drey's library: The gender wars...

Posted by drey October 1, 2011 at 8:00 AM

You know what? A friend pointed out recently that I read a lot of urban fantasy. Not that that's surprising, but here's what came after. Apparently I read a lot of urban fantasy by female authors, with female protagonists... And I retorted "I do not!"...

As a matter of fact, I do. Let's make a list, shall we? These are from the reviews list, and I included series where I've read more than one book (I'm apt to pick up more books then...).

The gals (character / author):
Kate Daniels / Ilona Andrews
Mercedes Thompson / Patricia Briggs
Gin Blanco / Jennifer Estep
Charlie Madigan / Kelly Gay
Sookie Stackhouse / Charlaine Harris
Rachel Morgan / Kim Harrison
Jane Yellowrock / Faith Hunter
Chess Putnam / Stacia Kane
October Daye / Seanan McGuire
Evy Stone / Kelly Meding
Allie Beckstrom / Devon Monk
Joanne Walker / C.E. Murphy
Merit (I'm not listing her first name, in case you haven't read it yet) / Chloe Neill
Kallie Rivière / Adrian Phoenix
Kitty Norville / Carrie Vaughn

The guys (character / author):
Harry Dresden / Jim Butcher
Ray Lilly / Harry Connolly

I didn't include YA or the paranormal-romance stuff; I pretty much stuck with the kick-your-tush straight up urban fantasy. And um, yeah. My list is pretty skewed, isn't it?

What does this mean? Do guys not write as much urban fantasy? I don't think so. Right? So here's a task for you. Recommend your favorite urban fantasy series (no YA, no mushy-mushy) written by a guy, with a male protagonist. Tell me why you love it. And if I pick it up and love it too, you might just get a lil' something from me.

I don't know what yet, and it'll take a while to get to just because of the TBR I've already committed to. But. It'll be cool. I hope. *grin* Alright, I'll sleep on it, and provide details when I've got it down. Promise. But in the meantime, holler at me, k?

(By the way, I just picked up Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles, and it's pretty kick-ass. Just so you know. I left it off the list because I've only read Hounded so far...)

Now this isn't quite true (I hope!) of other genres I read--especially (I think!) mystery/thrillers and fantasy. The guys put in quite a respectable showing... But I'll have to do that analysis another day, my real (i.e. bill-paying) job is hollering.

Have a great weekend!

4 comments:

lingeorge said...: I don't see Keven Hearne and his Atticus O'Sullivan on your list, however he is your October Featured author, so will be on the list. When I think of male protagonists, like Rob Thurman, female author. When I think of male author, like Jes Batis, yep female protagonists. So I Googled "Male Urban Fantasy authors" (yep, I took this as a challange). I actually found a few. There is Justin Gustainis and his Morris and Chastain Series with our hero Quincey Morris. Anton Strout has Simon Canderous (Dead To Me, Deader Still, Dead Matter, Dead Waters, etc.) I also came across Simon R Green and his Nightside Series with Hero John Taylor, or his Eddie Drood, Secret Histories series. I have not read anything by these authors. I am going to challange myself to try some of their books. Yes, I do find my authors overwhelminlgy female. Thanks for the challenge. Oh, by the way I have read all of Keven Hearne's Atticus books out so far and I loved every word of them - especially Oberon - and will get Tricked as soon as it is released.
linda (at) gordonvalley (dot) com; 01 October, 2011 18:13
drey said...: Hi Linda! I left Kevin off the list because I'd just read Hounded, all the other series listed I've read more than the first book... I will be picking up Hexed and Hammered as soon as I find some breathing room! :) I love the interaction between Atticus and Oberon.

I did give Simon R Green's Eddie Drood series a try, but didn't make it through the first book. I think there's a review of that here somewhere...

Anton Strout's series sounds interesting (based on titles only!), I'll have to check them out.

Maybe I'll have to host a Men-in-Urban-Fantasy challenge for 2012??; 02 October, 2011 09:18
lingeorge said...: A Men-in=Urban-Fantasy challenge sounds good. I know I read very few male authors. I tried scanning Barnes and Nobel for males in the genre. Finally had to Google it. I can't remember seeing very many while browsing the bookstores. Lots of Sci Fi and Fantasy, not so many Urban Fantasy. Even the lists I got with male protagonists, the lists were mostly female authors.; 02 October, 2011 11:05
wheels209 said...: Hey drey,
Great post my friend. I did a search of Urban Fantasy authors and the one surprising thing I found was that some people like to put Charles de Lent on there list. I consider him a fantasy author and a really good one by the way. My favorite book of his is MoonHeart. I prefer female authors for my Urban Fantasy so I thought it was just what I liked. When you asked us to look at a list I was shocked by the female author domination of the genre.

By the way I am glad you enjoyed Ganymede and could not put it down. I may read that series one day. Take care have a great week.
Steve

Steve; 02 October, 2011 19:11