 5 Wednesday is a GoodReads group where people discuss a different bookish topic each week.

Anyone else get behind on keeping up with releases? You’re really excited for a series you’ve been reading, but then suddenly this other series pops up and you’re so deeply invested in that one you forget about the other releases you planned to pick up in the first place! LOL! Or maybe you’ve had some of the series on your shelf for a long time, but just haven’t gotten around to getting the rest of the series. Regardless of which reason it may be, what are some series you need to finish collecting?

Yes, I do get behind. A lot. Here’s just the tip of the iceberg:

1, Steven Brust: Tsalmoth

The sixteenth book in Brust’s fantasy series has come out! I’ve throughly enjoyed the rest of the series so I need this one, too.

2, Lois McMaster Bujold: the Assassins of Thasalon

The only full-lenght book in the novella series about the scholar/doctor/sorcerer Penric and his demon Desdemona.

3, Genevieve Cogman: the Untold Story

The final book in the very entertaining Invisible Library fantasy series. I don’t want it to end!

4, Jasper Fforde: Something Rotten

The fourth book in the delightful Thursday Next humorous fantasy series.

5, Seanan McGuire: the Unkindest Tide

The thirteenth book in the wonderful October Daye fantasy series. She’s also written quite a few short stories in the series and I want to read them, too.

 

Top 5 Wednesday: Girl Bosses

Top 5 Wednesday is a GoodReads group where people discuss a different bookish topic each week.

There are those female characters who absolutely slay in situations where other characters may try to knock them down. But these girl bosses won’t have any of it! Every time they may try to get knocked down, they outsmart or beat those at their own games. Who are some of your favorite girl bosses in fiction?

It was very hard to choose just five.

1, Modesty Blaise by Peter O’Donnell

Modesty used to run a criminal organization, the Network, before retiring at 25. Sometimes she works for MI5 but usually, trouble just finds her.

2, Phryne Fisher by Kerry Greenwood

Phryne is a flapper in 1920s Melbourne. She enjoys driving fast cars and flying fast planes. She takes crap from nobody.

3, Amelia Peabody by Elizabeth Peters

Amelia is an independent woman and an amateur archeologist in Victorian England. She and her husband solve murder mysteries while digging in Egypt.

4, Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan by Lois McMaster Bujold

She used to be the captain of an exploration starship. Even when she lives on a planet where women are supposed to be only wives and mothers, she makes her own rules.

5, The Boss by Kristine Kathryn Rusch

The Boss (whose real name we never find out) dives into old spaceship wrecks. She prefers to work alone. However, sometimes she needs a team and then she’s in charge.

 

Top Five Wednesday: Platonic Friendship

Top 5 Wednesday is a GoodReads group where people discuss a different bookish topic each week.

“Friendship is worth celebrating.” While many of us may love romance, let’s take some time for today’s prompt to feature some of our favorite non-romantic friendships we’ve read about in fiction!

Luckily, there are a lot to choose from:

1, Miles Vorkosigan and Ivan Vorpatril by Lois McMaster Bujold

2, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

3, Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee by J. R. R. Tolkien

4, Fafhard and the Grey Mouser by Fritz Leiber

5, Temeraire and his Captain Will Laurence by Naomi Novik

In comics:

1, Modesty Blaise and Willie Garwin by Peter O’Donnell

2, Kitty Pryde and Ororo Munroe by Chris Claremont in the X-Men

3, Oracle and the Black Canary from DC’s Birds of Prey

4, Cutter and Skywise from Elfquest

5, Spider-Man and the Human Torch by Marvel

 

Top Five Wednesday: Books Written by Women

Top 5 Wednesday is a GoodReads group where people discuss different bookish topic each week.

Happy International Women’s Day! To honor today’s holidays, feature five books that have been written or co-written by female authors!

Some of my favorite books and series have been written by women. Today, I’m going to highlight writers I haven’t talked about much but whose books I’ve enjoyed.

1, Murder in the Place of Anubis by Lynda S. Robinson

Who has dared to desecrate the sacred place of embalming with a murdered corpse? Pharaoh Tutankhamun orders Lord Meren, his chief investigator, to find out quickly, before power-mad priests use the incident to undermine his royal authority.

Everyone is a suspect, for the body belongs to the notorious scribe Hormin, hated by all who knew him. However, Lord Meren is no mere courtier but the Eyes and Ears of the living god. In the terrifying Place of Anubis, where unquiet spirits dwell, in the sunstruck city of Thebes, where Hormin’s sons and his beautiful concubine plot, and in the royal court, where intrigues abound, Lord Meren hunts his quarry, peeling back the secrets of nobles and slaves in his quest for the truth.

But more important by far is Meren’s responsibility to protect the young Pharaoh from his enemies — who are no farther away than the length of a dagger . . . .

2, Inceptio by Alison Morton

New Yorker Karen Brown is caught in a tangle of hot foreign agents, vicious maniacs and tough families. Running for her life, she flees into the alien culture of Roma Nova, the mysterious last outpost of the Roman Empire in Europe. Apart from kidnapping, heartache and a close encounter with Latin grammar, she must contend with a fascinating but arrogant Praetorian special forces captain.

Plus a crazy killer wants to terminate her for a very personal reason.

Part action adventure, part military thriller, laced with romance and coming of age, this is Roman fiction brought into the 21st century through the lens of alternative history and driven by a female protagonist with heart and courage. If you enjoy thrillers and mystery books for women with twists, this is for you!

3, The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

On a cold spring night in 1952, a huge meteorite fell to earth and obliterated much of the east coast of the United States, including Washington D.C. The ensuing climate cataclysm will soon render the earth inhospitable for humanity, as the last such meteorite did for the dinosaurs. This looming threat calls for a radically accelerated effort to colonize space, and requires a much larger share of humanity to take part in the process.

Elma York’s experience as a WASP pilot and mathematician earns her a place in the International Aerospace Coalition’s attempts to put man on the moon, as a calculator. But with so many skilled and experienced women pilots and scientists involved with the program, it doesn’t take long before Elma begins to wonder why they can’t go into space, too.

Elma’s drive to become the first Lady Astronaut is so strong that even the most dearly held conventions of society may not stand a chance against her.

4, Nice Dragons Finish Last by Rachel Aaron

As the smallest dragon in the Heartstriker clan, Julius survives by a simple code: keep quiet, don’t cause trouble, and stay out of the way of bigger dragons. But this meek behavior doesn’t fly in a family of ambitious magical predators, and his mother, Bethesda the Heartstriker, has finally reached the end of her patience.

Now, sealed in human form and banished to the DFZ–a vertical metropolis built on the ruins of Old Detroit–Julius has one month to prove that he can be a ruthless dragon or kiss his true shape goodbye forever. But in a city of modern mages and vengeful spirits where dragons are considered monsters to be exterminated, he’s going to need some serious help to survive this test.

He only hopes humans are more trustworthy than dragons…

5, A Devil in the Details by K. A. Stewart

When it comes to demons, always read the fine print.

Jesse James Dawson was an ordinary guy (well, an ordinary guy with a black belt in karate) until one day he learned his brother had made a bargain with a demon. Jesse discovered there was only one way to save his brother: put up his own soul as collateral, and fight the demon to the death.

Jesse lived to free his brother – and became part of a loose organization of Champions who put their own souls on the line to help those who get in over their heads with demons. But now experienced Champions are losing battles at a much higher rate than usual. Someone has changed the game. And if Jesse can’t figure out the new rules, his next battle may be his last…