List of female warriors in SF
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"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)