The Salon: Is Fantasy Gendered?

This month in The Salon we discuss whether some fantasy literature is deliberately targeted at readers of a particular gender. The guests are Glenda Larke, an Australian fantasy writer, Lou Anders, an editor, and Tim Pratt, who writes urban fantasy as T.A. Pratt.

If you have difficulty listening this podcast you can also find it here, or via iTunes.

Here are some links to things mentioned during the podcast:

• The novel Tim is serializing on his web site, The Nex

Here are the books recommended during the podcast:

• Justina Robson: Keeping It Real [Purchase]
• Justina Robson: Selling Out [Purchase]
• Justina Robson: Going Under [Purchase]
• Justina Robson: Chasing the Dragon [Purchase]
• Joel Shepherd: Sasha [Purchase]
• Joel Shepherd: Petrodor [Purchase]
• Joel Shepherd: Tracato [Purchase]
• Mira Grant: Feed [Purchase]
• Nicola Griffith: Blue Place [Purchase]
• Nicola Griffith: Stay [Purchase]
• Nicola Griffith: Always [Purchase]
• Kay Kenyon: Bright of the Sky [Purchase]
• Kay Kenyon: A World Too Near [Purchase]
• Kay Kenyon: City Without End [Purchase]
• C.S. Friedman: Feast of Souls [Purchase]
• C.S. Friedman: Wings of Wrath [Purchase]

Glenda Larke is an Australian fantasy novelist living in Malaysia, dividing her time between sweating in the rainforest on conservation projects and sweating at her desk writing books. She is the author of three trilogies published in numerous languages (Isles of Glory, Mirage Makers and The Stormlord) and one standalone: Havenstar. She has been shortlisted five times for the Aurealis best fantasy novel, gleefully setting a record for the most number of nominations without a win. Stormlord Rising (Book 2) is out this month in UK and Stormlord’s Exile, (book 3) is due out in mid 2011 in Australia, US and UK.

A 2010/2009/2008/2007 Hugo Award nominee, 2008 Philip K. Dick Award nominee, 2009/2008/2006 Chesley Award nominee/winner/nominee, and 2006 World Fantasy Award nominee, Lou Anders is the editorial director of the SF&F imprint Pyr, as well as the editor of the anthologies Fast Forward 2 (Pyr, October 2008), Sideways in Crime (Solaris, June 2008), Fast Forward 1 (Pyr, February 2007), FutureShocks (Roc, January 2006), Projections: Science Fiction in Literature & Film (MonkeyBrain, December 2004), Live Without a Net (Roc, 2003), and Outside the Box (Wildside Press, 2001). In 2000, he served as the Executive Editor of Bookface.com, and before that he worked as the Los Angeles Liaison for Titan Publishing Group. He is the author of The Making of Star Trek: First Contact (Titan Books, 1996), and has published over 500 articles in such magazines as The Believer, Publishers Weekly, Dreamwatch, DeathRay, free inquiry, Star Trek Monthly, Star Wars Monthly, Babylon 5 Magazine, Sci Fi Universe, Doctor Who Magazine, and Manga Max. His articles and stories have been translated into Danish, Greek, German, Italian & French. Visit him online at www.louanders.com and www.pyrsf.com.

Tim Pratt’s stories have appeared in the Best American Short Stories, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror, and other nice places, and his work has won a Hugo Award (and lost Nebula, World Fantasy, Stoker, Sturgeon, and Mythopoeic Awards). He is the author of two story collections and half a dozen novels, and works as a senior editor at Locus. He grew up in the rural south and now lives in the urban west with his wife Heather Shaw and their son.