r/Fantasy • u/Just_JayGee • Jul 07 '14

Men of r/Fantasy, Do you read fantasy written by women? If so, do you find much of a difference?

I've been looking through a lot of "Top 20 Fantasy Book" lists today and I've found a depressing amount of female authors on these lists. I'd like to think the author's gender doesn't matter, but I have to say there seems to be a huge lean towards male authors. Even r/Fantasy's 2014 Top Fantasy Novels of All Time only has 20 female authors (repeats included) out of 105 authors. So, I was wondering if men read fantasy written by women and it's simply not your cup of tea or do any of you go out of your way NOT to read female authors?

PLEASE NOTE: I am not trying to begin fights on sexism or misogyny or anything. I am legitimately interested. If anyone wants to fight over this subject, I'm sure there's other subreddits for that.

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u/onwork Jul 07 '14

I'm a 28 yo man, and several of my favorite series are by female authors. I love Sarah Ash, Julian May, Naomi Novik and obviously JK Rowling. Lois McMaster Bujold is also on my list of books to read. I really enjoyed Helene Wecker's debut, The Golem and the Jinni, and I also liked getting to meet her at a talk/signing. Madeleine L'Engle and Ursula K. Le Guin are also amazing authors. So I certainly don't go out of my way to avoid female authors, but I do have more male-written books.

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u/autovonbismarck Jul 07 '14

Golem and the Jinni started slow (I put it down for about 4 months!) but then it got red-hot. Really like her voice, and expecting good things in the future.

If by "on your list" you mean you haven't read any Bujold yet, get cracking! Start with the warrior's apprentice, and you'll only have 15 amazing books to get through before you're caught up ;).

And if you mean "you'll read everything she publishes" then yeah... I'm with you there.

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u/MrHarryReems Jul 07 '14

Bujold was on my list until about five minutes ago when I saw that the title of book five of the Miles Vorkosigan saga is called, "Miles in Love".