Black Blade Blues by JA Pitt. The heroine is a lesbian. Need I say more? I will note that one of the things that the heroine goes through in the book is dealing with her own internalized homophobia. It was a little offputting to me because it brought back a lot of bad memories, but! She gets over it and the second book is all ass-kicking lesbian chick. :)
Eileen Wilks' Lupi books. These are technically labeled romance but they are totally urban fantasy. They follow two couples through the serious, switching off which one is the focus, although both are in each book. The first one is kinda standard urban fantasy, but stick with it, it gets really amazing in book two and onward. Oh, and one of the heroines, Lily? is a POC; Asian. Her relationships with her mother, and in one of the books, her grandmother, are at the forefront, as is her relationship with Cynna, who is a kickass tattooed sorceress chick. And in the later books there is a... sorta genderqueer/gender neutral demon who ends up on earth and later decides to identify as a woman, and... there's lots of relationships between women and competent characters. Is amazing.
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire -- OMG MUST READ. Awesome world setting, and the book starts off with the heroine and her telepathic cousin/best friend trolling for bad guys. Also, the heroine is a waitress at a strip club, and her relationships with the other women she works with is a major part of the story.
the Demonica books by Larissa Ione -- with the caveat that these are DEFINITELY more towards romance, and there is slightly more focus on the heroes... however, the women kick ass and take names, and they aren't treated unequally imo. It is... kinda like Angel in setting and tone, with lots more sex, and less refridgeration of women. I really am borderline on recommending these in this list because of the focus on the men, but, I really think they are worth reading.
The Edge books by Ilona Andrews - these are sorta Southern fantasy books that feel like they could be in our world. There is a HUGE focus on family here because the setting is Deep South. So you do see a lot of the relationships between the women in the various books, and the women definitely hold their own.
Not quite urban fantasy but the Psy Changeling series by Nalini Singh -- again, more toward romance, this time futuristic... combine shapeshifters and PsyCorp from Babylon 5 and you have these books. But the women of the various packs play a huge role, and they are all very involved with each other. And Tamsin is awesome (she's kinda the mother hen). And they have less consent issues than a lot of romance, that I've found.
Steampunk... I LOVE the Meljean Brook ones. I will, however, note that there are dubious consent issues in the first one. I don't recall if that's the case in the novella she has in the Burning Up anthology (which is excellent; it's probably my favorite anthology ever because ALL of the novellas are amazing), but it's not really out of line for the romance genre. It didn't bother me because it was clear the heroine was attracted, but some people might have issues, so I mention it. Heart of Steel, the second book in the series, did not have the same consent issues, and also has a woman of color as the main character. (So does The Iron Duke for that matter; Mina is Asian). It... hm. Mostly? Stands alone. Some of the worldbuilding stuff might be confusing if you just read the second, but I think that Meljean has a cliff's notes style world guide on her website.
The Greyfriar books are awesome, too. Vampires + Steampunk = WIN.
The Parasol Protectorate books are excellent and totally capture the whole Victorian writing and speaking style without being boring as shit. The heroine is hilarious, and the supporting cast are pretty awesome. There are also gay and bisexual characters, although one is fairly stereotypical (but he's awesome so I'll forgive that).
All Men of Genius is amazing, and I loved it enough to actually write a review on GoodReads. (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/265875974)
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Black Blade Blues by JA Pitt. The heroine is a lesbian. Need I say more? I will note that one of the things that the heroine goes through in the book is dealing with her own internalized homophobia. It was a little offputting to me because it brought back a lot of bad memories, but! She gets over it and the second book is all ass-kicking lesbian chick. :)
Eileen Wilks' Lupi books. These are technically labeled romance but they are totally urban fantasy. They follow two couples through the serious, switching off which one is the focus, although both are in each book. The first one is kinda standard urban fantasy, but stick with it, it gets really amazing in book two and onward. Oh, and one of the heroines, Lily? is a POC; Asian. Her relationships with her mother, and in one of the books, her grandmother, are at the forefront, as is her relationship with Cynna, who is a kickass tattooed sorceress chick. And in the later books there is a... sorta genderqueer/gender neutral demon who ends up on earth and later decides to identify as a woman, and... there's lots of relationships between women and competent characters. Is amazing.
Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire -- OMG MUST READ. Awesome world setting, and the book starts off with the heroine and her telepathic cousin/best friend trolling for bad guys. Also, the heroine is a waitress at a strip club, and her relationships with the other women she works with is a major part of the story.
the Demonica books by Larissa Ione -- with the caveat that these are DEFINITELY more towards romance, and there is slightly more focus on the heroes... however, the women kick ass and take names, and they aren't treated unequally imo. It is... kinda like Angel in setting and tone, with lots more sex, and less refridgeration of women. I really am borderline on recommending these in this list because of the focus on the men, but, I really think they are worth reading.
The Edge books by Ilona Andrews - these are sorta Southern fantasy books that feel like they could be in our world. There is a HUGE focus on family here because the setting is Deep South. So you do see a lot of the relationships between the women in the various books, and the women definitely hold their own.
Not quite urban fantasy but the Psy Changeling series by Nalini Singh -- again, more toward romance, this time futuristic... combine shapeshifters and PsyCorp from Babylon 5 and you have these books. But the women of the various packs play a huge role, and they are all very involved with each other. And Tamsin is awesome (she's kinda the mother hen). And they have less consent issues than a lot of romance, that I've found.
Steampunk... I LOVE the Meljean Brook ones. I will, however, note that there are dubious consent issues in the first one. I don't recall if that's the case in the novella she has in the Burning Up anthology (which is excellent; it's probably my favorite anthology ever because ALL of the novellas are amazing), but it's not really out of line for the romance genre. It didn't bother me because it was clear the heroine was attracted, but some people might have issues, so I mention it. Heart of Steel, the second book in the series, did not have the same consent issues, and also has a woman of color as the main character. (So does The Iron Duke for that matter; Mina is Asian). It... hm. Mostly? Stands alone. Some of the worldbuilding stuff might be confusing if you just read the second, but I think that Meljean has a cliff's notes style world guide on her website.
The Greyfriar books are awesome, too. Vampires + Steampunk = WIN.
The Parasol Protectorate books are excellent and totally capture the whole Victorian writing and speaking style without being boring as shit. The heroine is hilarious, and the supporting cast are pretty awesome. There are also gay and bisexual characters, although one is fairly stereotypical (but he's awesome so I'll forgive that).
All Men of Genius is amazing, and I loved it enough to actually write a review on GoodReads. (http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/265875974)
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