“In
the vicinity of the liberated planet of Bajor, the Federation space
station Deep Space Nine guards the opening of a stable wormhole to
the far side of the galaxy.” (IMBD)
The
Star Trek universe is filled with aliens doing humans doing other
aliens doing so much space drama. Anyway out of all the different
Trek series Deep Space 9 was always my favorite because:
all
the characters were morally gray
a
minimum of Star Fleet self righteousness
my
favorite shape shifter Odo (Any shape. The
possibilities!)
the
Cardassians. My favorite was Gul Dukat who had a villainous crush o
Kira Neris. Very problematic. I loved it.
Kira
Neris who had a canon relationship with
Odo and the very hot villainous crush thing with Gul Dukat.
Babylon
5
“In
the mid 23rd Century, the Earth Alliance space station Babylon 5,
located in neutral territory, is a major focal point for political
intrigue, racial tensions and various wars over the course of five
years.” (IMBD)
A
space station full of morally gray and therefor very engaging
character? Also hot aliens? Sign me up!
My
favorites:
Lennier
(poster child for looks like a cinnamon roll but could kill you)
G’Kar (virile lizard man) and his archenemy/buddy Londo Mollari (tentacles!)
canon relationship between ambassador Delenn and commander John Sheridan
Defiance
“In
the year 2046, it’s a new Earth – with new rules. Over thirty years
after various alien races arrived on Earth, the landscape is
completely altered, terraformed nearly beyond recognition. To the
town of Defiance, on what used to be St. Louis, comes the mysterious
Nolan (Grant Bowler) and his charge, Irisa (Stephanie Leonidas). As
they settle into town – overseen by the mayor, Amanda Rosewater
(Julie Benz) and filled with residents like the powerful Rafe
McCawley (Graham Greene), enterprising lounge owner Kenya (Mia
Kirshner) and the ambitious, alien Tarrs (Tony Curran and Jaime
Murray) – events begin to unfold that threaten the fragile peace this
border town has fought for.” (IMBD)
My
favorites:
Successful
human father/alien daughter adoption story 🙂 They have so much fun
together, especially with guns.
Murderous white haired space elf mafia family. Very defunct, very engaging, I love them.
Alien
Nation
“A
flying saucer crashed in the Mojave Desert and its inhabitants turned
out to be alien slaves, bred to be super intelligent and strong, and
controllable by their Overseers. These Tenctonese, or “Newcomers”,
have been assimilated (sort of) into the population of Los Angeles.
One of them, George Francisco, is a police detective with a human
partner, Matthew Sikes. George and Matt fight crime together, while
learning to respect the other’s culture, and question his own. They
also fight prejudice, as personified by the Purists, and fear, in the
form of the unseen Overseers, who seek to regain control over their
slaves.” (IMBD)
Note:
There’s one movie from 1988 which predates this TV show and 5 TV
movies which take place after the events on the TV show.
My
favorites:
It’s
structured like a buddy cop police procedural just with an alien as
one part of the buddy duo.
canon interspecies relationship
Star
Gate, Farscape, Andromeda
I
was never heavily into these but I guess they belong on this list.
Honorable mention: Futurama
I
included only TV shows with aliens that have a more or less inhuman
appearance.
A story of coffee, monsters, and…romance? When financial problems drive Amber to move to a rural home in the woods, she finds herself a little more secluded, yet a little less alone than expected.
So about recommendations…this blog’s purpose is actually recommending all kinds of media. I post stuff I like but other people’s recommendations are also welcome.The common theme is in my blog description. If you are looking for something specific it’s best to just have a look at my list of tags (on mobile this link might work better). I tag fairly consistently so I think that’s the easiest way to find what you are looking for (books, movies, comics, etc.).
I can’t really help you (much) with manga and anime because I know the same movies and shows that everybody knows (read: mostly Studio Ghibli) and I hardly ever read manga. Just try my anime tag, there still might be something for you.
About fan fiction: I haven’t read fan fiction in a very long time. The last time I was really into it was after The Force Awakens came out and I really needed some reylo content. Any desire to read fics died with The Last Jedi. That movie delivered so much canon reylo I can wait contently for Episode IX.
The thing is I’ve only ever been looking for fan fiction when something sparked my imagination but canon gave me almost nothing like TFA, Labyrinth, Predator and Riddick. For a short time I may be obsessed but ultimately I’ll always go back looking for original fiction.
I’ll add more recommendations as soon as I find the willpower to make proper posts 😉
in which a seemingly harmless blackout proves to be an experience you have never considered existing beyond horror films: a monster ensuing a morbid game of tormenting you while vulnerable.
* * *
Nichole has taken the liberty of your phone passcode to snap an atrocious selfie and appoint it as her own contact portrait. Truth be told, you don’t have the heart nor incentive to change it. It had taken time to ignore the scrutiny thrown your way, many times which consisted of ducking out of vicinity and of the like. At least her ringtone compensates for the source of embarrassment and entertainment. The wistful chorus of Patrick Swayze’s “She’s Like the Wind” echoes through the wood of your nightstand, a patterned vibration joining the melody. It’s tempting to ignore her call, especially since it’s already 11 p.m. on the night before a breakfast date with Mom.
You babysit Zach, the son of a family friend, and become increasingly disturbed by unnatural occurrences playing out when he insists his imaginary friend is real.
* * *
“Again, thank you so, so, so much for doing this, even if the call was last minute,” Lucy breathes out, tugging on her coat in a messy haste from her husband’s ushering. For a second, you watch her struggle to get her second arm through its rightful sleeve before snatching the other end that keeps escaping the older woman’s grasp. The display earns a harmless chuckle from Samuel who snaps around to tap in his shoes when his wife tosses a glare his way. Their dynamic is so endearing to a level of admirable envy that you can’t help but smile a little. “You’re a lifesaver; I don’t know what we’d do without you,” she says.
The cover doesn’t really do it justice. It’s dark. It’s got depth. It takes its time building the plot so when things really get moving you care what happens to the characters.
It really is dark. It’s got violence, references to rape. People get attacked and assaulted. It’s not fluff, but it’s so good.
This book was so intense, it literally gutted me and I LOVED IT! It was also recommended by @fuck-yeah-monsters-and-villains and I’m so glad I’ve read it.
But seriously, this book is really dark, it had me crying a few times so be prepared to suffer!
Hey guys, they’ve also wrote a book called The Last Hour of Gann. It’s one of my favorite books of all time! It’s about a plus size woman on a pilgrimage with a badass religious lizard man and a bunch of incompetent human assholes. She writes some of the best character you will Fuckingloathe. The main character Amber is my spirit animal and her lizardman Meoraq does not put up with human’s bullshit. Plus, it’s HELLA long. You have time to get super invested in all the characters. I love it.
However, I need to warn that if anyone has suffered from sexual abuse they may want to skip this read. It’s well written, but there is an entire chapter that will trigger some people. Smith’s books are always VERY dark and not for the faint of heart. That chapter is very uncomfortable, but if you can get past it then please give this book a chance.
I was kind of looking at The Last Hour of Gann(Which is over 1,000 pages) and also Heat* (about 600 pages). Both are by R. Lee Smith. All the books by this author look somewhat heavy, and like they deal with darker themes; the shittier sides of humanity, rape, torture, and brutal deaths, so honestly if you want happy fluff please steer clear.
As one person described it in their reviews; “If you’re used to reading romance, it’s going to be really dark. If you’re used to reading horror, it’s about average.”
*Heat gets its own disclaimer as being extra dark even on the scale of this author. One of the main characters is an evil sadist. Tread carefully.
I can absolutely confirm everthing that’s been said about this author. I’ve read three books by R. Lee Smith so far and I have to say that there are hardly any writers out there that got me invested that much in their characters. The plot, the descriptions, the world building, actually everything is unbelievably good.
Imagine my surprise when I started The Last Hour of Gann for the space lizard-man alien erotica but got so much more. But yeah, it left me emotionally drained. The themes and descriptions are VERY intense.
Cottonwood was a light fun read in comparison. Although this still might not be the the book for you if you are easily triggered.
Unfortunately this one fell a bit flat for me in comparison to the two other books. The writing is still top notch, I simply wasn’t overly invested in the main characters. The male main character has a harem (yes, yes he’s lonely and tortured and a man’s gotta cope…) and the heroine is a mix between a “sacrifice everything for the cause” and a “stand by your man” type. I’m into neither of those things. Still, great writing, far above the average fare within this genre (or any genre, actually). Don’t let my personal taste deter you from reading! 😉
For centuries, there has been a legend of a hidden school where magic is taught by the demons who dwell there to anyone who seeks them out, but they ask a terrible price: Anyone who reaches the door of the Scholomance may enter, but the Devil takes every tenth student who tries to leave.
A hidden school. Demonic masters. An inescapable fate for one out of every ten graduates. But Connie would do anything to have the magic her best friend was born with.
And Mara would do anything to get Connie back.
X-rated Harry Potter but with a female protagonist and demon sex? Yes, please!!!
As far as I could glean from the reviews on Goodreads this might feature a love triangle, a trope which I normally loathe (unless it ends in a three-way, then it’s fine). But if there’s one author I’d trust with the execution of a love triangle it’s R. Lee Smith.
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.
Watch the new Vaginal Fantasy Romance Book Club episode with Felicia Day, Veronica Belmont, Bonnie Burton and Kiala Kazebee discussing the book “Radiance” (Wraith Kings, #1) by Grace Daven! Plus booze!
Here’s an older CNET article of Vaginal Fantasy co-host Bonnie Burton that’s a hilarious yet informative read about Cthulhu, Bigfoot, dinosaur romance books.
Monsters and Villains 