Feminist Fun: Alien Tango

Gini Koch's science fiction romances have too much fun to take themselves seriously.  Kitty, the protagonist, probably realized that life was too short to stress the small stuff when she first noticed that her name, Katherine Katt, was a poor pun that her parents would pretend never to notice.  This attitude suited her well in the first book, Touched By an Alien, when Koch delighted in throwing ridiculous twists her way, and Kitty handled them with aplomb.

In the second book, Alien Tango, Kitty continues to enjoy herself on her own terms, which I find a strong and feminist place to be.  She likes her big purse, and can find stuff in it.  She knows some martial arts, but prefers to let the people with superpowers fight it out against the big trucks.  She enjoys great sex, but doesn't expect it to always lead to marriage.  True love is great, but if she's not treated well, she'll walk out.  Emotional cluelessness is not a male preserve, and neither are blinding flashes of brilliance.  And confidence in them.

This was a great book to read on lines at Disneyland, because the tone is light, there is something happening every few pages, and I'm not going to be tempted to share it with my kids (see the "great sex" reference above).  Although there are lots of complications, I didn't have to concentrate hard; it was easy to slide back in whenever I pulled it out of my bag.  And now I will always associate it with Space Mountain.