Isaac Adamson: Tokyo Suckerpunch ISBN0-380-81291-6
So un-PC that I hardly dare mention it here. But.. it's fun. Billy
Chaka is the main character and he is in Tokyo to cover the 19-and-Under
Handicapped Martial Arts Championship, when he gets involved in a murder
mystery. It's strange.. he presses the limits.. but I still liked it. And
he really does know his Japanese culture. It's a definite look at something
besides what we usually hear about.--Sara Aoyama
Eleanor Arnason: Ring of Swords
A woman anthropologist encounters an alien race with some interesting
concepts of gender and martial honor.--Rachel Brown
Marion Zimmer Bradley: The Mists of Avalon
A great book on the legends of Camelot from a woman's point of view.--Cindy
J. Briggs
Bradley: The Darkover series, especially Thendara House
There are a couple of books in the series dedicated to the Free Amazons,
women who live on their own and protect themselves, rather than be second
class citizens and the property of men.--CJB
Lois McMaster Bujold: The Miles Vorkosigan novels.
Shards of Honor or The Warrior's Apprentice or Borders
of Infinity are all good places to start. An award-winning sf series
about the disabled military genius Miles Vorkosigan, his formidable mother,
and his butt-kicking mercenaries, many of whom are women. Well-written,
excellently characterized, and genuinely inspiring. --RB
C. J. Cherryh: The Paladin
An excellent novel about a retired swordfighter, the woman apprentice
he reluctantly takes on, and their relationship. It's set in a sort-of
ancient Japan, has no magic or other fantasy elements and thus belongs
in the canonical list of fantasies-without-magic along with Ellen Kushner's
Swordspoint. It's terrific, even better than Cuckoo's Egg, and has lots
of great stuff about training and being a female martial artist in a man's
world. --RB
Cherryh: Chanur series
Mostly non-human characters, but almost all of the main characters
of the Hani species are female, being that it was believed that the males
were "constitutionally unfit" for it. (Which becomes a subject of some
contention, introducing an interesting reversal.) But Pyanfar Chanur is
quite a ship's captain.--Helene Henri
Cherryh: Cuckoo's Egg
A compelling novel about a human child raised by aliens. This does
not have the rationale or resolution that one might expect. The warrior
caste of the aliens practice something very like bushido, and the book
itself is similarly tough-minded. Unusually for Cherryh, the ending is
perfect, not abrupt at all,
down to the very last word. --RB (Thanks to Vlatko Juric-Kokic)
Stephen Dedman: The Art of Arrow Cutting ISBN 0-312-86832-4
Oriental fantasy and noir-ish sleuthing with some Japanese myth and
maybe a little ninjutsu of sorts. It's weird.. but fun.--SA
Mary Gentle: Ash novels: A Secret History, Carthage
Ascendant, The Wild Machines, Lost Burgundy
It's phenomenal. The core story is an alternate history/fantasy about
a woman mercenary commander in 1470s Europe - really gritty, dirty stuff.
The level of detail is breathtaking, and as a story it's hard to put down.
Layered on top of it, though, is a modern-day effort to translate new documents
recovered about her life that reveal a radically different view of history
- which is apparently being covered up. Given how often great women of
history have "dropped through the cracks" in the textbooks, it's ironic
that Ash's story, treated as common historical knowledge in the modern-day
of the novels but fiction to us, is used as a backdrop for a discussion
about the creation of history and what is treated as "real." --HH
Mary Gentle has an MA in war studies, and her thesis was on how women warriors, soldiers, and war leaders are dropped from history, downplayed, not written about, reported as bizarre exceptions no matter how many of them there were, etc. Sort of a mass holding hands over eyes and chanting, "I don't see you, I don't hear you! Neener-neener-neener!" Gentle is a martial artist as well. She does swordfighting in historical battle re-enactments and tourneys. And yes, Ash is brilliant.--RB
Gentle: Rats and Gargoyles, Architecture of Desire,
Left
to His Own Devices.
A not exactly trilogy featuring as one of its main characters a warrior/scholar
named the White Crow. --Tiel T. Jackson
Nicola Griffith: The Blue Place
It has a bit of aikido in it and a great woman heroine. I'm still waiting
for the sequel. It's kind of a suspense novel but also an intense love
story between two women. The aikido scene is a part of knowing who
they are to each other.--Sara Aoyama
Barbara Hambly: The Time of the Dark, The Walls of the
Air,
The Armies of Daylight, Mother Winter
Hambly used to teach karate and competed in national tournaments. This
is a wonderful series about a woman grad student who gets sucked into another
world and joins a bunch of swordfighters protecting their world from particularly nasty flying, acid-dripping, blood-sucking critters. It's exciting, smart,
well-characterized, and the martial arts sequences are terrific. She not
only captures what it feels like to train, but why we do it.--RB
Hambly: The Ladies of Mandrigyn
When the men of Mandrigyn are captured as slaves, the women decide
to fight back... and when they can't find a man willing to teach them to
fight, they kidnap one. Hambly says this was inspired by watching her sensei
deal with a bunch of California beach-bunnies.--RB
Hambly: The Silent Tower, The Silicon Mage
Another great fantasy duology from Hambly. A shy woman computer programmer
helps a renegade magician and an obsessive martial artist save their world.
Fun, inventive, and with lots of unexpected twists. A third book,
Dog Wizard, is worth reading but doesn't involve martial arts.
Zenna Henderson: The People: No Different Flesh
Her books are out of print, though there is one new edition of her
collected stories. It's SF. Don't ask me how it relates to martial arts..
but it does. She was way ahead of her time. I bet anyone my age remembers
her books! I loved her in high school and loved her again when I re-found
her.--SA
P. C. Hodgell: Godstalk, Dark of the Moon, Seeker's
Mask
Jame Talissen, an amnesiac woman with ivory claws, wanders into the
bizarre city of Tai-Tastigon, which has such a complicated layout that
people have to follow a length of string from their wrist to their doorpost
to find their way back home when they go out. She practices martial arts
of both the barehanded and weapons variety, when she doesn't lose her temper
and just rip people's faces off with those claws. ;) Strange, dark, and
funny. Here's a brief excerpt to give you the flavor. Jame is trying out
a spell to make bread rise quickly:
'Apprehensively, she recited the charm. It usually took Cleppetty half an hour to ready her bread for the oven; Jame's rose in five minutes. When the widow sliced into the baked loaf, however, they discovered that its sudden expansion had been due to the growth of rudimentary internal organs.Meisha Merlin, which has a web site you can order directly from, is reprinting the first three and commissioning a fourth.--RBThat was the end of Jame's apprenticeship in the kitchen.'
Nora Okja Keller: Comfort Woman ISBN 0-14-026335-7
This is a novel, but deals with a very real topic--the comfort women
during WW2. These were women used by the Japanese Army for sex. I had mixed
feelings about this book, but if you don't know anything about what happened
to Korean and some Japanese women during the war, you should read this
and know. A true horror story that lay untalked about until very recently.
Katherine Kerr: Deverry series.
This has a number of strong women characters in it, particularly Jill,
a wandering swordswoman (at least, that's how she starts out...) The first
book is Darkspell. What I like most about that series is the exploration
of how each life we live (the series is predicated upon reincarnation)
is influenced by those in the past and in turn influences those in the
future. Even if you don't believe in reincarnation, it can be taken as
a metaphor for choices we make in *one* life being part of a continuum.--HH
Ellen Kushner: Swordspoint
A professional duellist, his mysterious boyfriend, a young aristocrat
studying the sword, and a woman wise in the ways of power are involved
in complex intrigues in this not- quite-fantasy, not-quite-historical novel.
Witty dialogue, crystalline prose, hetero- and homo-eroticism that's genuinely
erotic, and fabulous swordfighting and sword training sequences. What more
could you want?--RB
John Marsden: Tomorrow, When the War Began series
Hard-edged and incredibly exciting 7-book series about a group of teenagers
who become guerilla fighters when their country is invaded. The narrator
and leader of the group is a girl. Realistic, morally complex, and un-put-downable.--RB
Robin McKinley: The Hero and the Crown, The Blue Sword
If you didn't read these as a teenager, run out and read them now.
The second is a loose sequel, but it doesn't really matter what order you
read them in. Both involve teenage girls learning to fight, and both are
likely to make you fall as hard in love with a book as you did when you
read Lord of the Rings so many years ago.--RB
Elizabeth Moon: the Deed Of Paksenarrion trilogy.
The main character is a woman named Paksenarrion who runs away from
home to join a mercenary company: lots of detail about her training, including
an early incident where she defends herself against a sexual assault by
a fellow cadet, and is almost busted for picking a fight.--TTJ
C. L. Moore: Jirel of Joiry
One of the first set of fantasy stories with a woman warrior as the
heroine. They're available in a fairly new edition paperback now that I
picked up a few years ago. Jirel kicks some serious butt!--HH
Ruth L. Ozeki: My Year of Meats ISBN 0-14-028046-4
This is a novel... almost too weird to explain. It is about a Japanese-American
woman working for a Tokyo tv producer and filming episodes of a show to
promote American meat in Japan. It also is kind of an exposee of the meat
industry. Northampton is mentioned in this book! It's kind of funny--she's
supposed to be filming "typical american families" and their special recipes
for beef, and she finds these great families and gets bolder and bolder
finally culminating with a lesbian family who... are vegetarians.:-)--SA
Steve Perry: Matador series.
Also includes The Albino Knife,
Brother Death, and The
97th Step.
Martial artists kick butt for the cause of good in a far future star-spanning
setting. The characters are types, but likable (or lip-smackingly evil)
types. The writing is serviceable. The sex scenes are often obligatory
(and there's some stuff that's clearly a man guessing what it's like to
be a woman, and guessing wrong) and the plots are pretty standard.
But boy, did I enjoy these books. They're not literature, but they're terrific pulp. The pages practically turn by themselves. Not only are the action sequences good, but the author clearly knows his martial arts, and his prose takes a jump upward every time butts start getting kicked or someone walks into a dojo. This is Good Stuff, if you like this kind of thing:
The Man Who Never Missed, Matadora, The Machiavelli Interface
One man has a battlefield revelation and decides to bring down the
Evil Galactic Empire singlehandedly and without killing anyone. Later,
assorted male and female martial artists join his crusade. Great
fun.
Black Steel
A bunch of fanatics are assassinating people with unique black steel
swords... and the man assigned to stop them lands on a collision course
with a woman swordfighter looking for her perfect pupil. My favorite of
the bunch, possibly because I read it first. Great training sequences,
and beneath its bam-pow exterior beats a heart that really believes in
true love, honor, and friendship forever. --RB
Mike Moscoe: The First Casualty, The Price of Peace,
They
Also Serve
Military science fiction.--Margaret Welsh
S.J. Rozan: China Trade ISBN 0-312-95590-1
If you are a mystery lover, this is just one of the Lydia Chin series.
They are pretty fun and give a look at Chinese-American culture in NYC.
Not as great as Laurie King, of course, but still good.--SA
Dennis Schmidt: Way-Farer
Out of print, but easy to find in second hand shops. It's a 3 book
series, SF with themes of martial arts and meditation. The protagonist
is male, but it seems pretty woman-friendly. I've only read the first one..
long ago.
Mark Salzman: The Soloist, Lying Awake
I have loved EVERYTHING I have read by Mark Salzman. Iron and Silk
(imagine yourself in China for 2 years training in MA with masters you
thought only existed in legend); Lost in Place (Salzman's autobiographical
story, coming of age in the suburbs, training in MA with a kung fu master
); The Soloist (a fallen prodigy cellist examines his own nature while
serving on a jury for a zen practitioner who murdered his master) and Lying
Awake (a visionary Carmelite nun examines the nature of her experience
when she discovers she has a brain lesion). I recommend them all. Although
only the 1st two deal directly with martial arts, all of them deal with
with training.-Susan Kramer
David Weber: Honor Harrington series (sf)
Can't get enough of them, and am eagerly awaiting the next. Not only
does Honor kick butt, the writing is so tight that by the time I had read
half of the books I could start to anticipate some of her tactics - everything
was so internally consistent, you could almost start thinking like a ship
commander.--HH
ed. Marion Zimmer Bradley: Sword and Sorceress anthologies
A series of annual anthologies that contain only stories with female
protagonists. They're all either fighting women or sorceresses (as you
might have guessed from the title. :) There are somewhere near 15
of these anthologies now.--HH
ed. Lois McMaster Bujold: Women at War
A science fiction anthology on the subject of... you got it.
ed. Esther Friesner: Chicks In Chainmail (up to 4 books now
I think).
Good for laughs. --TTJ
Tony Barrett & Rick Tanaka: Okinawan Dreams OK ISBN
3-931126-11-0
If you study an Okinawan Art, you might enjoy this. It's a more radical
view of Okinawan society and how the Okinawans feel.. especially about
having Americans there. There is a little bit about karate, but mostly
it
is the voices and views of the people. The authors are Australian,
I think.--SA
Henry Beard: Zen for Cats ISBN 0-375-50034-0
It's a humor book. it's got zen koan, haiku, cat sushi.. you name it.
oh.. Warrior cat stuff too. Great pictures as well.--SA
Sandy Boucher: Turning the Wheel: American Women Creating the
New Buddhism
I like all of her books, mostly. She is the one that made me see how
Buddhism can work well for women.--SA
ed. Eva Figes: Women's Letters in Wartime 1450 - 1945
Reprints of correspondence from women working as nurses, organizing
the defense of the estate while their husband was away, keeping London
running during the Blitz, etc. Fills in the picture of what women were
doing during the war, albeit it covers mainly English women.--Janet
Bernard Glassman & Rick Fields: Instructions to the Cook:
A Zen Master's Lessons in Living a Life That Matters ISBN 0-517-88829-7
This is what I broke down and read right after I swore I was only reading
Buddhist books written by women:-). I love how he combines activism and
Buddhism. Great stuff. His newer book is also good, and will be even more
meaningful if you are Jewish, as it involves concentration camps. But it
took me awhile to decide I wanted to read it.--SA
Eugene Herrigel: Zen in the Art of Archery
--JG
Jack Kornfield : A Path With Heart: a guide through the perils
and promises of spiritual life
His goal is to describe integrating spiritual life into personal life,
but he talks a lot about
his Buddhist experience. So far, so good. I usually get frustrated
with books on Buddhism because it's subtle and low key. Can't kick it..
can't program it.. I don't get it! I also get spooked off because I'm not
as
compassionate as I could be, and I start to feel guilty. This book
is very accessible without devolving into cheezy platitudes. --Janet
Dave Lowry: Moving Toward Stillness: Lessons in Daily Life from
the Martial Ways of Japan ISBN 0-8048-3160-2--SA
He has quite a few books out. I think the title explains it. His stuff
is very readable and he is very knowlegable on his topics. I believe he
is a sword guy.--SA
I've very much liked everything I've read by Dave Lowry. He's insightful, unpretentious, and has a nice smooth prose style. And yes, he studies iaido, but several other arts as well, as I recall.--RB
Martha McCaughey: Real Knockouts: the physical feminism of self-defense
Her focus is on Women's Self Defense but much of what she has to say
about the social construction of gender and physical power applies directly
to women martial artists, as does th e
material on women bodybuilders & powerlifters.--TTJ
Miyamoto Musashi: The Book of Five Rings
Very helpful in all situations. Be confident, be resolute, train hard.
Train in two swords (insert humor here).
Paisley Rekdal: The Night My Mother Met Bruce Lee: Observations
on not Fitting In
I just bought this and haven't read it yet. I know we should not judge
a book by its cover but I did! If you have an interest in biracial issues
this looks good. The author is half Chinese-American and half Norwegian.
And.. her mother really did meet Bruce Lee!:-)--SA
Dr. Sylvia Rimm: See Jane Win: The RIMM Report on How 1,000 Girls
Became Successful Women ISBN 0-609-80560-6
I have only skimmed it so far, but it looks good. I think the title
explains the content.--SA
Mark Salzman: Iron and Silk
A beautifully written and often funny memoir about how he went to China
to teach English, and ended up studying wu shu. There seem to be only two
types of martial artists: those who love this book, and those who haven't
read it yet.--RB
Salzman: Lost In Place
When Salzman was thirteen and living in Connecticut, he saw a kung
fu movie and decided to become a Zen monk and kung fu master. His parents
told him he had to finish high school first. Meanwhile, he studies with
the deranged Sensei O'Keefe, who beats up his students in graveyards at
midnight to teach them to "die well." Hilarious and touching. This Christmas
I gave copies to my father and three different friends.--RB
DT Suzuki: Essays in Zen Buddhism
I really liked it. It made a lot of things clear.--Jennifer Grant
Robert Twigger: Angry White Pajamas: An Oxford Poet Takes Aikido
Lessons From the Tokyo Riot Police
Fascinating and often hilarious... but I get the impression that the
author, at least, saw aikido entirely as a test of his machismo, and felt
little or nothing of the joy-in-effort that I love about martial arts,
and that Barbara Hambly and Mark Salzman write of so well. Still a great
read.--RB
ed. Stephanie Hoppe: Sharp Spear, Crystal Mirror
An all-time favorite of mine. The book consists of a series of interviews
with women martial artitsts, conducted as a sort of search by the author
for ways to reconcile herself with the fundamentally "martial" aspects
of martial arts. The women interviewed span a wide range of styles and
have some beautiful insights to offer.--Kerry S. Kilburn
ed. Carol A. Wiley: Martial Arts Teachers on Teaching ISBN
1-883319-09-9.
I don't think you have to be a teacher to get something out of this,
and it has contributions from many familiar faces such as Janet Aalfs,
Jamie Zimron etc. Good useful stuff. The kind of book you can read once
a year and get new stuff from.--SA
ed. Carol Wiley: Women in the Martial Arts
I like reading the voices of the different women in there.--JG
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