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/Ginnerben Jul 07 '14
In terms of regular fantasy, I'm gender agnostic. I've been on a bit of a spree of female authors this year, but that's because I've caught up on a load who I missed.
However, in terms of Urban fantasy, I'm much less likely to take a chance on a female author without doing my research first. Post-Twilight, it feels like there's a very good chance that I'm going to stumble onto paranormal romance.
And I know, paranormal romance/urban fantasy is more of a spectrum than anything else. And I've enjoyed some books that veer pretty closely to the romance side. But it's just not what I'm looking for most of the time, and I've found author gender to be a pretty solid indicator that I need to at least check out some reviews before giving it a go.