femlord
Spectator
Background to the Accident Prone Linda stories
Linda is based on a girl I used to know well. She was a former girlfriend of mine when I was 18 years old and she remained my girlfriend for a year.
She was a tall girl (5ft 11 inches) with dark hair and was half gypsy. She was also incredibly naïve and unlucky. By the age of 19, when I first met her, she'd ALREADY had SEVEN broken engagements!
Even at school Linda was unlucky. At the age of 15 she found herself accidentally trapped on the flat roof of the school. She was also suspended for smoking and drinking when another girl stashed cigarettes and a bottle of whisky in her satchel hastily because she saw a teacher coming. Another girl set off the fire extinguisher just as a teacher was approaching and rushed back into class leaving Linda to take the blame!
Linda was very attractive and had lots of boyfriends but all of them (except, ironically, me!) were unfaithful to her and used to con her out of her money. (She worked; most of them didn't!)
Some years later, I started writing my own stories about her. My Linda is obviously a fictional - not to say fantasy! - character in an imaginary world but I think that the REAL Linda would have felt and acted in the same way as my fictional character.
I also think that she would have got herself into very much the same situations if she WAS placed in my imaginary universe!
Setting
Most of Linda's adventures are set in fictional places. The early stories are mainly based in Aldminster, a town that is loosely based upon Winchester and Petersfield. Some of them take place in London, Wales, Scotland, North Cyprus, Russia, America, Romania, Poland, Africa and Iran.
In the later stories I also use a second imaginary location called Eastminster. This is a larger town than Aldminster and is actually a city. It is loosely based on a combination of Basingstoke, Telford and Milton Keynes.
The situations where Linda finds herself in difficulties include school, baby sitting, college and work environments. She has a bewildering variety of jobs, ranging from waitress, barmaid, car mechanic, construction worker, lifeguard, bailiff, charity worker, office girl, police woman, teacher, university lecturer, journalist, TV presenter and even a soldier, a mental patient, a slave girl, a sportswoman, a politician and, of course, she's frequently a prison inmate!
Political background
Linda's story begins with the unexpected victory of the Justice Party at the British General Election. Justice brings in a series of anti-feminist laws which soon become increasingly simply anti female ones.
Women at the beginning of Linda's story could still vote, run for public office, serve on juries and had pretty much the same rights as men.
Over the next twenty years, following five successive election victories for Justice, only women over the age of thirty and with an annual income of at least a million are still allowed to vote, stand for public office or serve as judges. Even they are not allowed to serve on juries.
Every aspect of a female's life is transformed under the increasingly harsh anti-female laws. Some are able to play the system and survive and thrive; others, like Linda, become victims. Eventually she becomes able to work the system and transform her life.
Geography
Most of the action in the 'Linda' stories takes place in Southshire, an imaginary county made up of parts of Surrey, Hampshire, Sussex and Dorset. The main towns in Southshire are the city of Eastminster (which is a new town only built when Linda is 30 years old), Aldminster and the seaside resort of Eastcastle (loosely based on Bournemouth.)
Linda is based on a girl I used to know well. She was a former girlfriend of mine when I was 18 years old and she remained my girlfriend for a year.
She was a tall girl (5ft 11 inches) with dark hair and was half gypsy. She was also incredibly naïve and unlucky. By the age of 19, when I first met her, she'd ALREADY had SEVEN broken engagements!
Even at school Linda was unlucky. At the age of 15 she found herself accidentally trapped on the flat roof of the school. She was also suspended for smoking and drinking when another girl stashed cigarettes and a bottle of whisky in her satchel hastily because she saw a teacher coming. Another girl set off the fire extinguisher just as a teacher was approaching and rushed back into class leaving Linda to take the blame!
Linda was very attractive and had lots of boyfriends but all of them (except, ironically, me!) were unfaithful to her and used to con her out of her money. (She worked; most of them didn't!)
Some years later, I started writing my own stories about her. My Linda is obviously a fictional - not to say fantasy! - character in an imaginary world but I think that the REAL Linda would have felt and acted in the same way as my fictional character.
I also think that she would have got herself into very much the same situations if she WAS placed in my imaginary universe!
Setting
Most of Linda's adventures are set in fictional places. The early stories are mainly based in Aldminster, a town that is loosely based upon Winchester and Petersfield. Some of them take place in London, Wales, Scotland, North Cyprus, Russia, America, Romania, Poland, Africa and Iran.
In the later stories I also use a second imaginary location called Eastminster. This is a larger town than Aldminster and is actually a city. It is loosely based on a combination of Basingstoke, Telford and Milton Keynes.
The situations where Linda finds herself in difficulties include school, baby sitting, college and work environments. She has a bewildering variety of jobs, ranging from waitress, barmaid, car mechanic, construction worker, lifeguard, bailiff, charity worker, office girl, police woman, teacher, university lecturer, journalist, TV presenter and even a soldier, a mental patient, a slave girl, a sportswoman, a politician and, of course, she's frequently a prison inmate!
Political background
Linda's story begins with the unexpected victory of the Justice Party at the British General Election. Justice brings in a series of anti-feminist laws which soon become increasingly simply anti female ones.
Women at the beginning of Linda's story could still vote, run for public office, serve on juries and had pretty much the same rights as men.
Over the next twenty years, following five successive election victories for Justice, only women over the age of thirty and with an annual income of at least a million are still allowed to vote, stand for public office or serve as judges. Even they are not allowed to serve on juries.
Every aspect of a female's life is transformed under the increasingly harsh anti-female laws. Some are able to play the system and survive and thrive; others, like Linda, become victims. Eventually she becomes able to work the system and transform her life.
Geography
Most of the action in the 'Linda' stories takes place in Southshire, an imaginary county made up of parts of Surrey, Hampshire, Sussex and Dorset. The main towns in Southshire are the city of Eastminster (which is a new town only built when Linda is 30 years old), Aldminster and the seaside resort of Eastcastle (loosely based on Bournemouth.)
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