Robin Hobb is a she :)

[ScottSF]

I went on a small rant about this subject that nobody responded to (poor me ) I thought at the time maybe I was overthinking, yadda yadda, here's a paste of the post.

OK, this brings up a point that I have been wondering about. I think this is the third time I have seen someone refer to Hobb as a he. Do you think sometimes women authors pick gender neutral pen names because they fear readers will pre-judge their work because they are women? Honestly I may be guilty. Sometimes I'm looking for fantasy or historic fiction with a brutal edge and then I see a women author's name and assume that she'll pull her punches. It's funny because Assassin's Aprentice I think had a strong appeal to the 'boy' need for action and 'badassness' So that drew me in but it was the Liveship Traders, whose covers look a bit like romance novels, that I liked the best. When I read a different author Lian Hearn, I assumed it was a guy. I thought Lian was like the irish Liam, or maybe it was a greek name. Anyway I enjoyed her Tales of the Otori trilogy and she wrote the male characters just as realistically as the female ones. Now I'm off on a tangent but I have noticed that often male authors have trouble writing realistic female characters. Anyway, I will try better to give authors a chance and not prejudge based on gender. Now I will do 10 hail Marys and a Hokie Pokie for my sins

[the_faery_queen]

i dunno. i hope not. i know that jk rowling used her initials to appeal to boys, her publisher, apparnatly, thought that boys wouldn't read a book written bvy a woman. i like to think that most men grow out of that and will read a book by a woman, but in many ways fantasy is still seen as a boys club, the fact that the main character is often male, to some of what goes on in them, does sorta say that. so it could be taht female authors do pick gender neutral names, so as not to ailenate male readers. i dunno.

[spartan_pwns]

All i know is i am guilty of thinking she was a man
But, as soon as i learned she was a woman, i couldnt see it any other way.

[HoopyFrood]

I haven't read any of Hobb's books yet, although I have (at least I think it's this book) Assassin's Apprentice at home (which I won't be able to read until Easter, seeing as I won't be going home until then!) but I have to admit that I always thought that Robin Hobb was a man until I saw this thread. I know Robin can also be a girls name, but thanks to people like Robin Williams and the like, I guess I automatically consider it a man's name! Still, it hasn't changed anything, I'll still read the book, I still would've bought the book even if I had known it was female author. *Shrugs* I don't know why people wouldnt want to read a book just because of the sex of the author. Surely the only thing that matters is how good the book is, and if you enjoy it.

[The Ace]

Interesting, I've only read one of her books (about a guy who became grossly fat after he recovered from plague), and while I find her sensitive, I wouldn't have said it was written from a female perspective. The comparrison with George RR Martin doesn't really hold water, because he has the nasty habit of killing off any character for whom the reader develops any sympathy, that's not male, just weird.

[nixie]

Ace, your reading out of sequence, how could you Thats Forest Mage second book in the Soldier Son trilogy

[The Ace]

Originally Posted by nixie

Ace, your reading out of sequence, how could you Thats Forest Mage second book in the Soldier Son trilogy

It was in the library.

[nixie]

thats why I never use librarys

[Kitera]

Originally Posted by spartan_pwns

All i know is i am guilty of thinking she was a man
But, as soon as i learned she was a woman, i couldnt see it any other way.

I thought she was a man as well, when I was reading the Faseer trilogy. It was embarrassing when I found out the truth.

[pyan]

Whereas I always thought that Robin Hobb was female, what I didn't know was that she was also Megan Lindholm. How many other multiple-named writers are out there? Is Robert Jordan really Anne McCaffrey?

(edit) then I found this:
Science Fiction Author Pseudonyms

and this:
Pseudonyms of Horror and Fantasy Writers

[papercut]

Tracy Hickman is a male author? That explains a lot, like all the quest books. I absolutely cannot stand quest books. Actually, they're precisely why I don't often read male authors. IMO, many have no imagination. Every book is a quest, some even with the same formula (e.g. a group formed of one elf, one dwarf, one swordsman, etc). I don't even glance at an author's name when looking for a book, but I usually find myself more attracted to female authors, who sometimes delve a little deeper in their stories and enjoy more creativity. Despite all that, I love Robin Hobb, though I originally thought she was a male author. There were many factors pointing to "male" when I first read her books.

- The androgynous name first and foremost, lol.

- The content itself, perhaps. Violence (assassins), journeys, and scant romance (initially).

- Most importantly, the first person narrative is told -very convincingly and in scrupulous detail- from a young man's perspective, which in my experience is not too common for female writers. Hobb herself says that she chose an ambiguous name partly for that reason.

Oh, and Scott, I thought Lian Hearn was a male too for the same reason. I read Liam, not Leanne. I'm sure she chose that name for much the same reason that Robin did. I'm sure I never saw an author's picture in the book jacket.

[Kitera]

Originally Posted by papercut

Tracy Hickman is a male author? That explains a lot, like all the quest books. I absolutely cannot stand quest books. Actually, they're precisely why I don't often read male authors. IMO, many have no imagination.

Tracy Hickman male? *echos Papercut* O.o I always thought Tracy was female! Though I did liked reading his book...


See, you learn new things every day!

[Commonmind]

Originally Posted by -putawaythosepliers-

Why is it that many people think Robin Hobb is a he?
Is it because of the spelling? for instance, i know someone called Robin who is male, but i also know someone called Robyn, who is female.
Is it this spelling which determines the gender of a certain person?
Or is it *here's my turn to be a raving feminist * because they are a successful writer in the fantasy genre? Would it be unfair of me to imply that people automatically think she is a he because they have sold many books and are very good at what they do, in a genre, which to be fair, is not actually overly male-dominated? I think it would be unfair.
If you look through the sub-forums in the authors box, and are sad enough to count, like i am, then you will find that only 9 out of a total 36 authors are female, if i'm right, which isn't always.

It is however, a common mistake, and a completely forgivable one. ive had my rant now, so i'll sit in a corner and be quiet now.

The observation is purely subjective, as you've stated yourself, in not so many words. And, sadly, despite your claim, the Fantasy genre is dominated by male authors, like it or not (and though some of my favorite fiction authors are female, my shelves, containing hundreds of books, are filled with male writers by majority; the proof is in the pudding, as they say). I don't feel the mistake being made is necessarily indicative of genre norms, but because quite a large amount of the fantasy readership is male, and will likely associate names that could be either male or female as being male. This is more an issue of sexual psychology than anything else. A man hears the name Robin, Gene, Jamie or Frances, etc. and we can assume he believes the person to be male, whereas a female will likely think the opposite. Again, a matter of psychology.

I don't really understand why it is an issue however. Far-be-it-from-me to be insulting, but the very nature of this thread is sort of counter-intuitive to its point. If someone loves the work, who cares what he or she assumes of the author; gender or otherwise. We aren't, by any means, handing out credits based on sex.

[Beesting]

Robin Hobb is definately a She!! I met her at an Ottackers book signing. She was really lovely. I asked her some kind of really stupid question because I was so flustered!! I wish i'd asked her a better question. I asked her if she hoped her books would become films and she laughed and said that would be good wouldnt it if they would want to do it.
Although I think risky they might bodge it up like the last Harry Potter films that were done!
I'm not so keen on the books she writes under the name Megan Lindholm there good but dont seem to be as good!

[Rahl Windsong]

I found out Robin Hobb is a woman by stumbling across this site: Favorite Newsgroups Where Robin often posts in the various discussions on her site.