I reckon if I went into my local bookstore and looked at the science fiction/fantasy section I would find close to 50/50 male/female – but that is because most of the section is fantasy. I will have to look next time I am in town.

I have an Annie Proux sitting in the shelves to read, maybe I will make that my next non-genre read. As it happens my last non-genre read was also written by a woman – non-fiction – Boomer and Me by Jo Case.

I have been delving into the Macquarie Pen Anthology of Australian Literature. Once I have read that, I should have a very idea of both female and male "literary" writers. And a nice list of authors to try. Pity there is not the same sort of book for science fiction.

I do wonder if the Stella prize might be counter productive in that males when seeing a book marked as winning the Stella prize, think that it is women's literature and decide it is not for them.

Just about every book shop I walk into seems totally staffed by females. When writing this post I contemplated the fact that the two writing qualifications (a Masters and a Diploma) I have done had about a dozen teachers in total and only one of them was male. So I would have had to have been exposed to a lot of female selections in the writing used as examples in those courses. If they were female dominated, I didn't notice, and it has not influenced my reading.

Maybe I will have to impose a quota on myself too. For a while I had a system of reading a science fiction book then either a fantasy/horror and then a non-genre book or a science fiction book that was considered to be "literature" for example The Road by Cormac McCarthy. Now I might add that one of those three rotating selections has to be by a female author. I know of Cat Sparks, will check out what her novels are about, and the other two while I am at it.

If there is bias, of course, this isn't right, however I was very disappointed over the Miles Franklin awards this year, when, after complaints of bias last year, found all eight authors in the shortlist women. This proves bias, does it not? Swapping one for the other doesn't solve the problem. Ironically, women were quiet on that aspect.

I also come across online publications and in print that are for women writers only. Never see this for men. perhaps I'll make one and watch the criticism take off. If people really want to make the spectrum politically correct rather than quality books to the fore, no matter which side of the coin falls face up, then divide it down the line and have 50% of each represented so we can have no more whining.

Personally, I agree with you Graham. I'm drawn to books whose subject matter I am interested in. I don't care for romance or erotica which is completely dominated by women, but I don't hear anyone complaining about that. Perhaps men simply write more literature, who knows? I do know that I really enjoy the writing of Annie Proux for instance and A.S. Bryatt is one of the best writers I've comes across, same with Christina Stead. I find it hard to believe that reviewers and publishers simply select a book because it's written by a man and not a woman. Some people simply like to whine because they can't catch a break.

Australia is rife with political correctness. Expect more Miles Franklin style overkill soon.

I will say this though, I do know female writers – who self-publish – who use initials rather than reveal their female first name, or use a male pseudonym, because they perceive a bias in the market.

It is also striking how many women there are in the book industry, working as publishers, agents, marketers, even book shop managers. I'm also frequently taken with the number of female writers I encounter (and I only really move in sci-fi circles, not romance or erotica). The four most successful writer friends I have are all women. Given all this, if women can't get a fair go in the book business, I don't know where they could.

I impose quota's on myself because any time I don't subconcious bias, marketing and big publishing "conspires" to skew my reading towards male authors.

I have found there's no dearth of quality fiction that suits my tastes perfectly, produced by women.

Anna North, Cat Sparks,Julianna Baggott are three off the top of my head for the dystopia novels/short stories.