I’ve long been a fan of Abner Senires and his online Cyberpunk serial, KAT AND MOUSE. So when I heard that Season Two of my favorite girls was coming out, it was a no-brainer to have him on the blog to talk about the ladies. So without further ado, let me turn this over to him.

Before I start, I’d like to thank Josh for hosting me today for this stop on the KAT AND MOUSE SEASON TWO book blog tour. Josh has been huge supporter of Kat and Mouse and their adventures so I’m honored to be here today.

Now, on to our topic…

Meeting She Who Kicks Ass

One summer day, when I was about 10 or 11, I was eating lunch in front of the TV, flipping channels, looking for something to watch. Usually I’d be tuned to our local PBS station at about that time of the day watching Reading Rainbow or The Book Bird (aka Cover to Cover and Readit) but I wasn’t. Instead I was surfing, seeing if anything caught my eye. Most of what appeared were game shows or soap operas so I kept channel surfing.

And then I came across some sort of cartoon. It was Japanese animation with English dialogue. But it didn’t look like Star Blazers or Battle of the Planets. Besides, those wouldn’t be on until later that afternoon.

What I saw was an action sequence featuring a blond girl wearing an over-sized blue tunic winging her way through the sky on some sort of glider and being pursued by a gigantic bulbous airship.

I was transfixed.

Unfortunately, I only caught a portion of it because I got called away to the kitchen to help out my grandparents and missed the rest of that cartoon.

I ran across the same cartoon again a year later when I saw the same blond girl, this time inside what looked to be a castle chamber, surrounded by armored assailants. I watched, in rapt attention, as she snatched up a walking stick, did short work of one assailant, then another, then leap backwards to avoid a slashing sword, scoop up a sword of her own, and charge her attacker.

This time, I saw the full sequence and the rest of the cartoon that followed.

The cartoon was a movie called Warriors of the Wind.

And it introduced me to someone I call She Who Kicks Ass.

She Who Kicks Ass burned herself into my brain and, as I got older, She made herself known to me in other incarnations. I saw her again as Miriya Parina in Robotech; as Ripley and Vasquez in Aliens; as Sarah Connor in Terminator 2; as Kei and Yuri in Dirty Pair; as Rally and Minnie-May in Gunsmith Cats; as Buffy in the Buffy TV series; and as Xena and Gabrielle in Xena: Warrior Princess, to name a few

She also manifested Herself to me in fiction: Hazel Stone from The Cat Who Walks Through Walls; Polgara, Ce’Nedra, and Liselle from The Belgariad and The Mallorean; Ky Vatta from the Vatta’s War novels; Honor Harrington from the Honor Harrington novels; and Harper Blaine from the Greywalker series, again, to name a few.

But it began with that initial incarnation of She Who Kicks Ass, who later turned out to be Nausicaa, the heroine of the classic anime Nausicaa and the Valley of the Wind.

It began with her.

Had it not been for Nausicaa (Princess Xandra in Warriors of the Wind), I never would have written Kat and Mouse.

Nausicaa’s inner strength, resolve, tenacity, and willingness and ability to duke it out when necessary inspired me to subconsciously seek out other characters like her.

Thanks to her and because of her, I’ve been a long-time admirer–and now a writer–of the female action hero.

Why the female action hero?

Because she’s strong and tough, smart and resourceful. Because she acts and doesn’t wait to be rescued. Because she can still be a woman when she wants to be.

And frankly there’ve been enough male action heroes.

Time to give women the chance to be counted alongside them.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to Kat and Mouse.

They’re about to kick some ass.

AUTHOR BIO
Abner Senires writes sci-fi pulp adventure and probably drinks far too much coffee. He lives just outside Seattle, WA with his wife and a pair of rambunctious cats.

WEBSITE: www.AbnerSenires.com
BLOG: blog.AbnerSenires.com
TWITTER: @abnersenires

KAT AND MOUSE, GUNS FOR HIRE: PAYBACK
Things are heating up for near-future female mercenaries Kat and Mouse as they tackle even more hair-raising jobs for shadowy clients and run afoul of terrorists, freedom fighters, hired assassins, a Japanese crime syndicate, and warring punkergangs. And smack in the middle of this, an enemy from the past is back and wants revenge on the duo.

Now these two sassy sisters-in-arms must fight back and survive…and still get their jobs done.

Available from:
Kindle
Smashwords/epub

This whole week has been focused on paying good will forward. For those who have played along, thank you for supporting some very talented and inspiring writers. Please continue to do so and also check out other authors listed on this website and on my Twitter feed. These folks take words and weave them into wonderful tapestries. For less than the price of a latte, you can help them continue to do so.

Pay It Forward Week ends at midnight tonight. That means there’s still time for you to buy books from this week’s authors, myself included. For every sale, I’ll donate $3 (the cover price for my recent release, SUMMONED CHAOS) per book to Troops First Foundation. That means you’ll not only be supporting authors you love, but also an organization well worth the investment of a few dollars.

What is Troops First Foundation?

Troops First Foundation was created in 2008 by golf celebrity David Ferhety and his friend Rick Kell. Their mission was to provide care for wounded warriors through a number of initiatives to include:

Operation Front Door – a program to help wounded vets buy homes.

Operation Coaches and Warriors – a program to provide wounded vets with messages from their favorite basketball coaches.

Operation Proper Exit – a program to allow vets who were injured and removed from combat a chance to return to Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) so they can depart the combat zone by choice.

Operation V.I.P. – a program where celebrities and burn victims at Brooke Army Medical Center can have some one-on-one time.

Why Troops First?

War is an atrocious thing. It is the most destructive, violent answer to political troubles. It is dark, bloody, and terrifying. With the dawn of the Information Age, these horrors are accessible to anyone, anywhere, at anytime.

Despite the brutal realities piped into our news feeds, we still have men and women willing to serve. It’s almost impossible for them to not know what they’re signing up for, and yet, they still do it. They leave the safety of their homes, get yelled at by Drill Instructors for several months, then ship off to the far corners of the planet.

Many return home forever changed. Physically and emotionally.

Thankfully, our nation has truly embraced the concept of taking care of our wounded veterans. While the system isn’t perfect, there are hundreds of worthy charities dedicated to helping these heroes. I have had the privilege to participate in events for various organizations, but Troops First stands out because of two very important reasons:

1) Golf. The organization flies wounded vets all over the country to play golf with Pros and Amateurs. Many times these events are on PGA-quality courses. As an avid golfer myself, I appreciate the levity of offering wounded vets the chance to meet and compete with professional golfers on courses we mortals could never afford to play.

As small as that may sound, the rivers of this run deep. One gentleman I was paired with several years ago, an Explosive Ordinace Disposal (EOD) tech, joked that he’d had 1199 great missions and one bad one. He was literally blown to pieces and the doctors stitched him back together. The damage to his ribs (replaced) and spine (fused) meant he had limited flexibility, so his doctor told him to play golf to stretch the muscles. Many years later, he credited golf and the only reason he was mobile. More to the point, he swore that without Troops First, he would never have been able to shed the emotional weight he was carrying because of his injuries. Something as silly and playing 18-holes with fellow wounded vets on a “big-league” course gave him hope.

Trust me folks, giving hope to our veterans when they are suffering through the darkness of personal struggles is huge.

2) Limited Media. Gang, I cannot begin to tell you how amazing this is. Not that there is zero media, but Troops First tries to minimize the impact this has on some vets. Most of the folks that Troops First supports have been ravaged by war. Missing limbs are the obvious injuries, but many also suffer Traumatic Brain Injuries. Many more, the invisible, emotional scars that are extremely difficult to treat. By keeping Troops First events small and personal, veterans are able to enjoy the day/weekend without being under a microscope or feeling like a marketing tool. As one guy metnioned to me on the tee box,  “It’s nice to not be paraded around for sympathy money.”

Troops First supports the men and women who protected this great nation of ours and paid for it. For many, that meant sacrifice that no one but another wounded warrior can comprehend. Troops First takes these brave individuals and gives them a safe, positive environment where they, and not the golfing Pros and Amateurs, are the focus. They devote time and money to ensure that America’s warriors, the ones willing to bear the brunt of violence in order to shield us at home, are treated like the heroes they truly are.

It is an honor to donate to a cause that supports the people who paid it forward to us.

I hope you’ll join me in doing the same for them.