Fearless (novel series)

"Fearless" is a series of teen novels written by Francine Pascal, who also called forth the "Sweet Valley High" franchise from the bowels of hell.

Plot overview

Set in New York City, "Fearless" tells the story of 17-year-old Gaia Moore, a girl born without the fear gene, and serial ruiner of lives. The final book in the series was published in November 2004. Books 1-31 are available in both the British and American covers but 32-36 are only available in American ones. There are 36 books in the series, though two additional "super editions" give extra information about the past and present of the series.

The first novel starts of in New York, and Gaia has just moved in with her new foster parents and beginning to attend a new school. She has a unique personality, and bitter sense of sarcasm. At night, she goes walking through Washington Square Park, purposely waiting for muggers to take advantage of her because she's a girl. When they do, she takes advantage of her lack of fear gene and training in many martial arts.

It is later discovered that Gaia has an unrealistically complicated family history. Her father, Tom Moore, is a CIA agent. He has a twin brother, Oliver Moore. There was a complicated love triangle between Tom Moore, Katia Moore (Gaia's mother) and Oliver Moore (most of this family history is learned in Special Edition 1, "Before Gaia"). This love triangle results in Oliver attempting to shoot Tom, but instead, accidentally kills Katia. After this tragic event, Tom realized that his brother would continue hunting Gaia if Tom stayed with her, so he forced himself out of her life.

The main plot for all the books is that somebody is always after Gaia. Seriously. Always. It never ends. In the first lot, Oliver (Loki) is trying to win Gaia back and make her trust him. It is later understood that he does this because he loves her and believes that she is his daughter. However, he goes about it the wrong way, and hires CSI agents to track her, and even goes to the point that he kills her friends because he wants her to be close to him only. After he realizes Gaia will never trust him, and Tom comes into the picture, Oliver chases Gaia down to try and figure out how she is fearless, and to try to do tests on her to possibly create another person that lacks this gene (cloning). After a stunning event, Loki goes into a coma. When he wakes up, he realizes what an evil person he was, and all he wants to do is help Gaia.

This is when the Rodke family comes in. The Rodkes were a famous family that owned Rodke pharmaceuticals. Gaia became friends with the two younger children, Liz and Chris Rodke. Eventually, it was found out that their father was trying to get Gaia's DNA and create a drug called "cocaine" He made Chris sell these drugs on the street, to see the side effects. His plan was to later sell the improvised cocaine to the army.

Ed Fargo: Gaia's first friend is Ed Fargo, an ex-skate rat. He instantly likes Gaia because he sees her as the only person who doesn't care that he's in a wheelchair...she still treats him the same (like dirt). After countless times of helping each other out, Gaia and Ed become very close friends. They have late Friday night phone conversations that become a ritual. At one point, Gaia tries to imitate the little boy from The Sixth Sense. Ed finds this hilarious and says "You have got to do the most terrible impression of being scared I have ever seen in my life." This strikes Gaia in the heart, because Ed is her best friend, and even he doesn't know about her Fearless gene.

Relationship: From the very start of the books Ed realizes that he really likes Gaia more than a friend. Later on the series, Gaia and Ed become emotionally involved. However, this relationship comes to an end. After this, an odd tension is left between them.

Sam Moon: From the instant Gaia sees Sam, she's attracted to him. The first time Sam realizes he likes Gaia is when she was locked out of her apartment, and it was pouring rain. Eventually, Sam breaks up with his girlfriend Heather and starts having a relationship with Gaia. After this peaceful bliss of a relationship, Loki begins to blackmail Sam. Gaia is confused of why Sam is being so distant. The blackmailing comes to the tip of the mountain when Sam guiltily ignores it and goes with Gaia to a restaurant. After an ambush and street chase, he is shot, and presumably dies.

A few books later, Gaia realizes with relief that Sam is not dead, but put in a prison camp, being held hostage. She saves him, but by now, she and Ed are in love. Sam doesn't know this, and is crushed by the reality of it. Gaia keeps Sam hidden, because she knows that if Loki finds him, he'll kill him. Ed is kept out in the open, because he is in a wheelchair. When Ed finds Sam and realizes Gaia has been lying to him and seeing Sam, he is overwhelmed by jealously. They have a big public fight, and then break up.

Heather Gannis Heather is the popular girl at school, the prom queen, the one that everybody envies. And of course, they all envy her boyfriend, Sam Moon. The first time Gaia meets Heather, she accidentally spills coffee all over her. This is only the beginning of a horrible rivalry. Heather and Ed used to date, but they broke up after Ed's accident that caused him to be in a wheelchair. She is constantly mean to Gaia, and always tries to publicly embarrass her.

Loki manipulates Heather into trying the fearless drug he attempts to create. This drug makes Heather fearless for a little while, but then the side effects kick in and she loses consciousness. When she wakes up, she is blind and in the hospital again. After this, she and Gaia become close friends.

Titles

# Fearless
# Sam
# Run
# Twisted
# Kiss
# Payback
# Rebel
# Heat
# Blood
# Liar
# Trust
# Killer
# Bad
# Missing
# Tears
# Naked
# Flee
# Love
# Twins
# UK title - Hurt. US title - Sex
# Blind
# Alone
# Fear
# Betrayed
# Lost
# Escape
# Shock
# Chase
# Lust
# Freak
# Normal
# Terror
# Wired
# Fake
# Exposed
# Gone

Super Editions

# Before Gaia
# Gaia Abducted
#The Silent Hand
#The Screaming Heart

Fearless FBI

# Kill Game
# Live Bait
# Agent Out
# Naked Eye

Television Show

A pilot loosely based on the series and given the same name starring Rachael Leigh Cook as Gaia was filmed for The WB. The show took place 5 years after the original Fearless series of books with Gaia now 23 working as an agent for the FBI. The show never made it to air due to casting and other concerns. Its time slot was later filled with "One Tree Hill" on the network's fall schedule, though it was later considered a serious contender for a mid-season replacement. The pilot was filmed a second time, but issues over the main character could not be resolved. Producers could not show a character without a fear gene showing emotion in a convincing fashion.

pinoff

A continuation of the series, "Fearless FBI", was introduced in June 2005. As of August 2006, four installments had been published. Will, Catherine and Kim are some main characters in the series other than Gaia.

Fans Online

The series was -- and still is -- widely loved online. Fans have created various extensive fansites, however most of these websites are now years old and no longer updated. Fans still however meet at the very popular site Fearless Forever and Fearless Gaia (www.fearlessgaia.com).

ee also

*"Fearless" (Proposed TV series.)
* [http://www.thehiddenbookcase.com/francine_pascal_fearless.html Fearless Website (The Hidden Bookcase)]
* [http://fearless.creative-disaster.net/ Fearless Forever]
* [http://www.fearlessgaia.com Fearless Gaia]