Variations:
Dornford Yates' Richard Chandos and John Sanders' Nicholas Pym marry but their first wives die between volumes;
Yates' Jonathan Mansel does not marry;
Flandry becomes engaged but his fiancee is killed in the same book and he eventually marries at the end of his series;
Anderson's Nicholas van Rijn does not marry but has illegitimate children;
Anderson's David Falkayn eventually conventionally marries van Rijn's granddaughter;
Bond marries but his wife is killed in the same book;
I thought that Tarzan's Jane was killed but this turns out to have been a trick by his enemies;
Stieg Larsson's Mikael Blomkvist maintains a long term relationship with the married Erika Berger;
SM Stirling's Luz O'Malley is a heroine/central character in a long term homosexual relationship.
And I think that these authors have covered every possibility.
9 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And, I think Manse Everard eventually marries Wanda Tamberly.
And Luz O'Malley sometimes has a fling with a guy! Even if sometimes that was at least partly for "business," as with Horst von Duckler.
Ad astra! Sean
Only before she exchanges vows with Ciara: or as she'd put it, she used to be bisexual, but now she's monogamous.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I sit corrected! But, if either Ciara or Luz ever wanted to have children then one or the other will have to have sexual intercourse with a male. And the father will also have rights in raising the child.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: as a matter of fact, in #4, which takes place with a 3-year "timeskip" after the upcoming SHADOWS OF ANNIHILATION (they take a break from field duty) they have children -- two sets of twins, by the same father.
The father is a Swedish diplomat who has no idea that anything resulted but a good time from a chance encounter -- that's one of the reasons Luz picks him, besides timing and careful checks into his characteristics and those of his family. (Longevity, looks, intellectual and athletic ability, diseases.)
He's 5500 miles away and blissfully ignorant since 'twas done with assumed names and backstories -- Luz is good at that, naturally.
Wow, we are really seeing ahead here.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
I second what Paul said! Many thanks for these advance hints about your proposed fourth Black Chamber book.
That said, there is MUCH I emphatically disagree with in what Luz and Ciara plan to do. They want children, but refuse to get pregnant by being up front and open about it to this hapless Swedish diplomat. Neither of them sought to either marry him or get his consent to becoming a father. To say nothing of the implausibility of BOTH Luz and Ciara having twins.
Moreover, what of the FUTURE? These four children will, in time, very likely become curious about who their father was and why he played no role in their lives. I have read of cases where adopted children or children begotten like those of Luz and Ciara, longed to have a father, to know what kind of man he was. I can see some of Luz and Ciara's children feeling a similar sense of loss and "incompleteness." That, unsurprisingly, can lead to strain and stress. It might even lead one or two of them to becoming estranged from their mothers.
Ad astra! Sean
Kaor, Paul!
A few more thoughts came to mind. Of course we are both aware of how hard it is for single mothers to raise fatherless children. I know Luz O'Malley is independently wealthy, but it won't be that easy for her and Ciara to raise fatherless children. So, I have my doubts of what they plan to do actually working.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: it is a rare man who thinks about consequences when a woman is willing. That's simply a biological fact. Women, for obvious reasons, tend to be more future-oriented about sexual matters.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Actually, I agree with you! I would simply add that PLENTY of women can be just as careless about thinking of the future as men.
That said, I was also focusing on the children Luz and Ciara hoped to get, even if their methods were not ones I would approve of. Also, I would point out that most women would want the fathers of their children to BE in their lives, not treated as callously as this Swedish diplomat was by Luz and Ciara. And I still think some of their children will eventually want to know who their father was and why he had no place in their lives. I suspect that might well end up causing strain and stress, even bitterness--because that is what actually has happened in roughly similar real life situations with single women raising children. So I would not be surprised to see some "sturm un drang" of this kind in Luz and Ciara's rather odd family set up.
Ad astra! Sean
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