List of female warriors in SF

"Amazons" would include strong warrior wimmin ... wymin who kick ass ... tough women. Although some of these works will also be listed as Women Revolutionaries!, a woman doesn't have to change society (or even try) to be an ass-kickin' warrior woman.

Note: "Warrior" may be distinguished from military personnel. Most specifically, military personnel serve in a state-based or independent mercenary military body, whereas a "warrior" may be a solo operator. The key distinction is probably on individual fighting skills versus operational skills in an army.

More generally, "warrior" often implies specific warrior and combat skills, such as hand-to-hand combat, sword, or archery; it has more of an old-fashioned connotation; it may imply a warrior's code or even a caste system; it might be used more in fantasy, dying earth, or low-technology societies. By contrast, "military" has more of a connotation of group-fighting skills; high-technology or specialized skills that may not even be combat or weapons skills (artillery, defense, combat pilot); a term that might be used more in spacefaring societies, modern- or industrialized societies with higher technology. Warriors in this classical sense and military personnel may mix in a society; see, e.g., Elizabeth Moon's The Deed of Paksenarrion. Similarly in military SF some characters may be specialized with combat skills and described as warriors.

List

• Protagonist of Eleanor Arnason's Daughter of the Bear King

• Protagonists of the individual stories of Marion Zimmer Bradley's Sword and Sorceress series of anthologies and Darkover series
  • The Shattered Chain (Daw, 1975) (Darkover)
• Octavia Butler's Wild Seed

• Carl, Lillian Stewart. Sazabel (1985)
  • The Winter King (1986)
• Carr, Jayge. Leviathan's Deep (1979). Not human Amazons, but another species in which the women are the dominant sex, and the fighters.
• Chapman, Vera. The King's Damosel (1976)
• Charnas, Suzy McKee. Motherlines (1978)
  • The Furies
  • The Conqueror's Child
• Cherryh, C. J. Gate of Ivrel (1976)
  • Well of Shiuan (1978)
• Clayton, Jo. Diadem series.
• Flynn Connolly's The Rising of the Moon

• Nancy Farmer, Thorgil in The Sea of Trolls
• Fletcher, Jane. The World Celaeno Chose (Dimsdale: London, 1999) - features an all-woman world with several warrior organizations
• Frank, Janrae. "The Ruined Tower" (chapbook, illustrated by Mary Bohdanowicz; Atalanta Press, 1979)
• Esther Friesner's anthology Chicks in Chainmail
  • Did You Say Chicks?
  • Chicks and Chained Males

• Howard, Robert E. The Sword Woman (1979)

• Kerr, Katharine. Daggerspell (1986)
• Kress, Nancy. An Alien Light (1988)

• Lackey, Mercedes. Many of her Valdemar series have warrior women. See especially By the Sword, about the mercenary Kerowyn.
• Lee, Tanith. The Birthgrave (1975)
  • Night's Master (1978)
• Lynn, Elizabeth. The Dancers of Arun
  • The Northern Girl

• McKay, Claudia. Promise of the Rose Stone (1986) [a woman warrior leaves her village to save it and gets embroiled in something larger]
• Merwin, Sam. Sex War. (Descendants of Amazons are conspiring to get rid of men and reproduce parthenogenetically. Not exactly a feminist classic. -- lq 5/14/00)
• Moore, C. L. Jirel of Joiry series:
  • Black God's Shadow (collected J-of-J stories fromthe 1930s) (1977)

• Perry, Steve. Matadora (1986)
• Doris Piserchia's Star Rider (1974)
  • Earthchild (1977)
  • Spaceling (1979)

• Russ, Joanna. Alyx (1977)
  • Kittitiny, a Tale of Magic (1978)

• Jessica Amanda Salmonson's Amazons! anthology
• Jessica Amanda Salmonson's Amazons II anthology
• Sargent, Pamela. Women of Wonder series
• Jean Stewart. "The Queer Avenger" in Swords of the Rainbow
  • --. Isis series.

• Tolkien, J. R. R. Lord of the Rings. A female character, Eowyn, disguises herself as male in order to fight in battle.

• Varley, John. The Gaean trilogy: Titan, Wizard, and Demon. Cirocco Jones, first and foremost, but also Gaby and Robin and others.

• Margaret Weis. New Amazons.
• Wittig, Monique. Les Guerillieres (1969)

• Jane Yolen's Sister Light, Sister Dark and White Jenna

Movies:

• "Tank Girl"
• "Alien"
• "Aliens"
• "Alien III"
• "Born in Flames"
• "Terminator 2"

TV:

• "Xena, Warrior Princess" (and of course the novelizations)

Other Suggestions:

• Dibell, Ansen. Pursuit of the Screamer (1978)
• Duane, Diane. The Door Into Fire (1978)
• Fearn, John Russell. Conquest of the Amazon (1949; Future, 1976)
• Gearhart, Sally Miller. The Wanderground (Persephone: 1978)
• Lupoff, Richard. Sword of the Demon (1977)
• McKinley, Robin. The Hero and the Crown
  • --. The Blue Sword
• Morgan, T. J. "Dark Tide" (chapbook illustrated by Theresa Troise-Heidel) (Atalanta Press, 1979)
• Norton, Andre. Witch World series.
• Vinge, Joan. Snow Queen (1979)
• Weinbaum, Stanley G. The Red Peri (1952)
• Robert A. Heinlein's works, esp. Friday
• Melissa Scott's Dreamships
• Peter S. Beagle's Innkeeper's Song
• Jennifer Robersen's Lady of the Forest
• Robin McKinley's Deerskin
• Jane Yolen's Briar Rose
• Sheri Tepper's Shadow's End
• Feist & Wurts Servant of the Empire trilogy

• "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (movie & TV)