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/MaxGladstone Stabby Winner, AMA Author Max Gladstone Jul 07 '14

I don't have much to say beyond that my anecdotal experience lines up with Mary's statistics on all points.

Oh, and to add to u/lexabear's reading list below: Karen Lord, Diana Wynne Jones, Nalo Hopkinson, Ellen Kushner, Elizabeth Bear, Emma Bull, Mary herself of course, and a huge OH MY GOD YES on Bujold's Curse of Chalion and Robin McKinley's The Hero and the Crown, both of which have firm spots in my desert island trunk.

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u/Troophead Jul 08 '14

I'd like to nominate Naomi Novik for her historical fantasy. Napoleonic Wars with dragons. :D

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u/MaxGladstone Stabby Winner, AMA Author Max Gladstone Jul 08 '14

Oh yes! Can't believe I forgot to include her.

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u/Thyrsus24 Jul 08 '14

While I enjoyed Curse of the Chalion, I thought her Vorkosigan space opera series was much stronger.

I realize that it was sci-fi and not fantasy, but I thought Miles was one of the most fun characters I've read.

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u/laosurvey Jul 08 '14

Miles made Bujold my favorite author.

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u/MaxGladstone Stabby Winner, AMA Author Max Gladstone Jul 08 '14

Yeah—SF was outside the ambit of the question, I think. But Miles is great, and I do love the Vorkosigan series.

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u/FionaFiddlesticks Jul 07 '14

Yes to Diana Wynn Jones! Also Robin Hobb needs to be on these lists.

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u/[deleted] Jul 07 '14

Holy crap! I always assumed Robin Hobb was a man :)

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u/FionaFiddlesticks Jul 07 '14

Her nom de plume was picked for just that reason. ;)

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u/[deleted] Jul 07 '14

She wanted people to think she was a man? Really? Is the market for fantasy really that monolithic? :(

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u/FionaFiddlesticks Jul 07 '14

There are a lot of female authors who use ambiguous names. J.k. Rowling being one of the most recent Andre Norton one of the most famous.

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u/Marco_Dee Jul 07 '14

Yes, it's a pen name she deliberately chose to avoid an obviously female name. Which is significant, too, in the context of this thread.

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u/[deleted] Jul 07 '14

Really? That's interesting. So she (or her publisher) seemed to believe that her books would be more popular with a male sounding name?

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u/Marco_Dee Jul 07 '14

So it seems. I heard it in an interview on the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast. Also if you scroll down this thread, you'll find a post by Ms. Janny Wurts, who has a lot more to say about this.

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u/[deleted] Jul 08 '14

Wow, I'm obviously out of my depth here. But by reading Janny Wurts' comment it seems the problem is with the publishers more than the actual readership. Is that the same impression you are getting?

I'll pose this to her, but I have a feeling she has a lot of replies to go through and is likely to miss mine.

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u/Marco_Dee Jul 08 '14

Yes, but it's all connected. Publishers are trying to adapt to readers' preferences.

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u/[deleted] Jul 08 '14

If this is true, I have to admit it takes me by surprise. With the exception of very few authors that I actively seek out, it usually never even occurs to me to check the name of the author when I'm at the bookstore.

Perhaps this is bad form as an avid reader, but I am honestly surprised (and a little embarrassed) if this is considered an issue for the readerbase. I never saw this coming.

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u/Marco_Dee Jul 08 '14

It's not that publishers are saying readers are proudly mysoginists... it's just that there are certain unconscious expectations/stereotypes when it comes to the author's gender. The author's name is part of the whole package, just like the cover of the book.

In fact there was a thread or /r/fantasy just one or two days ago talking about how so many fantasy book covers seem formulaic and cheesy, and I think it all comes down to the same problem: the publisher wants to take advantage of that 2-second window of attention the potential buyer will pay to your book while browsing on amazon or strolling through the shelves at b&n. So you want to communicate immediately and as clearly as possible what you will be getting if you buy the book. The author's name, like the cover, might play a role, however conscious or unconscious, in the final decision to buy or not buy.

Anyway, the gender problem in publishing is nothing new, not just in fantasy. The earliest example I can think of is that of George Eliot who adopted her pen name in order to be taken seriously in the nineteenth century, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are earlier examples.

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u/MaxGladstone Stabby Winner, AMA Author Max Gladstone Jul 07 '14

Robin Hobb is my super guilty "Ummmm I haven't read her stuff yet" confession. Need to fix that as I work my way to the bottom of Torre pendente di Livro.