Issue #36 not only has all males on the cover, there is in fact only one female story writer in the whole issue. Counting poetry, there were only 3 women out of 11 writers. Only NOW have I looked at the story selection for that issue in regards to male/female, which goes to show that sometimes I'm reading and selecting stories without being cognizant of whether they're male or female. I told her that when it comes to the cover, 95% of the time I'm putting the bigger or more known names there, with no real thought about male or female. In a subsequent email, she stated that none of the "known" names on the cover of #36 meant anything to her, and if some of them had been women writing under a male name, she wouldn't have known. But all the names on the cover (with the exception of Dean Wesley Smith (a name writer imho) and Mikal Trimm, a first-time poet with the mag) have published in Talebones more than once (Paul Melko, James Van Pelt, Greg Schwartz, Jason D. Wittman). Mikal was more known to me than the other two female poets. I mean, if I buy a Melko or Van Pelt story, I'm going to put them on the cover every time. Long-time subscribers would be more familiar with these writers as frequent Talebones writers. 

I found it interesting that she said that the male-female split indicated to her a certain overall sensibility, a sense of whether she could expect to like more or fewer of the stories. In other words, she expects to like more of the stories, even by male authors, in magazines where the split is more even. I think in the 11 years Honna and I were together and making joint decisions on the magazine's contents, we never once talked about male and female percentages and what was going on the cover due to that dynamic. Even the last few years, when we were together, the percentage of female writers was 35% 40% in the magazine. Then again, just two issues ago, the stories were 50/50 between male and female, and 2 of the 5 names on the cover were female. Six years ago, when Orion was born (when you figure the female side of things would win over) our baby issue had 8 stories, and only 2 were female. (A 3rd listed female writer, Alexandra Arruin, was actually a male writer). And generally, as I looked back over a good number of Talebones copies from past years on my shelf, anywhere between 30-60% of the writers listed on the cover were female, depending on the issue.

Well. These things certainly are noticed out there. Rich Horton does a masterful summary of all the genre mags of the year, print or e-, and even gives a breakdown of things such as the number of SF stories vs Fantasy, and the percentage of women to men. Talebones had 30% women writers in 2007, and slightly higher in 06.  I mentioned to her that some print mags were quite high, as she stated. FANTASY magazine had 83% women last year. But then again, a magazine like CEMETERY DANCE had only 16% women. AEON is run by two women, Marti & Bridget McKenna, and even they published only 38% women writers last year.

5 of the 11 pieces I've selected for next issue are by women. Looking at the names, I suspect two of the women will end up on the cover because of name recognition.

I am certainly not trying to single out male writers, and don't want to make anyone feel unwelcome. I hope I am aware of that dynamic, but bottom line is: I still have to print the stories I feel are the best of the bunch I've received, and put the names on the cover that have the most recognition. 

Have any of you noticed or had thoughts specifically about male vs female names on COVERS (print or web) vs the breakdown by sex of the stories within themselves?