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Friday, November 26, 2010

Male Domination

Hi, all!

More thoughts on the world of science fiction writing. For many years in the last century, male writers overwhelmingly dominated the science fiction and fantasy field. And you can understand why most women weren't exactly thrilled with some of their work. A few female writers resorted to taking male pseudonyms in order for their writing to be published and accepted in their field. ( Andre Norton, for instance. )

Fortunately, these days there are many more female writers of science fiction and fantasy. Some obviously do write for a mainly female audience. And some write for a more inclusive audience; Barbara Hambly comes to mind. Her work appeals to both men and women equally, I believe. ( I especially enjoyed her vampire novel Those Who Hunt the Night. )

I belong to an organization called Broad Universe which encourages women to write in the SFF and horror genres and promotes their work. If you are interested, look up their website www,broaduniverse.org. Although I attempt to appeal to both male and female readers, I must admit that the majority of my characters are male. And the women in my books have to learn to deal with that issue: they are still "outsiders" in male-dominated worlds! My female characters are strong--or learn to be strong!--in order to survive.

How successful my attempts are remains to be seen, but I am hopeful that I've succeeded!

All for now,

MRTighe

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