"Men write better fantasy than women" please discuss.

[C. Craig R. McNeil]

Jennifer Roberson
Katharine Kerr
Robin Hobb
Sara Douglass

Off the top of my head, have written some of my favorite fantasy. Robin Hobb being number 3 on my list, and the others being near the top. If I made a list of my top ten fantasy authors it'd be a pretty even split.

Robin Hobb is a woman?!? Really?

 

[murphy]

Robin Hobb is a woman?!? Really?

Her real name is Megan Lindholm.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

As a matter of fact, I believe her name is (or was before she married) Margaret Lindholm, but for some reason (I forget what it was) her publishers decided that Megan would be better.

In any case, whether writing as Megan Lindholm or Robin Hobb ... a woman.

 

[sabinerak]

James Tiptree Jr. and C.J. Cherryh are also women.

 

[williamkooiker]

And . . . rumor has it that Madeline Howard is a woman as well!

I'll try to get to The Hidden Stars soon, Ms. Howard.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

And . . . rumor has it that Madeline Howard is a woman as well!

The doctors who delivered my four children can vouch for that!

Seriously, when we considered pseudonyms, I did ask if they wanted something ambiguous as to gender (still kicking myself that I didn't publish my first books under the name of Terry -- because I discarded that nickname when I was about 12 -- since the name has proved so lucky for certain other writers). My editor said no. In fact, they were contemplating a pseudonym for another female writer at the same time, and I got the impression that no one was looking to obscure her gender either. (And no, I can't tell you who she is, because I don't know.) I think it's been a long, long time since gender was an issue in terms of what names writers decide to use.

 

[Tau Zero]

C.S. Friedmen
Lee Killough
R.A. MacAvoy
S.L. Viehl

are all female, also.

I've kept every book SFF i've ever purchased and keep track of them on a spreadsheet. Out of curiosity, i listed all the authors i have and came up with 243 authors. 185 male and 58 female. Not making a point, just thought it was interesting.

 

[sanityassassin]

this is a subject I've never thought about before and although almost all my favourite writers are men it is not a consious decision but a couple of my favourite books were written by woman namely Mists of Avalon by marion Zimmer Bradley and Black Trillium by MZB, Julian May(didn't know before I read this that she was a she) and Andre Norton (also didn't know she was female) but I must admit I have not read much from female authors

 

[steve12553]

All through this thread, I keep seeing statements that seem to be moot points to me. Somewhere in my mid to late thirties I lost the concept of "favorite". I have no favorite authors or colors or foods. I have read so many books and short stories over the years that I have no concept of how many. Many of them, if brought to mind, were wonderful or enjoyable or maybe just readable, but I couldn't rank the authors as favorites. I know some of the book and short stories were written by women. I also know I enjoyed some of those to varying degrees. I cannot even conceive of figuring out which gender's cumulative writing I like better (which in and of itself would be totally subjective) and it will never get any better. Once people get past the "what's your favorite color" stage in life, they should also get past the gender bias. If one assumes that one gender is better at a particular writing style than the other, one chances missing some spectacular writing. Statistically, there may be better sales generated by one gender, but popular does not mean good. Science Fiction and Fantasy has developed a large following but is still considered off the beaten path. We readers of these offbeat genre do not want to follow the tastes of the masses. The sales charts that may say that one gender writes better than the other also says that many other genre are better than what I want to read. I'm happy here.

 

[Carolyn Hill]

I've been avoiding this thread because the title put me off. I'm pleased to see that it's not the gender-bashing horror I feared it would be. Chronicles members are good people!

It's interesting to me that some of you assumed that the authors with androgynous names or identified only by initials are male--and that you're surprised they aren't.

My confession: most of the fantasy on my bookshelves is written by women.

 

[Tau Zero]

When i find out that an author i've read is not the gender i thought, i am surprised. The surprise is that they would ever have to hide this fact. I absolutely cannot conceive why anyone would ever think an author would be better of worse simply due to their sex. The fact this occurs (or ever occured) is absurd.

 

[steve12553]

When i find out that an author i've read is not the gender i thought, i am surprised.

I'm not.

The surprise is that they would ever have to hide this fact.

Also not suprising considering human nature.

I absolutely cannot conceive why anyone would ever think an author would be better of worse simply due to their sex. The fact this occurs (or ever occured) is absurd.

Here! Here! But it does and did occur. Human rights and equality (Human for now. We may broaden that after first contact) is the one area of belief where I consider myself a liberal. But I know the difference between what should be and what is.

 

[nixie]

I've never considered male authors better than female.I read a wide range of fantasy by both genders, each one has their own style.For the same reason I find it hard to choice favourite series outside my top three,I find it difficult to choice favourite authors,simply because I like different books/authors for different reasons.Sometimes the styles are so uniquely different, it's impossible to make comparsions.

 

[Sieben]

"Susanna Clarke did a great job with Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell."


One of the most unusual books I have read in recent years.

I wont say that it read very easily but in world where fantasy has largely become derivative this novel crackles with both intelligence and originality.

Good point Dianora

 

[thenegative-one]

i read books, not authors, i dnot have any particular gender or anything. i am ashamed to say though that the majority of books are writen by males, only two femali authors that i can think of, Jean M Auel SP? and mrs Anne McCaffery

 

[Prefx]

Well, isn't there a gender gap in almost every profession? I would think there are more male authors available, especially fantasy/science-fiction, with the "geeky, male" stereotype. It wouldn't be fair to compare the number of favorite books written by males to the number of favorite books written by women, unless you get into percentage.

 

[thenegative-one]

@prefix: i totaly agree but havent you edited your post a little (im shour you have done)