Monday 26 February 2018

The Young Flandry Heroines

By "the Young Flandry heroines," we mean not the four on the cover (see here) but one in each of the three novels.

Persis d'Io:

was not Dominic's first although she thought she was;
saved the day for him twice during their escapade;
became the mother of his son.

Djana:

would be above a junior lieutenant's price range;
but is assigned to Flandry as part of a clandestine deal;
refines her psychic power under Merseian tutelage;
curses Flandry never to have the woman that he really wants.

Kathyrn McCormac:

is the wife of the Imperial pretender, Hugh McCormac;
is Flandry's traveling companion, although not his sexual partner, on Dido (see image);
is the first of the two women that Flandry really wants...

5 comments:

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Kaor, Paul!

Altho Djana was certainly a major character in A CIRCUS OF HELLS, I'm dubious about calling her a HEROINE. Her behavior was certainly questionable, more than once. That said, I would agree to her having also been a victim, first because of how she was abused and traumatized in her dreadful childhood, and then subtly manipulated by Yydwyr the Seeker.

Sean

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Sean,
"Hero" and "heroine" can mean just "central characters" who need not be heroic.
Paul.

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Kaor, Paul!

True, the problem being that "hero" and "heroine" be too easily misunderstood at times.

Sean


S.M. Stirling said...

I use "protagonist" for that reason.

Flandry's childhood also makes it difficult for him to deal with women in a mature fashion, rather than as mere amusements.

But then, he's a fairly ruthless man, even in his youth.

paulshackley2017@gmail.com said...

Kaor, Paul!

That has been suggested, that Flandry's parents being rather remote and distant had a deleterious effect on him. I agree Flandry could be fairly ruthless, but I don't think he was callous about it.

I know you alluded to Anderson's THE BROKEN SWORD, using his SCA name of "Sir Bela of Eastmarch" as its author in your Change books, which I thought very cool! But I have wondered how people in the Changed world would react such hard SF books of Anderson as ENSIGN FLANDRY, THE REBEL WORLDS, or HARVEST OF STARS.

Sean