Blog Tour: Of Pens and Swords by Rena Rocford
Today I have the lovely Rena Rocford taking over my blog to talk about her new release Of Pens and Swords. Make sure you grab a copy, or add it to your goodreads TBR pile!
Thanks for letting me invade the blog today, Katie!
In today’s books, it’s really easy to find a book about a boy who goes on an adventure: Charlie of the chocolate factory fame, Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker. The advent of girls doing things only started recently. When I was little I wanted to be a warrior, but there weren’t any woman warriors around me (no one even told me about Joan of Arc, so I thought she was just a legend when I first heard of her). There were no women in the roles of doing great things. Despite ample historical evidence, none of the movies showed women fighting. So my brother took that to mean girls couldn’t fight. I always got to “play” as the maid or the mother. There were no other roles for me in our make believe, because there were no roles for me in the adventures we saw.
And this is just talking about genders. What about people of color? What about girls who want to be Cinderella, but they don’t have blue eyes and learn to hate their bodies because they can’t LOOK like Cinderella? Heavy stuff, but it’s this subtle biasing spoon fed to us through the media that warps the way we think and the way we view the world. And this is why I write all kinds of characters. We need them all so everyone can go on an adventure.
I get asked about why I wrote about a girl with one hand. Why not something else? The book would have been good even if the character had both her hands, so why write about a girl without a hand? The answer is because the character doesn't have both hands. Sometimes life is crummy like that. We have plenty of books with perfect people, but this book is about a girl with one hand because that's what happened to her. This was her story.
Of Pens and Swords
By Rena Rocford
Seventeen-year-old Cyra Berque wants two things in life: a date with Rochan and a chance to fence at the Olympics. But people with one hand don’t normally fence, and girls with big thighs don’t get the boy. Knowing that she wants to make the Olympics, Cyra’s coach sets her up with another coach, one who could take her all the way to the top, but the new coach costs more. Feeling her dreams slipping out of reach, Cyra agrees to tutor a ballerina with a rich father and a D minus in English. It’s triple the pay and triple the pain. The ballerina isn’t interested in passing classes―she wants Rochan, and she’s promised she’ll turn her D minus into a full-fledged F if Cyra doesn’t help her win the heart of Rochan.
Buy it now on Amazon!
When Rena Rocford isn’t taking over the world one book at a time, she can be found living out her mild-mannered life, wearing out dance shoes, raising a herd of pets, and enjoying her time with her family in beautiful Northern California.a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thanks for letting me invade the blog today, Katie!
In today’s books, it’s really easy to find a book about a boy who goes on an adventure: Charlie of the chocolate factory fame, Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker. The advent of girls doing things only started recently. When I was little I wanted to be a warrior, but there weren’t any woman warriors around me (no one even told me about Joan of Arc, so I thought she was just a legend when I first heard of her). There were no women in the roles of doing great things. Despite ample historical evidence, none of the movies showed women fighting. So my brother took that to mean girls couldn’t fight. I always got to “play” as the maid or the mother. There were no other roles for me in our make believe, because there were no roles for me in the adventures we saw.
And this is just talking about genders. What about people of color? What about girls who want to be Cinderella, but they don’t have blue eyes and learn to hate their bodies because they can’t LOOK like Cinderella? Heavy stuff, but it’s this subtle biasing spoon fed to us through the media that warps the way we think and the way we view the world. And this is why I write all kinds of characters. We need them all so everyone can go on an adventure.
I get asked about why I wrote about a girl with one hand. Why not something else? The book would have been good even if the character had both her hands, so why write about a girl without a hand? The answer is because the character doesn't have both hands. Sometimes life is crummy like that. We have plenty of books with perfect people, but this book is about a girl with one hand because that's what happened to her. This was her story.
Of Pens and Swords
By Rena Rocford
Seventeen-year-old Cyra Berque wants two things in life: a date with Rochan and a chance to fence at the Olympics. But people with one hand don’t normally fence, and girls with big thighs don’t get the boy. Knowing that she wants to make the Olympics, Cyra’s coach sets her up with another coach, one who could take her all the way to the top, but the new coach costs more. Feeling her dreams slipping out of reach, Cyra agrees to tutor a ballerina with a rich father and a D minus in English. It’s triple the pay and triple the pain. The ballerina isn’t interested in passing classes―she wants Rochan, and she’s promised she’ll turn her D minus into a full-fledged F if Cyra doesn’t help her win the heart of Rochan.
Buy it now on Amazon!
When Rena Rocford isn’t taking over the world one book at a time, she can be found living out her mild-mannered life, wearing out dance shoes, raising a herd of pets, and enjoying her time with her family in beautiful Northern California.a Rafflecopter giveaway
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