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A little slow at the beginning, but once it picks up... :D

I'd add Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain series to that list--it's a similar thing about values, with awesome characters who learn things about themselves and the world, and has the added bonus that the female characters are equally awesome and plot-affecting. His other books are pretty awesome too--he had this gift for writing interesting stories with great characters who developed over the course of the book. I've read and reread his books a *lot*--and I'm still doing it. I'd say they're good for just about every age.

I'd also add Gerald Morris' Squire's Tales series. It's a hilarious retelling of the King Arthur stories--he even has a similar series meant for kids who are new readers, and it's equally funny but with slightly different themes--has a lot of female protagonists, and basically treats everyone equally (whether it's to laugh at them or praise them) and, again, it's a certain kind of person--kind, wise, noble--that comes out looking best. That's another series that I've read so, so many times and am still rereading. It's another one for most ages.

Also, everything by Tamora Pierce. As an adult, I go back and notice various themes she wove into her books that obviously come from experience and experience with... I believe it was a women's shelter? I've forgotten the details. As a kid, I just accepted them as part of the story. And even now... it works. She wove so many things--from feminist struggles to how blacksmithing and glassblowing and *rocks* and jousting work--and it fits in very well and it teaches you all sorts of cool things. So almost anything by her is something I'll recommend highly, especially since it comes with so many wonderful characters whom I care a lot about. Especially the Circle kids.

~DF

I dreamed about becoming a Ranger. Maybe Aragorn would stumble wounded into the Prancing Pony, and I'd help nurse him back to health, thereby proving my skills enough to get taken on as an apprentice, and we'd go off and have father-daughter-esque adventures together. Man, I really wanted that. I still really want that.

And I would totally read a fanfic about that, too, if it were well-written and didn't involve the main character also, say, being a werewolf who is just fluffy and misunderstood despite werewolves in M-e being 100% evil because they were created by and served the second-most evil Dark Lord in the history of the universe. I don't object to a woman Ranger, but I do object to anyone being able to sew three dresses in one hour, balance on the point of a sword in someone else's hand, and making the noble, wise, and kind canon character that I love into a tool for propping up her own rightness. (I'm talking about the fic (now deleted) featured in this mission, parts of which I genuinely liked. Shame it was ruined by the above and more.)

Anyway, dreams make crappy stories without a lot of effort to weed out the nonsense and fill it in with logic. Dreams don't have to make sense, but stories do. Have your dreams, love them, remember them—but maybe don't write them down, and definitely don't put them where other people can see unless you're prepared to do the work.

~Neshomeh

Though bitter does the wind blow
And savage is the rain
Though hard it is to rise from low
And harder yet to rise again

Though sour it sometimes taste
To drink from the cup called life
There's an unmistakable sweetness
To contrast the taste of strife

-Tesla

No problem! This was a really well written mission! :)

Also: The Blue Sword. The Hero and the Crown. Many of Anne McCaffrey's books, though IMO they do fall a bit flat on re-reading as an adult. But then there's pretty much anything by Sherri S. Tepper. Young Wizards. And so on, and so forth.

And, crazy as it sounds, girls don't necessarily have to find inspiration from reading about other girls. There should be more great books about great female heroes, absolutely, but what got me though the worst years of my life was The Lord of the Rings. Arwen and Galadriel and Éowyn are pretty damn cool, but mostly I think I needed a world where people were noble and wise and kind, where good wins in the end. I took the values of the story to heart without ever feeling I had to be a certain gender to live them. Because... y'know... women are just as good as men, the real world is the real world, and the story is just a story. Go figure.

~Neshomeh still believes most people are basically good, if apathetic.

If your really all for inclusivity, you wouldn't automatically assume it's a parody. Who cares if one of them isn't strictly human? They're both sentient and sapient so they are both capable of giving consent so they can live their lives however they want!!! And anyway it's just a story. Even if they weren't capable, no one would get hurt; it's just fantasy. There is no need for you to be so judgementall about what is just a story.

(And the idea of separating out bits of her subconscious to talk is actally canon, so it's kind of a shallow thing to compliment.)

It's too bad he didn't come back for the larger appearance in season 2. {= (

~Neshomeh

Fixed the other stuff though. And thank you. :)

You absolutely won't see the same 'who cares if it's unrealistic, it's empowering!' argument for stories which turn black cultures into white ones, or have uber-masculine Suvians (ie, Stus) conquering everything, or make every religion have churches they go to on Sunday, or whatnot. It's a very targetted 'THIS type of bad writing shouldn't be criticised!'.

On the flip side, there's a solid reason for that: all three of those examples involve taking something that historically dominates the cultural landscape in the writer's area (white people, men, Christianity) and have them dominate more. The argument for female Suvians is that they're taking a historically weaker group (women) and making it stronger. In other words, write New Orleans as if it were white, and it's awful. Write Seattle as if it were black, and it's a deep insight into racial etc etc.

On the flip flip side: the majority of female Suvians don't actually come across as stronger women. The whole 'everybody loves them' cliche? That's an extension of the whole 'a woman's only value is in how much men like her' idea which leads to perfume adverts looking like underwear adverts. It's not strength if the thing you're over-intensifying is a bad idea to start with.

(And 'she can beat Boromir with one hand tied behind her back!' assumes that strong characters have to be physically strong - ie, that value is obtained only by achieving ultra-masculinity. Why yes, this is what we should be teaching our girls! [/sarcasm])

~do not go to hS for counsel, for he will say both no and yes

PS: My daughter's favourite toys are a) pink unicorns and b) tennis balls for kicking and throwing around the room. I got this.

*raises Phantasm bow*

((...glance at it again before posting to see if there's anything I can add--that's what happened last time. Apart from that, though, it's done! Hope y'all are and will continue to be, uh, enjoying...

~DF))

U like 50 Shades to?? Awesome!!! So I never actually read all of it but my friend did so is fine. Anyway!! I just love the plot! So I thought appc version would be awesome. I think my friends going to switch it up a little but it'll just be even more awesome because she's a great writer!!!!! And yeah, ST's characters are THE BEST EXCEPT FOR AGENT DAWN AND LIKE ALL OF THE OLDEST CHARACTERS BECAUSE OBVS OLDEST IS TESTED AND TRUE AND STUFF

Anyway Tacitus is Tacitus and u'll find out more about him later!!! Thanks for reviewing!!! And the next chapters coming soon!!

~~~DW**~*~

I still love it even if I'm not writing this story anymore. And I'll pass the geth thing on to my friend!! I can't wait to see what she does

I'm totally into shipping but idk... My brains kind of more in Aus this year. I'm hoping I can put one together before to long..... I miss posting stories that I write!!

Thanks 4 reviewing!!
~~DW***

((XD you caught it! Fantastic :) I left it in on purpose, though whether it ever has any impact on the story... wait and see. :) But I should have known you'd be the one to spot the lone Miss Steele! ~DF))

I mean I have to do that now to because my friend took over the story but yeah!! I'm totally glad u like it! Anyway idk where it's going anymore and honestly idk what I had planned, that's part of why I gave it up to my friend

And I'm so proud of the monologue!! Is awesome u like him!! I just thought, y'know, it's Gaspard, rite? Every time SeaTurtle writes a depressing story about him the monologue's there in his head. So it was perfect!!

Thanks for reviewing!!!

~DW**~~

((I don't actually know exactly where I'm taking it myself, but I can definitely promise that there will never be a graphic Tacitus/Gaspard sex scene. And I really, really wish I still remembered how I came up with this idea to begin with, because I'm very curious now. ~DF))

Seriously I searched teh while thing and I couldn't find any. But yeah, you looking the monologue is awesome!! Doesn't he make an awesome ~~ subconscious??

Ty for reviewing!!! Hope u like how it keeps going!!

~~DW**~

And, Suvian original author of this post, I'm sorry it took you so long to find well-written stories about awesome female heroes. Because they exist. I was lucky enough to grow up with The Westing Game, Wild Magic, A Wrinkle in Time (and the rest of the series. A Wind in the Door was better; Meg gets to be more of a hero). The entire genre built around the idea of the damsel in distress taking charge of her situation and befriending the dragon / becoming a sorceress / fighting off the enemy / whatever needs doing. Matilda. There are hundreds of decent-to-good books about awesome women and girls saving the day. I'm sorry you found a bad one, but that doesn't mean that the stories which inspire girls have to be bad.

Internet tirades aside, I'm off to slip my local seven-year-old girl a copy of Igraine the Brave.

--Key

It was running when I first went to college, so I didn't have the time, but if it's on Netflix, I guess I don't really have an excuse not to see it. Cool!

It's so cool getting to see these characters in my favorite book! Its such a good idea. . . I wish I'd thought of it *pout* They're such cool characters, too. And the fox bit?! Is Tacitus a kitsune?! that would explain why he's so freaking cool ^.^ super looking forward to the nxt chapter!!!

I've talked to him a lot (well, more than I've talked to most people), and we get along pretty well. I did some beta-reading for him, too. Have you read his stuff with Hip and Hop? I'm pretty fond of those two. ^.^

I mean, CONGRATULATIONS!!! Wow!

But also, I do mean minor SPaG corrections (this still counts as a PPC story, right? It's still supposed to be reviewed, right?

In the post:
you will find moment between Lady Iximaz and Aegis? A moment, perhaps? Or did you mean "moment" in the Elizabethan sense of "importance"(e.x. Hamlet III.i.94)? It's a little grammatically iffy, but in the over-dramatic faux-medieval way that Plort often is.

In the story:
Aegis sheathed his own blade, saying “Something from the kitchens, then. Based on your placement of punctuation with regard to quotation marks, I am assuming that you use United States SPaG conventions. To be consistent, there should be a comma after "saying."
She squeezed his fingers in silent reassurance, and together, they set off for the keep. If I'm understanding the Purdue OWL correctly, there should be another comma before "together" because the word is nonessential to the clause (in that you could have put it on the end of the sentence or left it out and the sentence would still be coherent, not because I think your being "together" isn't important! ^.^). I'm not terribly sure about this, so if anyone wants to discuss it that would be appreciated.

Non-SPaG-related concerns:
You two are far too cute together. D'awww and congratulations again.

--Key is procrastinating on writing an essay, but also genuinely happy for you two.