Part Four of a silly meme I found while browsing the endless sea of weird & wonderful that is Tumblr!
      This installment: more ladies.
      *gasp!*
      Try to hold in your shock & awe.
      And awaaaaaay we go!

1. A lady you root for when no one else does Meiglan, wife of Pol, in “Dragon Prince/Dragon Star” by Melanie Rawn. Now I’m sure there are other people who don’t hate Meiglan out there, but they seem to be far and few. Yes, everyone seems to ship fiery Sionell with Pol (even me!) but sweet, naive little Meiglan gets a lot of hate. Unnecessary, misogynistic hate. She is not as bright and witty as other characters in the books. She is a soft, pretty, sweet-smelling tidbit that her father hung out as bait for Pol, but being used was not her fault. This girl had a very moving character arc, growing as the years passed. Much of it was off-screen and only alluded to, but her final days in the novel she was just as fierce (in her way) as Sionell every was, just as brave and clever as Sioned. I won’t spoil the novels here, despite their age, but Meiglan is definitely not deserving of all the hate she receives. Like Sansa, in “ASoIF” by GRRM, she is a young woman who likes young woman-type things, and has to learn that the world isn’t a song and has to develop a way to navigate the dangerous water of her world.
2. A lady you’d want to be your best friend Melanie Rawn. Not because I could then beg and plead for her to finish Exiles (which I wouldn’t, because that ain’t how friends roll!), but because I want to sit around and talk about writing with her, discuss world-building, talk about how she plans out what she plans and how she writes, and how her brain works. I feel like she’s a kindred spirit, at least in writing, and I would just adore a chance to get to know her as a person. Jeesh, that’s not too stalker-y is it?
3. A lady you’d want to be your sister Evie Childs-Vann, my actual sister. Look, this may seem like a cheat, but it is true. This chick rose from the call center floor to a national position with a MAJOR company; flew all over the country for it. She lost a metric f-ckton of weight. She learned to ride a motorcycle. She planned a destination wedding. Survived an abusive man and an icky divorce. Eloped with an awesome guy, made a beautiful baby. Moved to Vegas, runs marathons. Survived a miscarriage and came out a stronger, healthier person. She took up blogging, earned a nutritionist certification, is working toward starting a health business with her aforementioned awesome husband. She is a kick-ass lady in every regard and I would not give up this sister for anyone else – fictional or real. Unless maybe they had a bajillion dollars to share with me, HAH!
4. A lady you’d want to be your mentor/teacher/guide Calpernia Addams. Calpernia is a modern day Renaissance woman. She is a burlesque performer, sure, and a Trans*/LGBTQ activist. She is also a talented musician, an actress, an eloquent writer, a programmer, a former Navy nurse… I could go on. I will! She’s like, everything I want to be when I grow up. Poised and beautiful and confident. She is a powerful voice for her community, but she is not afraid of a little tongue-in-cheek. She is gracious in the face of those who stand against her but she is snarky at times, too. I was first introduced to her, listening to “Gay Pimpin'” with my bestie, Tim, and quickly came to just adore her. I don’t know if any of those titles above really sum up what I’d want from Calpernia – mentor/teach/guide – but I would love to hang-out and just soak up the awesome some day.
5. A lady you want to remove from her world and place into another fandom Donna Noble, “Doctor Who”, as portrayed by Catherine Tate. Donna Noble got royally screwed over. I mean, she had some of the greatest storylines with “Ten”, she was a real woman that stood up to him and didn’t take his “martian” guff, but she also adored him and man… She was ready to give up the hum-drum of Earth and travel the galaxy with him, just friends, forever. No doe-eyed “please love me!” from her – she just wanted to experience everything and live the extraordinary life she secretly always knew she should have…beneath the silly, empty, vain life she lead back home. And she did. Oh Gods, how she lived. But then… *spoiler alert* She lost it all. All those times, all that growth, the memories… the wonderful, amazing, world-changing person she had finally become…yanked away. Gone forever. *sob* I want to pull her out of her world and give her to a universe where she can complete the character arc and not suffer this tragically horrible ending. Honestly – I still cry thinking about how her time on Doctor Who ended. Doctor-Donna. *sob*

Note: Image is “Lip-sticks” by (Irum) from SXC.hu