Some fantastical character and creature designs I’ve been helping @forrestdreamerxd create for their imaginative extraterrestrial species~! All of these creatures belong on the planet Draginis~.
Characters belong to @forrestdreamerxd while the art belongs to me~.
The heroine is certainly not as attractive as her beautiful best
friend who gets her own interesting plot line.
The
Darkangel (the Darkangel Trilogy, #1) – Meredith Ann Pierce
The protagonist starts out as unattractive, later she undergoes a transformation of
her appearance which represents a turning point in her character development.
This book has lots of female characters of all shapes and sizes.
The main heroine is plain and a bit overweight. Another important
famale character is dead and looks the part. Both have very
attractive love interests.
This heroine is actually very attractive by human standards.
Unfortunately the male protagonist isn’t human and he finds her
appalling and he’s just as ugly to her. The like each other from the
start.
Stolen
Songbird (The Malediction Trilogy, #1) – Danielle L. Jensen
The heroine spends her time around
(mostly) human looking and extremely attractive trolls. She’s not
quite up to their standards.
The heroine is almost a cyborg. Her extremities were replaced by
completely overpowered prosthetics after a horrific assault while
working as a government agent. She’s traumatized, in pain, doesn’t
have full control of her new body and hasn’t come to terms with her
new menacing look. The rock star demon elf protagonist is very much
into her. Yes, really. This book uses and often subverts every trope
known to fantasy and science fiction.
Herb-Witch (Lord
Alchemist Duology, #1) – Elizabeth McCoy
Within the world described in this book the heroine’s look is not only considered
ugly but also shameful as it reveals her barbarian heritage.
The protagonist starts out as rather plain, later she undergoes a transformation of
her appearance which represents a turning point in her character development.
The heroine is fat. She does lose weight while trying to survive
on a hostile alien planet though. The lizard man protagonist is
interested in her either way. All kinds of trigger warnings for this
book: violence, rape, gore, death. It’s also over 900 pages long.
Crazy.
This one stands out as it’s the only book written by a man. It’s
also one of my earliest conscious encounters with an unattractive
female protagonist. For me that was a formative experience. Rather on
the hard side of science fiction the narrative follows the good
looking male protagonist who is a kind of emissary from a culture that values
aesthetics to the extreme coming to a planet where people live by a
more practical approach to life. The female protagonist assigned to him as his assistant is so ugly to him that he can’t
stop staring. After some culture clashing they get married.
I’m always looking for more of my beloved ugly heroines. They are quite difficult to find. So if you know of a book or a movie, please let me know! Reblog this with your suggestions, chat me up, ask or submit. All suggestions are welcome.
TAG: On my blog I use the “unconventional looking / conventionally unattractive heroine” tag.
suggested for Brienne and Jaime (I haven’t read ASOIAF, so I don’t know how they are described in the book but Brienne and Aria from the TV series are certainly great unconventional looking female characters.)
I can’t believe I forgot this book the first time around. The heroine is plain and capable and has a sexy voice but not when she sings. It’s weird. Great book.
I haven’t read this one yet but Tanith Lee is always highly recommended.
Aaaaaaaaaaaand another addition…
Older Women Getting the Hot Guy in Fantasy and Science Fiction
I have thought long and hard if I should make a separate post or just add it to this one. I decided to do the latter because the list for older heroines is so ridiculously short (as of yet) I wouldn’t even call it a list.
Ok, first let’s define “older woman”. According to who gets storylines that center around personal growth, getting it on with a desirable love interest AND saving the day, thirty is the onset of old-age in genre fiction. Very, very seldom have I read a book where all those good things happen to a woman older than twenty-nine. Oh and BTW I’m practically a crone by these standards. So if any of you are offended by this just remember that this post is written by the most offended old hag aka ME.
“But,” some of you might say, “there are plenty of BAMF woman over thirty in fantasy and science fiction.” Yeah, true but they get different kind of stories than woman below that magic age ESPECIALLY in books.
And that’s because these woman are so very mature that having adventures, falling madly in love and behaving accordingly is absolutely beneath them. Also there is no more character growth possible because the typical human woman is mentally complete by that age. Excitement, immature decisions and the use of sarcasm are also absolutely out of the question.
Have you read the last paragraph in a sarcastic voice? If not, try again.
“But,” I hear some of saying, “I know tons of really cool female characters over the age of thirty or at least played by actresses older than thirty on TV and in movies who fall in love, make mistakes and learn from them, save the day and go on great adventures.” Very true, I agree. And out of all these cool characters I will take Captain Janeway as example. She’s smart, capable, the hero of her own story, feminine AND strong, just a great character in short. She’s also physically attractive. I’m not holding that against her character but it’s just a perfect example how not being young anymore is not much of a problem if the female character in question is beautiful. Beauty trumps age in the visual medium. In genre books however any women above the age of thirty is “ewww old” apparantly.
End of rant. Here is my (very short) list of books with older women in genre fiction:
The heroine is 47(!). And she’s not even compensating it by being stunningly beautiful (for her age). How dare!!! AND the LI is an Orc. 🙂 If you want to know more @ever-hungry-aria has written a great review here.
Not sure if this one qualifies because the heroine is 37 or 38 if I remember correctly but ends up looking like 17. The character doesn’t change her behaviour. She continues to act believably like a woman closer to 40 than 20 which is sometimes hilarious. Great book, some LGBT themes and hard to pin down genre-wise.
Jack Squier is a civilian cargo pilot in a future where humanity has begun colonizing other worlds throughout space. This period of expansion has led to prosperity, but has also led to the unfortunate realization that humanity is not alone in the universe. Humanity is now at war with the Ailian Ascendancy, a fiercely territorial empire that does not take kindly to humanity encroaching on their domain. Over this decade-long conflict, humanity’s ships have been spread thin across space as they fight to hold back the Ailian fleets.
With military ships becoming such a precious commodity, civilian pilots like Jack find themselves pressed into service running supplies for the UN Navy. On one such cargo run, Jack encounters the enemy in the worst way possible, and sets in motion a series of events that will change the future of humanity.
Teratophilia recommendation by @winged-wolf-tsuki who shared some relevant information for monster lovers: ”It features a female character that is not only stronger than her human partner but much taller. The start of it has some similarities between Enemy Mineand Starkissed but then it starts to branch out a bit more. I found it a unique read.”
More books with monsters as the love interest: HERE
-Beast boyfriend
-Sasquatch boyfriend
-Alien girlfriend (ok, she only wants to breed, think sexy xenomorph😉)
-Toxic waste husband (!)
-Genetic experiment daughter/girl(?)friend (yes, this one is going to make you feel uncomfortable…)
Alien genitalia has always been a popular topic in Star Trek fandom. People have speculated for decades about Vulcan genitals, and Star Trek: Discovery just confirmed a popular theory about Klingon schlongs. Namely, they have two of them:
… I don’t know whether I want to die laughing, or be turned on, or what…
😂😂😂
Considering Klingon physiology in established canon – there’s an
episode of Next Gen that deals with Worf’s two spines and a mention in
Voyager of half Klingon B’Elanna having two stomachs and multiple mentions
of Klingons have two of just about every organ in redundancy – no one
should have been surprised that the Klingon Males have two penises.
By that logic, Klingon women should have two vaginas/clitorises/wombs
I see your Klingon double penis and raise you one (1) Odo.
Thank you for
asking! Really, your ask was exactly what I needed. You see, I was thinking
of writing this list for some time now but I was too lazy.
I have stuff to
recommend because I‘ve been actively looking for books that
feature inter-species/monster romances for a long time. Fun fact: Up
until recently I didn‘t know that this kink was called
teratophilia. 🙂 Thanks, tumblr for educating me. Also, since I found
out how to navigate the relevant tags my life has improved
immeasurably.
The
male protagonist is terrifying by human standards. He finds the human
heroine appalling and he’s just as ugly to her. The like each other
from the start.
Alien-lizard-man,
monk and fighter… Need I say more? Ok: The heroine is fat. She does
lose weight while trying to survive on a hostile alien planet though.
The lizard man protagonist is interested in her either way. All kinds
of trigger warnings for this book: violence, rape, gore, death. It’s
also over 900 pages long. Crazy.
Alien-Insect
man, single dad and adorable. The human social worker really tries to
help him and she does… Reads like District 9 fan fiction which is a
good thing! This book is a bit tamer than The Last Hour of Gann but
the sex is still graphic. 🙂
Check
out this author’s other books as she seems to specialize in
monsters of all kinds.
Girl
is abducted by the King of the Goblins. This is not a David Bowie
Goblin King, this one looks really monstrous. It’s a YA book but
the good kind. The heroine is not an insufferable brat and there is
no love triangle (note: love triangles are only acceptable for me if
they end in a three-way).
Really
beautiful and magical book, sex happens but off-screen.
The
heroine is almost a cyborg. Her extremities were replaced by
completely overpowered prosthetics after a horrific assault while
working as a government agent. She’s traumatized, in pain, doesn’t
have full control of her new body and hasn’t come to terms with her
new menacing look. The rock star demon elf protagonist is very much
into her. Yes, really.
Add
a really inhuman demon to the mix with whom the heroine also has an
intense relationship. Don’t worry it’s not a fucking love
triangle (the bane of my existence). You’ll see… Actually the
description of the whole demon society is very cool and unique and
probably my favorite part of the book.
Still,
give this book a chance! Fluffy and sweet romance between a human
woman and an alien-lizard man. Enough plot to be still considered a
science fiction romance rather than just erotica in space.
This
is an actual furry novel. I did not know such a thing existed.
Thankfully the main couple is a WOC and a space elf but there are so
many furries in this book. For example there is a furry (tiger-like ?) couple. They are siblings (twins actually)… But don’t
worry that’s perfectly normal on their planet.
Now
one might think by this description that this book is completely
depraved erotica. Unfortunately it’s not. The tone of this book is
so sweet and cute it could be directed at children. Spoilers: It’s
not because, you know, incest…
So
yeah, strange experience but if your are into this stuff this might
be the book for you.
Books
with dragons: They are really easy to find. Just type ‘dragon’
in the search bars of Goodreads or Amazon. From children’s books to
erotica – there are many titles to choose from. I can’t really
recommend a specific book because they are not my preferred kind of
monster. I have read a few books with dragons but nothing that was
memorable enough to recommend it. I’ve yet to find an interesting
dragon. 😉
Do you know a book with a monstrous love interest? Please, contact me or reblog with your recommendation! Thanks 🙂
Reblogging
to add some books I forgot in my initial post:
It’s
the end of the world but in a remote valley a small group of people
survived. A woman strikes a deal with a magical creature, the Hob to
keep them safe.The
Hob is monstrous, magical and mischievous and also the last of his
kind. The poor monster boy just wants a girlfriend. 😉
Human
blogger tries to raise awareness for the amphibious hero’s people
who suffer on their occupied home world. The first book seems to set
up a polyamorous relationship.
@cuthbertflangenibbler asked me if I knew any books with female monsters. I had to think
long and hard to come up with the three following examples. Female
monsters are even harder to find. This may or may not have to do with
beauty standards. Often a woman’s physical attractiveness
determines if they are worthy of being loved. Yes, it also happens to
men but why then is it so difficult to find monstrous women?
BTW
if you know a Beauty and the Beast version where the beast is female
(and not just on the inside because that’s lame) and Mr. Prettyface
Bell needs to fall in love with her to save her or something similar,
please send this precious piece of media my way! That is actually
roughly the plot of the adorable movie Penelope which is on my list
of Ugly
Badass Girls Getting the Hot Guy in Fantasy and Science Fiction.
I
read two or three of this series ages ago but I really liked it back
then. I’m not even sure why I didn’t continue.
Human
survivors of a spacecraft build colony on the home world of humanoid
aliens. They are very tall, their skin is pitch black and they are far
less emotional than humans. The story centers around the human (male)
emissary who lives among these aliens and his struggles to keep the
political relations smooth while trying to regulate the technical exchange
between the two cultures (the alien culture is per-industrialization
as far as I can remember). A female bodyguard is assigned to him.
Their relationship slowly turns from professional to romantic.
The
main protagonists of this fantasy novel are actually a human woman and a male who is described as a golem is this book. There are also
female golems with interesting story arcs. One of them gets her own
tentative love story with a human girl.
The
golems in this book are hard to describe. They are human shaped, have
clawed hands and interact strangely with light which changes their
appearance.
“The heaven’s pearls-two sides of the soul” This painting is a
commission I did in 2014 for the cover of “La Signora di Omota” (The
Lady of Omota), an e-book by italian writer Blu Iris. You can find it on
Amazon (it’s adult-themed). The main character of the story is the
high priestess of an alien race (with porcelain-white skin and blue hair
and blue eyes) who can change her/his gender at will… all painted by me on photoshop cs5 with tablet wacom bamboo, no references used.
Beautiful painting!
The book sounds interesting too. I love genderfluid characters.
Alien was one of those movies I shouldn’t have watched unsupervised as a kid (between age 6 and 7, I think). Two things happened back then: 1. I fell in love with the franchise and 2. I developed an anxiety disorder complete with panic attacks where I believed an alien grew in my throat. My mother had to take me to a doctor to check my throat….fun times.
Don’t worry., that was long ago, I’m fine now and I still love Alien. 😀
Monsters and Villains 