Can anybody recommend any stories about women in the army/military/female soldiers, preferably historical or contemporary ones that aren't scifi or futuristic?
Can anybody recommend any stories about women in the army/military/female soldiers, preferably historical or contemporary ones that aren't scifi or futuristic?
preferably historical or contemporary ones
Hmmm,
historical is problematic, there were only a few.
e.g. Boadicea and Joan of Arc.
In High Fantasy it's another kettle of fish entirely, there are many stories of female fighters.
Contemporary? The restrictions imposed on women in the military are still severe, most end up in supporting positions, not actually fighting. Problematic for a writer to create an actually fighting female MC. Female helicopter pilots are more common than female infantry fighters.
In SciFi you'll find more female soldiers, in David Weber's Honorverse are quite some in prominent positions: Honor Harrington, Michelle Henke, Helen Zilwicki, Abigail Hearns,...
Don't know if John Ringo's "Black Tide Rising" books meet your criteria, but I find Faith and Sophia Smith outstanding as female soldiers, especially Faith.
HM.
In SciFi you'll find more female soldiers, in David Weber's Honorverse are quite some in prominent positions: Honor Harrington...
For all who never read a book in the Honor Harrington series, the first two books are in Baen's Free Library
http://www.baen.com/on-basilisk-station.html
http://www.baen.com/the-honor-of-the-queen.html
HM.
Actually, there's a lot more than you'd think historically if you count women who passed as men, it's just that there wasn't much written down about most people and any woman who didn't get caught out just disappeared when she settled down afterwards.
Terry Pratchett did an interview for Hour 25 talking about his research for Monstrous Regiment in which he discussed the phenomena and he had thousands of verified (but short) references.
The one I remember most clearly was of a woman who joined the Royal Navy as a "young boy," which was the typical way this way done, then at some point was stripped to the waist for a lashing (what she did to deserve this is not recorded). The only comment made was by the surgeon who thought she had rather large breasts for a man.
If ex-military is allowed, carniegirl's Deputy/Sheriff Porter stories might be worth a look.
AJ
Or look at Todd_d172's St Clair stories
https://storiesonline.net/universe/932/saint-clair
HM.
If ex-military is allowed, carniegirl's Deputy/Sheriff Porter stories might be worth a look.
In that way you could include Lisa (marine, shot down in Iraq) from the Florida Friends. Although no longer military it has plenty of violent action in the Secret Service
A couple of Morgan's stories have female soldiers but I suspect the story line doesn't meet your requirements.
Can anybody recommend any stories about women in the army/military/female soldiers, preferably historical or contemporary ones that aren't scifi or futuristic?
Not on this site, but there are commercial books by Jacques Antoine about a girl/young woman who grows up to become a Marine, P G Allison about a female soldier and cadet at West Point (who is also a were-Puma), Jack July's "Amy Lynn" novels of a female soldier and special operative.
Thanks for your noting P G Allison's story about Missy the Werecat. I found it to be a very enjoyable series.
Cheers
Thanks. Just read the first book about her being recruited. Looks like a very interesting read.
Cheers
@samuelmichaelsThanks for your noting P G Allison's story about Missy the Werecat. I found it to be a very enjoyable series.
My thanks also. I just finished book 2 and am ready to jump into book 3.
Here on SOL, try black_coffee's Sparks and The Gunny And Lenore as contemporary / recent past non-SF
There is one I have read where the main characters are a female flight officer and a male sergeant mechanic in the Air Force. Non-fraternisation rules cause some problems and both eventually leave the force. Cannot remember author or title though, sorry.
I recommend Reaching for Wings by Wes Boyd on his site. The female protagonist (wrong sex to call her a hero) is still in high school but flies gliders and much of the story is about her effort to go to the Air Force Academy.
I recommend Reaching for Wings by Wes Boyd on his site. The female protagonist (wrong sex to call her a hero) is still in high school but flies gliders and much of the story is about her effort to go to the Air Force Academy.
Second the recommendation. There's just a _ton_ of character development in this story. Her growth as a person as she attempts to broaden her activities to improve her odds of being accepted to the Air Force Academy is amazing, but very believable.
Due to a recommendation from somewhere around here, I am reading 'The Private' by Random Writings. While she is a secondary character, Lt. Swanson is doing a good job of growing into her rank in the total war they are fighting. I'm a little less than half way through, and so far it has been interesting.
https://storiesonline.net/s/69860/the-private
I'm a little less than half way through, and so far it has been interesting.
You do know it's incomplete and inactive for more than two years, don't you? According to the last entry in his/her blog
We are nearing the last chapter.
there are probably only a few chapters missing.
HM.
There are lots of SF women soldiers and special agents, but alas the OP didn't want science fiction.
One historical one I can think is is Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein. Good but depressing.
One just popped up on FS: The Mission by Sagacious. Main protagonist is male, but one of his team of 3 is female. It's sort-of SF, set in alternate past where Russia is invading Europe in the 60's; any story that talks about a log-periodic antenna gets my attention.
That's been available for a while, maybe on SOL. It's a good story, but almost all the female characters are tertiary to the story. The one that would come closest is his homeless waif, who is not in the military exactly.
the story that hiltonls16 mentioned above
"There is one I have read where the main characters are a female flight officer and a male sergeant mechanic in the Air Force. Non-fraternization rules cause some problems and both eventually leave the force. Cannot remember author or title though, sorry."
I've been trying to locate that for some time. Does anybody remember the name or auther. Thanks
Thanks to @WiseTioga for asking over on the Lost Stories forum and @The Outsider for the answer about 'female flight officer and a male sergeant mechanic in the Air Force'
It's over on Finestories, WT:
http://finestories.com/s/10683/high-flight
http://finestories.com/a/Robert_McKay
The Butterfly and the Falcon is a story about a soldier who meets an anarchist woman fighting in the Spanish civil war.
I'm rereading The Gunny and Lenore where a large part is about a female ROTC candidate fighting with a Seal Team. Pretty good story too.
ETA: I see after reviewing previous posts that this story was already mentioned even if it was 10 months ago. Should've scanned before I posted. Apologies.
If you like historical, then I endeavour to name one of my own:
https://storiesonline.net/s/58363/joerg-isebrand
16th century, and Joerg's sisters are no camp followers or shrinking violets.
Some of the stories from Horatio might come close to what you want. Be quick if you're not a premium member because they are up for archival.
There's "A Soldier's Secret," the story of Sarah Edmonds, age 19, who fought in the Civil War masquerading as a man named Frank Thompson. Sarah is the narrator. S'far as I know, there's only a dead-tree version and maybe one for the Kindle.
B.J.Jones the Story of My Life (and sequels) by jballs.
The later parts become alternate history.
If I remember correctly there was a story about the last SAC bomber that involved a woman. I don't remember if she was part of the crew or what, but the story is lurking there in the back of my mind.
Not much help since I can't remember the titles or author, but someone on this site has posted at least 3 stories about women in the military. I think one was about military nurses and 2 were about women in the Army Air Corps in WW2.
Hum, if we include sub plots, Ed Nelson/Banadin's Richard Jackson series has the mom in the role of an ex-MI5 spy that comes to the forefront now and thenβ¦
Look up Milunka SaviΔ. She is listed the most decorated female combatant in history. From Serbia during WWI.
Good Hunting, limab
There is a story about a counter-electronic warfare team in a war-I believe in Europe at current time. Team leader is make, but several of th emajor supporting characters are female, including a native teen girl refugee.
I scrolled up looking for something and noticed that this thread has been active since at least 2017. Lot of entries.
Are you referring to some of Tedbiker's stories? Several of them are set around fighting child-prostitution gangs and all (?) of those stories are linked with several of the same set of characters shared between them.
https://storiesonline.net/n/21605/yelka is a recent story, although the MC's backstory develops over several of the preceding tales - and not all of them are in the Delilah series.
I think that's The Mission by Stultus (not Sagacious like I first thought). Alternate history, Electronic Warfare done well.
I'm to blame for this thread's resurrection; I pointed at it in another thread (either that, or it's a huge coincidence that after years of languishing idle it gets new posts just hours after I'd mentioned it)
In the later stories in the Jade Force series, a female, Sada, a protaginist. You do have to read the second story to understand the final few paragraphs of the last story. TShe Jade Force 'army' is roughly 1/3 male and 2/3 female.
Here's the series by Lazlo Zalezac. Good reading! SunSeeker
https://storiesonline.net/series/1106/jade-force-of-misera