Saw this interesting article this morning by the very smart Daniel Abraham on his urban fantasy books (written as MLN Hanover):

I think — as I’ve said elsewhere — that urban fantasy is a genre sitting on top of a great big huge cultural discomfort about women and power. The typical UF heroine (as I’ve come to understand her) is a kick-ass woman with a variety of possible lovers. (…) She’s been forced into power — either through accident of birth or by being transformed without her permission — and is therefore innocent of one of the central feminine cultural sins: ambition.

OK, that last sentence? Scares the heck out of me. Because, when I think about it, it applies to so many women characters (and not all in UF). And it’s wrong. Women should have the right to be ambitious and stand up for themselves and not have stuff forced upon them.

Gah.