[QUOTE=Raguleader]
At the risk of a sidebar, one of my favorite nations in the Honor Harrington books is the one founded by the Mafia as a means of getting away from The Law so they could operate freely… and the planet with the strictest law enforcement in the known galaxy. If you violate the speed limit in your aircar, they remotely shut off the engine. 
[/QUOTE]
That’s Erewhon. I like this example of what you are talking about :
[QUOTE=Crown of Slaves]
She flipped the mike back on. “Out of idle curiosity, do you have a death penalty here on Erewhon?”
The cabbie gave her a very aggrieved look. “Of course not, lady! Erewhon’s a civilized planet, y’know.”
She started to relax. Not much, though, as the cabbie expanded on the theme.
“Worst you can get is life without parole. In solitary confinement. For really nasty cases they tack on ‘sensory deprivation,’ too. That means your cell is maybe two meters by three meters, with no windows, and the only exercise you get is in a stimulation tank.”
He was apparently an enthusiast on the subject. “Yup. No sunlight for your top felons. We don’t go easy on criminals here on Erewhon, you betcha. Not one single day, for the rest of their stinking existence. Live like vampires. Not only that—”
[/QUOTE]
And if it needs it, another recommendation for Honor Harrington and David Weber in general if you like strong, nay outright ferocious female characters.
Any of the Chicks In Chainmail anthologies.
The sequel to Gould’s Jumper, Reflex, portrays Millie (Davey’s wife) as an incredibly strong and capable woman.
I Claudius by Robert Graves has more then a few strong women in it,Augustus’s wife Livia is shown as being even more strong willed and ruthless then her husband,it is many years since I read it and its sequel Claudius the God but I seem to recall many other strong female characters in them who are all the more interesting because they were real historic personages.
I also recommend both books as a bloody good read.
The Awakening, by Kate Chopin. Amazon.com
Awesome read.
“Sister Carrie” by Theodore Dreiser
[QUOTE=starryspice]
So, can anyone recommend a book to me that portrays women as equals to men, where this is the natural state of affairs? This is probably not all that hard, but I can’t think of any right now, and I’d really like to read something with a little bit of equality to it. To give you an idea of what I’d really like right now: a book version of Battlestar Galactica, where the women are interesting, complex, daring and ambitious, just as much as the men are, but without beating the reader/watcher over the head.
[/QUOTE]
Why can’t editors realize there is an audience for this?! This is what I write, and my agent spent a year trying to sell my first book with no success. (She’s about to try again with book two. Different plan of attack but same character.)
And Marion Alston is the second character that came to mind when I saw the thread title. Easily one of my favorite characters in the series.
[QUOTE=DeadlyAccurate]
Why can’t editors realize there is an audience for this?! This is what I write, and my agent spent a year trying to sell my first book with no success. (She’s about to try again with book two. Different plan of attack but same character.)
And Marion Alston is the second character that came to mind when I saw the thread title. Easily one of my favorite characters in the series.
[/QUOTE]
Please tell us the title(s), and let us know who eventually buys it and when it’ll/they’ll be released! I know I’ll be buying it, and I’d bet most of the Dopers participating in this thread will, too!
Everyone on the entire Internet will know when that happens.