Dangerous Women by George R.R. Martin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars An Uneven Anthology with too Few Dangerous Women In his introduction to Dangerous Women (2013), which he edited with George R. R. Martin, Gardner Dozois says that the “cross-genre anthology” will "showcase the supposedly weaker sex's capacity for magic, violence, and mayhem.” Hey, it sounds great, doesn’t it? But among the anthology’s 21 stories from various genres, including fantasy (ghost, magic, epic, etc.), science fiction (space opera, post apocalypse, superhero, etc.), and realism (crime, historical, and wrestling etc.), I found too few dangerous women protagonists and too much sexism. Here is an annotated list of the uneven stories. 1. “Some Desperado” by Joe Abercrombie (read by Stana Katic) A violent and suspenseful story about a “contrary” young woman on the run from her treacherous male bank-robbing accomplices. Replace the medievalesque fantasy weapons like bow and battle-axe with guns, and it’d be a hardboiled western. 2. “My Heart Is Either Broken” by Megan Abbott (read by Jake Weber) After their toddler daughter is kidnapped, a husband tries to remain loyal to his wife, while the media and police view her sexy outfits, bar dancing, and smiling with suspicion. A Gone Girl vibe but with only the husband’s view. 3. “Nora’s Song” by Cecelia Holland (read by Harriet Walter) Intense doings of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry II seen from the point of view of Eleanor’s spunky little daughter. “I want to be a hero,” she says to her father, who replies, “God gave you the wrong stature.” A vivid story about the powerlessness of children, especially of girls. 4. “The Hands That Are Not There” by Melinda Snodgrass (read by Jonathan Frakes) This space opera sympathizes with people open to other species (i.e. races), but finally seems to validate the ugliest Trumpian prejudices. The protagonists are men, the antagonist a by-the-numbers femme fatale. 5. “Bombshells” by Jim Butcher (read by Emily Rankin) Wizardly apprentice Molly and two other “bombshells” crash a Chicago party hosted by mythological beings and get caught up in supernatural terrorism. The title is a sexist pun, the story a male fantasy of “smoking hot” women playing Charlie’s Angels, flaunting their “racks,” and saying, “I rock this dress!” 6. “Raisa Stepanova” by Carrie Vaughn (read by Inna Korobkina) A suspenseful story about a brave, capable woman who is a WW II Russian fighter pilot set on becoming an ace or dying trying. And she’s not sexualized as a “knockout” and has no romantic interest. 7. “Wrestling Jesus” by Joe R. Lansdale (read by Scott Brick) A Karate Kid, geriatric pro wrestling, and succubus story. It’s predictable, profane, and unconvincing, and the femme fatale antagonist is “a knockout,” “a girl,” and “that bitch.” 8. “Neighbors” by Megan Lindholm (read by Lee Meriwether) A potent story about a woman fearing dementia while her loving children want her in assisted living. After losing an old friend to the Tacoma fog, she starts feeling unmoored from time and (maybe) becomes able to access another world. 9. “I Know How to Pick ’Em” by Lawrence Block (read by Jake Weber) An unpleasant story in which an uber-hard-boiled narrator (6’5”, heavily muscled, and observant) works a twist on the old Body Heat scenario. 10. “Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell” by Brandon Sanderson (read by Claudia Black) A woman runs an inn in the Forest, whose deadly shades are attracted to fast movements, fire starting, and blood spilling. And she’s secretly a bounty hunter. Can she save her place and protect her daughter? 11. “A Queen in Exile” by Sharon Kay Penman (read by Harriet Walter) Constance, wife to cold King Heinrich, heir to the Holy Roman Empire, is enduring a cold German winter and missing her balmy southern Italy when her life path changes. Constance is strong but not dangerous. 12. “The Girl in the Mirror” by Lev Grossman (read by Sophie Turner) The leader of a female club in Brakebills College for Magical Pedagogy plans a practical joke on a male student only to find herself in a “fucked up magical mystery tour.” A cool heroine, creepy scenes, vivid descriptions, and interesting magic. 13. “Second Arabesque, Very Slowly” by Nancy Kress (read by Janis Ian) After 99% of women became infertile, civilization collapsed, leaving male-dominated packs scavenging ruins like the Lincoln Center, where 64-year-old “Nurse” observes two young pack members discovering ballet: “There are worse ways to die than gazing at beauty.” 14. “City Lazarus” by Diana Rowland (read by Scott Brick) A corrupt police captain falls in love with a creole exotic dancer in a New Orleans that’s a “fucked up shell” because the Mississippi River has changed course. The best part of this hardboiled story is the river-abandoned city. 15. “Virgins” by Diana Gabaldon (read by Allan Scott-Douglas) Virgins in sex and killing, Scottish Highlanders Jamie Fraser and Ian Murray are working for a mercenary company in 1740 when they are assigned to escort a beautiful Jewess and a priceless Torah from Bordeaux to Paris. Ivanhoe’s Rebecca as a female “praying mantis”? 16. “Hell Hath No Fury” by Sherilynn Kenyon (read by Jenna Lamia) The sexist cliché alluded to by the title doesn’t fit the story, about a psychic young lady and her obtuse friends visiting a ghost town to film supernatural events and finding a curse, a ghost, an Indian philosophy hodgepodge, a didactic lesson, and an unconvincing ending. 17. “Name the Beast” by Sam Sykes (read by Claudia Black) An alien-human story with vivid imagery but too clever by half: events are out of chronological order, and it’s too hard to figure out who are the aliens, who the humans, and who the beast. 18. “Pronouncing Doom” by S.M. Stirling (read by Stana Katic) Oregon. Year Two after the machines stopped, fires burnt, and the plague killed, forcing the survivors to band together under warlords or Wiccan Highlander-esque clans (!), like the one led by folksinger Juniper Mackenzie, who must judge a conveniently unrepentant rapist. 19. “Caregivers” by Pat Cadigan (read by Janis Ian) The relationship between the 53-year-old Val and her younger sister Gloria gets complicated when Gloria starts volunteering at the rest home where the sisters’ mother is living. It’s a funny, moving, and finally unsettling story. 20. “Lies My Mother Told Me” by Caroline Spector (read by Maggi-Meg Reed) In the Wild Cards universe an alien virus has given some humans super powers (Aces) or grotesque mutations (Jokers) which various organizations try to exploit. I like the only LGBTQ characters in the anthology, but the entertaining story is weakened by the old author-can-do-anything-for-the-plot-with-super-powers syndrome. 21. “The Princess and the Queen” by George R. R. Martin (read by Iain Glen) A Westeros Grand Maester has written the “true” history of the Dance of the Dragons, a devastating civil war of succession fought by branches of House Targaryen and their dragons and supporters. Alas that the flaws of Queen Rhaenyra derive from her being a mother. The audiobook readers are fine, except for their tendency (apart from a few like Janis Ian) to overdo intense scenes. The pompous British accent and portentous manner of the woman who introduces authors and stories is irritating. Finally, there aren’t enough dangerous women in the stories. And those that do appear are too often femme fatales who do bad things to men or try to get men to do bad things. (Both editors are men.) Some stories are fine, but overall I regret the time I spent on this book. View all my reviews
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