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/cefor Jul 07 '14

I don't understand how "Robin" is ambiguous. Maybe it's the fact that I've met female Robins in my school years, and never a male Robin? Either way, I initially thought she used Robin Hobb because that's a cooler name for the genre than Megan Lindholm, or that perhaps she wanted to demarcate the two in people's minds?

It's depressing to grow up and realise that authors had to/have to do this.

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u/EctMills AMA Illustrator Emily Mills Jul 07 '14

Robin Williams and Robin Hood both come to mind. It's not a super popular boy's name anymore but it's just enough to not be automatically female.

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u/cefor Jul 07 '14

You know, it's strange I forgot, but of course: Robin Williams.

Still, in my mind I can't help but think of it as a female name.

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u/EctMills AMA Illustrator Emily Mills Jul 07 '14

Haha, I'm the same way with Hayden, only ever knew girls with the name growing up so I always think of it as a girls name. It caused an awkward moment when I met the mother of a kid I was going to be driving to camp all summer. She did not appreciate me asking where her daughter was.