I loved Jeffe's post yesterday. I understand how she feels because in most things to do with urban fantasy author gatherings it's me and either J. F. Lewis or John Hartness in a room full of women. This is NOT a complaint mind you, simply an observation. But I know for me that I haven't felt any animosity, prejudice, or hostility from my fellow authors because of my gender. Rather, everyone has been truly wonderful. Look at this group blog here. I am the one male in a group of truly amazing women who have been nothing but kind to me.
But I have friends who have not had it as welcoming.
One friend of mine has a book coming out soon. It's a great book and has a heavy sci-fi slant to it. She does write under a name that is ambiguous and she is okay with that. However, her publisher is not letting her have an author picture.
Not on the book.
Not on HER website, (you know, the one SHE pays for)
And she has been asked to not do any conventions or live appearances.
Well, I call bullshit on that.
And I am not sure if it's that I am mad at her publisher for buying into this "You'll sell more sci fi books if people think you're a man" or at the sci-fi readers for it being true. Either way, the implication is that women can't write sci-fi.
That is just stupidly wrong and the fact that it is almost accepted as fact sucks.
Like most anything else in the world, women can do anything they want to. If a woman wants to write sci-fi, then she can write it every bit as good as a man could. It's a fact Jack.
So fight oppression my friends. Go now and buy a sci-fi book written by a woman.
