Most recently, Lois Lane has had her own series of YA novels by Gwenda Bond. Like Smallville, they present a teen version of the iconic character … and just as Lois did not appear for the first four years of Smallville, the Lois Lane novels Fallout, Double Down, and Triple Threat present us with a feisty teenage reporter who is not yet defined by her love for and fascination with Superman.
The current TV show Supergirl has not yet introduced us to their version of Lois Lane, but instead the first season revolved around a magnificent interpretation of Cat Grant (Calista Flockhart), who struts around her media empire making sharp feminist observations based on her long history as a woman building a career despite the misogynist bullshit that the media throws at women constantly.
This Cat Grant shapes Supergirl’s PR image while mentoring Supergirl’s alter ego Kara Danvers, and has an incredible influence over how Kara comes to terms with her dual role as superhero and young woman working in the media. It’s a fascinating story to watch unfold (sadly only in Season 1) because it’s the Superman/Lois Lane story without the overt romance (cough, not that there isn’t the potential for that there) and a very different power dynamic.
Tina Valentina is not Lois Lane, not even a little bit. But she exists because Lois exists, as a mirror to the history of women journalists as depicted in fiction as well as on our news broadcasts and in our magazines.
Tina Valentina is not Lois; and neither is Friday Valentina. But I think the three of them would have a fascinating conversation together about their careers past and future, and what it’s like to be a woman in the world today.
I’d love to be a fly on the wall if they did.
About the Author
Tansy Rayner Roberts lives in Tasmania, Australia with her partner and two daughters. She has written and edited various science fiction and fantasy books including the Mocklore Chronicles, the Creature Court trilogy, Musketeer Space and Cranky Ladies of History. She is a host on three podcasts: Galactic Suburbia, Verity! and Sheep Might Fly, and has won two Hugo Awards, for Best Fan Writer and Best Fancast. You can find Tansy on Twitter (@tansyrr) and at her blog tansyrr.com which features fiction, feminist essays, comics reviews and pop culture criticism.
About the Artist
Emma Glaze is a freelance artist and illustrator living in Las Vegas. She has a passion for color, floral prints, bones, and dad music. Reach her at [email protected] or @bedsafely on twitter
Book Smugglers Publishing
The Novella Initiative
Keeper of the Dawn by Dianna Gunn (4/18/2017)
Reenu-You by Michele Tracy Berger (5/2/2017)
Bearly A Lady by Cassandra Khaw (5/16/2017)
Temporary Duty Assignment by A.E. Ash (5/30/2017)
Summer 2016
The Indigo Mantis by E. Catherine Tobler (5/24/2016)
Kid Dark Against The Machine by Tansy Rayner Roberts (6/14/2016)
How To Piss Off a Failed Super-Soldier by John Chu (7/12/2016)
Superior by Jessica Lack (8/16/2016)
The Life and Times of Angel Evans by Meredith Debonnaire (9/13/2016)
Fall 2016
Hurricane Heels: A New Series by Isabel Yap
A Convergence of Fairy Tales by Octavia Cade
Novels
The Extrahuman Union Series by Susan Jane Bigelow
Broken (3/22/2016)
Sky Ranger (6/28/2016)
The Spark (8/23/2016)
Extrahumans (10/18/2016)
Winter 2015
The Case of the Little Bloody Slipper by Carlie St. George (11/3/015)
The Price You Pay is Red by Carlie St. George (11/24/2015)
The Long and Silent Ever After by Carlie St. George (12/15/2015)
For more on the Spindle City Mysteries, visit booksmugglerspub.com/spindle-city-mysteries.
Fall 2015
Fighting Demons by S.L. Huang (9/22/2015)
The Bridegroom by Amelia Mangan (10/27/2015)
Spring 2015
The Merger by Sunil Patel (6/23/2015)
Luminous by A.E. Ash (7/21/2015)
The Vishakanya's Choice by Roshani Chokshi (8/25/2015)
Application for the Delegation of First Contact: Questionnaire, Part B by Kathrin Köhler (5/26/2015)
For other original tales of first contact, visit booksmugglerspub.com/first-contact.
Fall 2014
Hunting Monsters by S.L. Huang (10/7/2014)
In Her Head, In Her Eyes by Yukimi Ogawa (10/21/2014)
Mrs. Yaga by Michal Wojcik (11/4/2014)
The Mussel Eater by Octavia Cade (11/18/2014)
The Astronomer Who Met the North Wind by Kate Hall (12/2/2014)
The Ninety-Ninth Bride by Catherine F. King (12/16/2014)
For other original & subversive fairy tales, visit booksmugglerspub.com/fairy-tales.
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Girl Reporter Page 12
