C. J. Cherryh’s Morgaine series.
The thing about Calvin and Heinlein’s women is that they were actually more believable than the female characters in most SF/fantasy at the time. Yes, as bad as they were, at least they had more than a couple of brain cells in their heads, and they weren’t simply love interests. It’s like reading Kipling…when we read his work through today’s eyes, we see how racist and sexist they are, you have to read the stories through yesterday’s eyes if you’re reading for enjoyment. I think that you have to give Asimov and Heinlein credit for trying to write female characters that were actually people, even if they didn’t manage to do so.
CJ Cherryh. I’m not so sure her characters are strong as they are among the best characterizations I have read. Both male and female, but primarily I remember her female characters, as it’s been a few decades since I read SF. Her characters are as complete as first rate literature. Loved them.
William Gibson has several.
Molly from Neuromancer
My fav was Cayce Pollard from Pattern Recognition. (I love that book)
How could this thread have gone five minutes without mention of Game of Thrones, and the rest of the Ice and Fire series?
Julian May had some pretty strong female characters in her writings. Although she possibly undermined that by making several male members of the Remillard family the most memorable characters I’ve ever read about in Sci-Fi.
And by that I mean Marc and Jon Remillard in particular.
I mean… Holy fuck. Those scenes she writes about when those two phenomenal brothers took walks along the river… Jon “Jack the Bodiless” and Marc “The Angel of the Abyss” before Jon’s infant body became riddled with cancer and the brothers became sworn enemies…
Gonna have to read those books again soon.
It occurs to me that nobody has yet mentioned the Harry Potter books. Sure, the protagonist is male, but nobody would ever accuse Hermione of being a helpless damsel in distress. Nor Luna Lovegood, and while Ginny did need rescuing once, she’s gotten herself out of more trouble than she’s gotten herself into. All of the adult women seem to hold their own pretty well, too.
I really like C.S. Friedman and some of her female characters are magnificent. Jamsia Shido in This Alien Shore is particularly memorable. In Conquest Born is a badass novel and its female protagonist does not disappoint.
Priscilla “Hutch” Hutchins in the Academy Series by Jack McDevitt was an excellent strong female character (heroine).
Bob