Elizabeth Moon: Crafting Strong Female Protagonists in Science Fiction

by Kerry-Ann McDade · March 10, 2025

Quote from Elizabeth Moon: Crafting Strong Female Protagonists in Science Fiction

Elizabeth Moon: Crafting Strong Female Protagonists in Science Fiction – How To Write the Future podcast, episode 143

“So I highly recommend Elizabeth Moon, if you like military ship captains who are these strong, interesting women. I also really adored her fantasy.”

In this episode, titled “Elizabeth Moon: Crafting Strong Female Protagonists in Science Fiction” host Beth Barany shines a spotlight on one of her favorite science fiction and fantasy authors and shares her favorite works by Moon, including “Once A Hero” and the “Kai Vata” series, highlighting the author’s masterful creation of strong female protagonists, particularly in military sci-fi.

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About the How To Write the Future podcast

The How To Write The Future podcast is for science fiction and fantasy writers who want to write positive futures and successfully bring those stories out into the marketplace. Hosted by Beth Barany, science fiction novelist and creativity coach for writers. We cover tips for fiction writers. This podcast is for readers too if you’re at all curious about the future of humanity.

This podcast is for you if you have questions like:

– How do I create a believable world for my science fiction story?

– How do I figure out what’s not working if my story feels flat?

– How do I make my story more interesting and alive?

This podcast is for readers too if you’re at all curious about the future of humanity.

Transcript for Elizabeth Moon: Crafting Strong Female Protagonists in Science Fiction

Hey everyone. I am Beth Barany and I host How to Write the Future Podcast. I’m a science fiction and fantasy writer, and a book coach and writing teacher. I specialize in helping science fiction and fantasy writers write, publish, edit, and market their novels to the delight of their readers.

I help you build fabulous worlds and really knock the socks off your readers.

[00:28] Spotlight on Elizabeth Moon

All right, so today I am here to talk to you about one of my favorite science fiction and fantasy authors: Elizabeth Moon.

Surrounding me is six, seven books by Elizabeth Moon Plus. Uh, no. Eight, eight books by Elizabeth Moon, one by Elizabeth Moon and Anne McCaffrey.

I’ll have to talk about Anne McCaffrey in another episode. Also a deep influence, to me and someone I read when I was a teenager.

I started reading Elizabeth Moon as an adult and I absolutely adore her work. She writes science fiction and fantasy, and I actually met her science fiction first. Whenever I describe Elizabeth Moon to people, I say that she writes kick ass military space pilots, and I love that. I love kick ass military, space captains, all of her main characters are captains, women captains in this far future, Earth is a distant, vague memory, if it’s even mentioned. And also she writes fabulous extended families.

So books will have different women protagonists who belong to a big family.

[01:45] Favorite Books by Elizabeth Moon

Now, my absolute favorite book of hers that I’ve read, reread multiple times is called Once A Hero. It’s called Once A Hero, and it actually has a sequel that I don’t think I’ve read multiple times. I’m not sure. Rules of Engagement.

And both of these are part of a greater series.

[02:06] Kai Vata Series Overview

Now, the other books in her sci-fi that I just absolutely adore features a character, that has been reoccurring.

And I’m gonna pop out here for you. This one. Oh yeah. Kylara Vata. Here’s this one. Trading in Danger, Marque and Reprisal. And then there was a big gap in time, both for Elizabeth Moon as a writer. She was writing other things. There’s also a gap in this main character’s life: Kai Vata, who at first, defies her family’s expectations. She’s supposed to go into business, into the space shipping business, but instead she goes to military academy and rises through the ranks there and has all kinds of fabulous adventures and then we get, which is the first one? Yeah. Cold Welcome.

Now she has risen through the ranks and she is now an admiral. And these came out fairly recently. In the second book, in that series is Into the Fire. And I don’t think the third book has come out because I am waiting for it and I haven’t seen it yet.

[03:09] Elizabeth Moon’s Standalone and Biography

So she also has a standalone book that I highly recommend called Remnant Population.

What is so interesting about this book is the main character is an old woman who’s been left on this planet and has no patience for tom foolery and the voice in this book is just so wonderful. Elizabeth Moon was one of the first women in the Marine Corps in 1967. She is so interesting. You can go to her website and read her bio and I’ll just tell it to you here what she has on her bio. “Elizabeth Moon grew up in South Texas a few miles from the Mexican border, giving her early experience with major cultural differences and leading to a lifelong fascination of how culture shapes individuals and how they adapt or don’t to new experiences.

“She has degrees in both history from Rice University with several courses in cultural anthropology on the side, plus biology at University of Texas. She served three years active duty in the Marine Corps between the two degrees during which she worked with what were then quite large computers and did graduate work and biology at the University of Texas at San Antonio.

“She married a husband while both were in the military. They have one adult son.”

There’s a lot more there about her. You can read on her bio page. I really admire Elizabeth Moon.

[04:34] Meeting Elizabeth Moon and Fantasy Works

I got to meet Elizabeth Moon at a book signing in San Francisco some years ago. That was really fun.

So I highly recommend Elizabeth Moon, if you like military ship captains who are these strong, interesting women. I also really adored her fantasy.

And do I have one of them with me? I thought I had one. ah we go. Book one. She has this fabulous series, called The Deed of Parksenarian, and the first one is called Sheep’s Farmer’s Daughter. And the tagline is, she dared to become a legend.

Really, wonderful, wonderful series. I have to say, I am partial to her science fiction.

[05:11] Conclusion and Writing Tips

So that is today’s episode on one of my very favorite science fiction of fantasy writers, Elizabeth Moon, with whom, I am patiently waiting or for her next book, after, Into the Fire and Cold Welcome.

[05:24] Ready to Edit Checklist

All right. if you are curious about improving your science fiction and fantasy.

I’m gonna offer up today another goodie that I don’t think I have offered in this podcast for a while. It’s my Ready To Edit checklist. This is for people who are not sure if they’re ready to edit their manuscript or not. So go ahead and check out the checklist to see if you are indeed ready. The checklist comes with six items on the checklist, and it comes with six little videos.

All right. Hope you enjoy that. That’s it for this week, everyone. Write long and prosper.

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ABOUT BETH BARANY

Beth Barany teaches science fiction and fantasy novelists how to write, edit, and publish their books as a coach, teacher, consultant, and developmental editor. She’s an award-winning fantasy and science fiction novelist and runs the podcast, “How To Write The Future.”

Learn more about Beth Barany at these sites:

Author site / Coaching site / School of Fiction / Writer’s Fun Zone blog

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CREDITS

EDITED WITH DESCRIPT: https://www.descript.com?lmref=_w1WCA (Refer-a-Friend link)
MUSIC CREDITS : Music from Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/fuzz-buzz License code: UMMKDRL02DFGKJ0L. “Fuzz buzz” by Soundroll. Commercial license: https://musicvine.com/track/soundroll/fuzz-buzz.
DISTRIBUTED BY BUZZSPROUT: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=1994465 (Refer-a-Friend link)
SHOW PRODUCTION BY Beth Barany
SHOW CO-PRODUCTION + NOTES by Kerry-Ann McDade

C 2025 BETH BARANY

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