f/f fiction

Research

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One of my favorite parts of writing is research. I know a lot of people actually don’t like this part, but whenever I end up needing to do research, I end up spending hours reading. I’ve learned so much more from researching than I ever ended up actually including in any of my stories.

My most recent work in progress takes place in an alternative magical universe during the Second World War. My main characters are both Russian pilots that are part of the 588th Women’s Night Bomber regiment. The Germans called this regiment the Nachthexen, or, the Night Witches.

The Night Witches flew old wooden biplanes called the Polikarpov Po-2. These planes were very maneuverable and able to fly at very low altitudes, even skimming the treeline in order to evade the German Luftwaffe and anti-aircraft fire. They could take a lot of damage before being taken down, and their highest speed was still lower than the stalling speed of German planes. German pilots were told they would receive an Iron Cross if they managed to shoot down a Po-2 plane.

The reason the Germans called this bombing regiment the Night Witches is the noise the planes made when they swooped down to drop their bombs. The Russian pilots would cut their engines, so all those on the ground would hear would be a whooshing noise. The Germans thought it sounded like a witch’s broomstick and were terrified of the sound.

The best thing about my story about badass lady pilots is that the Soviet Army was comprised of more than just female pilots. There were female snipers, sappers, anti-aircraft gunners, nurses and field technicians. One of my main character’s younger sister is a radio comm officer that is sent to the front lines.

New Release

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My most recent novella Hakusan Angel was recently released with Less Than Three Press on April 9th.

I am really excited about this book because I love writing about hardcore ladies that can handle themselves.

For those of you who haven’t heard of it already, Hakusan Angel is a story in the Mecha Anthology A Loose Screw and goes along with the theme of giant machines piloted by humans. A good example of a Mecha story is Pacific Rim. Anyway, the premise of my story is that the machines are powered by people’s energy, and people who have enough energy to power a machine are called Sources. The level of energy a person has differs, and the higher the power, the rarer they are. One of my main characters is the extremely rare Level One Source who has been hiding her powers and the other main character is a pilot.

I really liked writing this story, because my Source character Kaede and my pilot character Mariko both had distinct personalities from the start and writing them was easy. The hard part was getting them to actually work together for long periods of time without storming off. They have a very strong difference of opinion, and once I’d written that into their personalities, it was hard to get them to reconcile.

This is a f/f romance, and I know that in the book market, those don’t sell as well as m/m romances. It’s a great shame, because I love this story and think that people who love sci-fi, fantasy and mecha stories are missing out because they don’t like the pairing. This story has a lot of action scenes in it, and if I’m good at writing anything, it’s action scenes.

Anyway, that’s my love for my latest release. I have an awesome story, awesome characters, awesome cover art and an awesome publisher, so if that’s not enough for some people, there’s really not much else I can do.

Badass Ladies

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So I’ve finished my outline for the story I have planned for the Damsels in Distress anthology.

I might have explained this before (possibly, because ladies in goggles and bomber jackets are my favorite) but my story is taking place in a fantasy AU during WW2. My main ladies are both pilots for the Soviets, specifically night bombers – the legendary Night Witches.

The thing about these Night Witches is that they’re actually witches, just to make things more interesting. I know, more interesting than lady pilots doing death-defying aerial stunts in the dead of night? I know, you can tell I’m excited.

I’m even more excited, because they’re not the only badass ladies to show up in this thing. I’ve also got one of my MC’s younger sister who is a radio comm officer near the front lines as well as a nurse who’s rescuing injured soldiers.

What can I say? Russia had some interesting women.