Barry Interviewed on “Hey, Women! Comics!” (And why having good female characters matters.)

The blog “Hey, Women! Comics!” has posted an interview with me.

Here’s a bit from the interview; there’s more at the link.

HWC: What sort of woman do you think Hereville best appeals to?

BD: I’m not sure! I’ve noticed that most of Hereville’s reviewers are female, though, so there must be some appeal there.

I intended Hereville to be a feminist book – not in the sense of being over-the-top or preachy, but int he sense of writing a book with a kick-ass but not perfect female protagonist, and with a lot of female characters who actually matter to the story (especially Mirka’s not-at-all-evil stepmother, Fruma.) I often read books to my two honorary nieces, Sydney and Maddox, and they’re always very aware of if a book has girl characters they can relate to or not; without any prompting from me, they’re always asking “is this one a girl?” and pointing to the female characters and saying “I’m her!” So I think it’s important.

I think any reader who likes fun, character-based fantasy stories could enjoy Hereville.

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