Thursday, April 5, 2012

The Gaylactic Spectrum Awards: Overview & Lesbian Recipients

If you're looking for some LGBT fantasy, science fiction, or horror, then the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards are a good place to look. They are smaller and more recent than the Lambda and Stonewall awards, but are a good place to look for fantasy and science fiction. They aren't just book awards, covering novels, single short stories and miscellaneous media such as television and film.

They tend to be less strict on the GLBTQ factor, much like the GLAAD awards, at least in the 'Other Work' category. While they have a standard Best Novel category every year, there are two more regular categories held when there are enough qualifying nominees, Best Short Fiction and Best Other Work.

Best Novel 
The main category, the Best Novel category is the most reliable, being awarded every year to a steady stream of gay, lesbian and genderqueer fantasy and scifi books.


The Gaylactic Spectrum Awards: Best Short Fiction & Other Work
Short Fiction Short stories published anywhere, whether alone or in a collection.
Other Work All other media, from anthologies to television.

Hall of Fame Inductees An award for works published before the awards began (pre-1998). This category was awarded from 1999-2003.
People's Choice Awarded to a single title based on popular vote, awarded from 1999-2001.
Best Comics/Graphic Novel This category only existed in 2003. All other years, graphic novels were included in 'Other Work'. For more graphic novel awards, see 

Lesbian Titles That Received Awards in All Categories

Here's a quick list of all the lesbian (and bisexual female character) winners and finalists.

Based on these awards, lesbians are much better represented in fantasy novels than they are in other categories (comics, anthology, film). The recipient list of the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards is still dominated by gay male fantasy & scifi (though not as badly as it used to be).

Best Novel Winners
2005 Earth Logic by Laurie Marks (Tor) (lesbian, fantasy) [Review]
2004 The Salt Roads, by Nalo Hopkinson (Warner)
2003 Fire Logic, by Laurie Marks (Tor) (lesbian) [Review]
1999 Accidental Creatures by Anne Harris (Tor)

Shortlisted Novels 
2011 Black Blade Blues by J.A. Pitts (Tor)
2011 Red Hood's Revenge by Jim C. Hines (DAW) [Review]
2010 Ash by Malinda Lo (Little, Brown) [Review]
2010 Naamah's Kiss by Jacqueline Carey (Grand Central)
2010 Palimpsest by Catherynne Valente
2010 The Red Tree by Caitlin Kiernan (Roc)
2010 Seven for a Secret by Elizabeth Bear (Subterranean Press)
2008 Daughters of the North by Sarah Hall (Harper Perennial)
2008 Dust by Elizabeth Bear (Bantam Spectra)
2008 Lady Knight by L-J Baker (Bold Strokes Books)
2007 Dragon's Teeth by James Hetley (Ace)
2007 The Privilege Of The Sword by Ellen Kushner (Bantam Spectra) [review]
2006 The Strange Adventures of Rangergirl by Tim Pratt (Bantam Spectra)
2006 Dragon's Eye by James Hetley (Ace)
2005 Murder of Angels by Caitlin Kiernan (Roc)
2005 The Ordinary by Jim Grimsley (Tor)
2005 Reruns by Selina Rosen (Yard Dog)
2004 Spin State by Chris Moriarty (Bantam Dell)
2003 Solitaire by Kelley Eskridge (Harper Eos)
2003 Lorimal's Chalice by Jane Fletcher (Fortitude Press)
2002 The Ghost Sister by Liz Williams (Bantam)
2002 The Kappa Child by Hiromi Goto (Red Deer Press)
2002 Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey (Tor)
2002 A Paradigm of Earth by Candas Jane Dorsey (Tor)
2001 The Jazz by Melissa Scott (Tor)
2000 The Annunciate by Severna Park (Eos)


Best Short Fiction & Other Work lists in progress




Hall of Fame Inductees
2003 The Holdfast Chronicles: Walk to the End of the World, Motherlines, The Furies and Conqueror’s Child (series) by Suzy McKee Charnas (1974–1999,  Tor)
2002 The Female Man by Joanna Russ (1975, Beacon)
2000 Slow River by Nicola Griffith (1996, Ballantine) (scifi) [Review]
1999 Uranian Worlds: A Guide to Alternative Sexuality in Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror by Eric Garber & Lyn Paleo (1990, G.K. Hall)

Shortlisted for Hall of Fame
2001 The "Darkover" Books by Marion Zimmer Bradley (DAW) [Recommended by Caron Cro in the Introducing Lesbian Fiction event]
1999 The Drag Queen of Elfland: Short Stories by Lawrence Schimel by Lawrence Schimel (1997, Ultra Violet)

Shortlisted for Hall of Fame (Media) 
2000 Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - Rejoined [watch episode online; Season 4] (Paramount Television) 

People's Choice
2001 Buffy the Vampire Slayer by Joss Whedon / Fox Television

Shortlisted for Comic/Graphic Novel 
2003 Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Willow and Tara: Wilderness (spin-off comics: part 1 & part 2, also collected here) by Amber Benson & Christopher Golden (Dark Horse)

Other Awards from the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards 

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