Misogyny and me

Some years ago now, I was invited to submit a story to a cross-genre anthology called ROGUES, edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. I knew they would be expecting me to submit something with a Jack Vance feel to it, so I invented a character called Raffalon, a thief, and set him in the Dying Earthesque milieu I’d been working in for several years. The story was called “The Inn of the Seven Blessings.”

George and Gardner bought the story, the anthology came out and was a great success – amazing, but I’m still receiving royalties for that story. In the reviews, it got the usual mix: not everyone likes the Vancean style, but those who do like it like it a lot.

But I have seen a number of reviews – I think they’re all from female readers – who excoriated the story (and me) for the fact that Raffalon’s relations with women are less than admirable. The readers clearly assume that my character’s views must be my own. Over time, the number of those reviews has increased, and then this week I saw one on Goodreads that prompted me to make a detailed response.

Here it is:

The reviewer said: I enjoyed these characters. They were flawed, funny, and realistic. I don't enjoy his thoughts on women, as seen in this book. I'd like to read more from this author.

And here’s my response (which contains SPOILERS):

My thoughts on women: I have been staunchly pro-feminist since I learned what feminism was all about in the early seventies. I believe the emancipation of women from their biological and social roles has been the most important thing to have happened in my lifetime. I am particularly pleased to see nerd girls like Sarah Parcak, who once would have been nurses or librarians, get hold of fusty old fields like archaeology and make revolutions.

My thoughts on the woman in the story: Erminia is a plain and ungainly young woman under the domination of her inn-keeper father, who prefers her buxom sister because she brings in the punters. He sends Erminia off to pick mushrooms for a bigwig's banquet even though he knows there are cannibal were-men in the forest. She is captured but rescued by Raffalon -- who, like most thieves, is a self-centered son of a bitch and at first does not treat her with respect.

When he tries to force himself upon her, she clobbers him then finds a knife and lets him know she will use it. From then on in the narrative she is at least his equal: she's the one who discovers Fulferin has betrayed them and says they have to run.

She keeps up with Raffalon in the pursuit of Fulferin, sees that they must find a way to ambush him, and plays an equal part in taking him down. She also has the vital information about what the villain is up to. And, at the climax, she is the one who distracts the wizard so Raffalon can overpower him with the god. For all I know, the plan to undo the wizard was hers. Probably was, since Raffalon is not very competent; he couldn't even steal a chicken at the beginning of the story.

The freed gods reward them with their seven blessings and, yes, Erminia becomes beautiful and can now do a graceful curtsy, but Raffalon is also transformed. They then go out into the world together, at which point it is Erminia who sets the agenda, though first she has to see whether Raffalon meets her requirements.

I don't explain my characters -- I "show, don't tell" -- but I thought it should be obvious from the way Erminia handles herself (and Raffalon) that she is going to be the dominant partner in their relationship. She is the character with the most agency. She is tough, smart, and brave all the way through, and without her there would be no victory.

Some afterthoughts since I posted that reply: I’ve often said that writing is about pitching and catching. The writer pitches; the reader catches. But what the reader catches is not necessarily what the reader pitched. There’s nothing wrong with that; it’s just the way human beings work.

I’ve done a number of Raffalon stories since and sold them all to The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Some readers have said they enjoy the stories and some of them seem to like Raffalon himself, although to me he’s a selfish narcissist who wouldn’t bestir himself to help another human being unless there was something in it for himself. He’s modeled on one of my relatives.

But it bemuses me how some readers do not make a distinction between authors and their characters, especially the disreputable ones. And yet the readers who reacted strongly against him in “Inn of the Seven Blessings” assume I must be a misogynist, but none of them have said they assume I’m a thief.