Friday, March 25, 2011

Book Review: The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon

The Deed of Paksenarrion by Elizabeth Moon, is often held up as one of the classic feminist novels of high fantasy literature. It deserves that place. I highly, highly recommend this book - and yes, 'Heir to Middle Earth', as it has been grandiosely titled inside, by Judith Tarr, is actually quite apt. It is actually a large volume of three books - The Sheepfarmer's Daughter, Divided Allegiance and Oath of Gold. And like all of Elizabeth Moon, Queen of Lesbian Subtext's books, it is often suggested when people go looking for lesbian fantasy.

Here are two copies that I own - the left is the three book volume, 
the right is the first book in the series,
The Deed of Paksenarrion follows the story of Paks as she runs away from her tiny rural home of Three Firs when her father decides to marry her off, signs up with an honourable mercenary company belonging to Duke Phelan, and goes soldiering. She's brave, and just, and kind, and very naive, knowing little about the world. She sees everything in black and white, struggling to be liked and too willing to trust her superiors. She's also exceptionally tall, strong and a good fighter, side-stepping neatly the entire 'women are biologically weaker' issue!

She also appears to be under the protection of Gird, a soldier-saint who was the focus of a prequel book, and who is the centre of one of the many religions - but not the religion of Paks, who has trouble believing that Gird is helping her. Through her skill and courage, she rises in the ranks and plays the hero on several occasions, but by the end of the first book, she's suffering as she acts against her morals, and takes leave from the Duke's Company to decide what she wants to do with her life. From there, she goes adventuring, gets caught up in elf magic and evil priests, and eventually starts training to become a Paladin of Gird.

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Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Book Review: Broken Wings by L-J Baker



New and shiny, this copy came all the way from
Amazon.com
L-J. Baker is an emerging new lesbian fantasy writer from New Zealand*. Her first book, Broken Wings, is set in an urban-fairyland type setting, and is well written, if slightly predictable romance between an illegal immigrant fairy and a rich and lovely artist nymph. The characters are solid, the story follows the rather annoying convention of writing an incredibly detailed first sex scene and then skipping over the rest a bit, but there is plenty of sex, the working class illegal has hidden talents, and the baddies are out of the picture most of the time, partly self-inflicted, but in the end, very bad.


Sadly, the cover design is terrible - looks like her publishers didn't want to take a risk on a first time author and slapped the cheapest bit of stock photo on it they could find (the third and fourth books have actual art on!). But my cat approves of it - and wouldn't hold still for the photograph, she wanted to purr and rub herself all over the book. That has to be some kind of recommendation, right?


 The settings is well-thought out enough to be believable and interesting, and there's a fun mix of futuristic tech and magic. There's a bit of unsubtle conservative religion bashing (the terrors of Fairyland and what it does to those who don't conform), and the day is saved at the end.
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Go Get A Roomie: Webcomic

Go Get A Roomie is one of my favourite new lesbian webcomics on the web. It is drawn by Nana-51 on DeviantART, and follows the adventures of Roomie (real name unknown, she's a perpetual house-hopping room-mate), and her unwilling new friend, Lillian.

Go Get A Roomie Lesbian Comic Strip

Roomie loves girls, randomly hooking up with lots of strangers and drinking. She's a cheerful, lovable, friendly and horny blonde hippy who everyone knows. After a bit of an introduction to her personality, following her around, we learn that she lives very much in the now, sleeps with girls in order to have a place to stay each night (well... she'd sleep with them anyway), that she loves 'everybody' (to the heartbreak of one guy) and that she adores teh boobies, as well as casual nudity. Oh, and beer. She likes that too.

She gets very drunk and ends up in the house of Lillian (a.k.a.  Lazy Tyke), a perpetually depressed and narcoleptic girl, who's completely oblivious both to Roomie's innuendo and outright attempts to get in her pants, and her brother's attempts to set the two of them up. After throwing Roomie out of her house so she can keep sleeping, she has to hunt her down and apologise... never to be rid of Roomie again.


While it is ostensibly about lesbian sex, the characters steal the show easily.

Format and style: In smooth black lines, and grayscale backgrounds, it's easy on the eyes - the artist has a distinctive and attractive cartoon style and plenty of practice with comic strips. The format is always a single strip of four panels.

Maturity: Casual nudity, occasionally semi-explicit discussions around sex, so not really safe for work.

I was following the artist, and the beginning of the comic on DeviantART beforehand, and was delighted when it made the shift to 'real' webcomic, settling down into a regular update schedule at the start of 2011.

The artist also has an art blog and a DeviantART account, and is known for drawing a lot of femslash (e.g. Kim Possible x Shego; Disney; Harvey x Ivy, Xena x Gabrielle, Avatar characters... to name but a few). She also has a comic on Filthy Figments. Overall, definitely worth checking out.

Go Get A Roomie currently updates Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.



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Sunday, March 20, 2011

18th Annual Lambda Literary Award Winners 2005

18th Annual Lambda Literary Award Winners and Finalists

 The Lambda Awards by year:

1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 |1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 
2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010



  • Lesbian: 
    • Debut Fiction, Fiction, Mystery,  Poetry, 
  • General LGBT: 
    • Anthology, Belles Lettres, Children's/ Young Adult, Drama, Erotica, Humor, Non-fiction, Romance, Science fiction/ Fantasy/ Horror, Spirituality, LGBT Studies
  • Gay Men's:
    • Debut Fiction, Fiction, Mystery,  Poetry, 
  • Transgender


Lesbian Debut Fiction:


    Lesbian Fiction:
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    Monday, March 14, 2011

    19th Annual Lambda Literary Award Winners 2006

    19th Annual Lambda Literary Award Winners and Finalists



    The Lambda Awards by year:

    1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 |1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 
    2002 | 2003 | 2004 |2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010

    2006 Categories:
    Overview of the categories by year
    • Lesbian: 
      • Debut Fiction, Erotica, Fiction, Memoir/Biography, Mystery,  Poetry, Romance
    • Bisexual
    • General LGBT: 
      • Arts & Culture, Children's/ Young Adult, Drama, Humour, Non-fiction, Science fiction/ Fantasy/ Horror, Spirituality, LGBT Studies
    • Gay Men's: 
      • Debut Fiction, Erotica, Fiction, Memoir/Biography, Mystery,  Poetry, Romance
    • Transgender




    Lesbian Debut Fiction:


    Lesbian Erotica:

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    21st Annual Lambda Literary Award Winners 2008

    21st Annual Lambda Literary Award Winners and Finalists

    The Lambda Awards by year:
    1988 | 1989 | 1990 | 1991 | 1992 |1993 | 1994 | 1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 
    2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010


    2008 Categories:
    Overview of the categories by year
    • Lesbian
      •  Debut Fiction, Erotica, Fiction, Memoir/Biography, Mystery,  Poetry, Romance
    • Bisexual
    • General LGBT: 

      • Anthology, Children's/ Young Adult, Drama, Non-fiction, Science fiction/ Fantasy/ Horror,  LGBT Studies
    • Gay Men's
      •  Debut Fiction, Erotica, Fiction, Memoir/Biography, Mystery,  Poetry, Romance
    • Transgender




    Lesbian Debut Fiction:


    Lesbian Erotica:

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    Sunday, March 13, 2011

    Stonewall Book Awards 2000-2012

    Literature - Po Man's Child: A Novel by Marci Blackman

    2001 
    Non-fiction - Gaylaw: Challenging the Apartheid of the Closet by William N. Eskridge
    Literature - Affinity by Sarah Waters [Lesbian fiction finalist, 13th Lambda Awards]

    Literature  - The Laramie Project by Moisés Kaufman and Tectonic Theatre Project

    Literature - Letters to Montgomery Clift : a Novel by Noel Alumit [Gay Fiction Finalist in the 2002 Lambda Awards]

    2004 
    Non-fiction - Lost Prophet: The Life and Times of Bayard Rustin by John D'Emilio [Biography Finalist in the 2003 Lambda Awards]
    Literature - The Book of Salt by Monique Truong [Gay Fiction Finalist in the 2003 Lambda Awards]

    2005 
    Literature - The Master by Colm Tóibín [Gay Fiction Winner in the 2004 Lambda Awards]

    2006 
    Non-fiction - The Fabulous Sylvester: the Legend, the Music, the 70s in San Francisco by Joshua Gamson [LGBT Biography Finalist in the 2005 Lambda Awards]
    Literature - Babyji by Abha Dawesar  [Lesbian Fiction Winner in the 2005 Lambda Awards]

    2007 
    Non-fiction - Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel [Lesbian Memoir/Biography Finalist, Lambda Awards 2006; Ouststanding Comic Book Winner 18th GLAAD Awards]
    Literature - Grief: a Novel by Andrew Holleran

    2008 
    Non-Fiction - Dog Years: A Memoir by Mark Doty [Gay Memoir/Biography Finalist in the 2007 Lambda Awards]
     Literature - The Teahouse Fire by Ellis Avery [Lesbian Debut Fiction Winner in the 2006 Lambda Awards]

    2009 
    Non-fiction - Dishonorable Passions: Sodomy Laws in America, 1861-2003 by William N. Eskridge [LGBT Non-fiction Finalist in the 2008 Lambda Awards]
    Literature - Light Fell by Evan Fallenberg [Gay Debut Fiction Finalist in the 2008 Lambda Awards]

    2010 
    Non-Fiction - Unfriendly Fire: How the Gay Ban Undermines the Military and Weakens America by Nathaniel Frank [LGBT Non-fiction Finalist in the 2009 Lambda Awards]
    Literature - Stray Dog Winter by David Francis [Gay Fiction Finalist in the 2008 Lambda Awards]
    Children's & Young Adult - The Vast Fields of Ordinary by Nick Burd

    2011

    Non-Fiction - Inseparable: Desire between Women in Literature by Emma Donoghue, (Knopf)
    Literature - More of This World or Maybe Another by Barb Johnson, (Harper Perennial) [Lesbian Debut Fiction Finalist in the 2009 Lambda Awards]
    Children's & Young Adult - Almost Perfect by Brian Katcher
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