Over the weekend, the 2010 Gaylactic Spectrum Awards for Best Short Fiction and Best Other Work were announced at the Atlanta-based Gaylaxicon. (Best Novel and its attendant shortlist were announced previously.)
These awards were founded in 1998 and are given to noteworthy works of queer speculative fiction—the categories often change year-to-year and the voting is open-panel, with nominations taken through the Spectrum Awards website. Often there are also “hall of fame” awards given to works which predate the year the awards are being presented for. Aside from the winners, there is also an honors-list of recommended reading. Many of the books, winners and short-listed titles both, have been reviewed previously in this column or elsewhere on Tor.com.
The 2010 award winners are as follows—
Best Novel Winner: The Steel Remains – Richard Morgan (Del Rey)
Best Novel Short-List:
- Ash – Malinda Lo (Little, Brown)
- By the Mountain Bound – Elizabeth Bear (Tor)
- Centuries Ago and Very Fast – Rebecca Ore (Aqueduct Press)
- The Enchantment Emporium – Tanya Huff (DAW)
- Naamah’s Kiss – Jacqueline Carey (Grand Central)
- Palimpsest – Catherynne Valente (Bantam Spectra)
- The Red Tree – Caitlin Kiernan (Roc)
- Seven for a Secret – Elizabeth Bear (Subterranean Press)
- Strange Fortune – Josh Lanyon (Blind Eye)
Best Short Fiction Winner(s):
“The Behold of the Eye” by Hal Duncan, from Lone Star Stories. Reprinted in Wilde Stories 2009 (edited by Steve Berman).
“The Rocky Side of the Sky” by Melissa Scott, from Periphery: Erotic Lesbian Futures (edited by Lynne Jamneck).
Best Short Fiction Short-List:
- “Angels Alone” by Carolyn Ives Gilman in Periphery: Erotic Lesbian Futures
- “Behind the Curtain” by Joel Lane in Dark Horizons, Issue 22, reprinted in Wilde Stories 2009
- “The Bloomsbury Nudes” by Jameson Currier in Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet (edited by Vince Liaguno and Chad Helder), reprinted in Wilde Stories 2009
- “City of the Dead” by Kate Welsh in Haunted Hearths and Sapphic Shades: Lesbian Ghost Stories (edited by Catherine Lundoff)
- “Firooz and his Brother” by Alex Jeffers in the May 2008 issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction, reprinted in Wilde Stories 2009
- “Here Lies the Last Lesbian Rental in East Vancouver” by Amber Dawn in Fist of the Spider Woman: Tales of Fear and Queer Desire (edited by Amber Dawn)
- “I’m Your Violence” by Lee Thomas in Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet
- “In Circles” by Aurelia T. Evans in Fist of the Spider Woman: Tales of Fear and Queer Desire
- “In the Night Street Baths” by Chaz Brenchley in Lace and Blade (edited by Deborah J. Ross)
- “One Horse Town” by Melissa Scott in Haunted Hearths and Sapphic Shades: Lesbian Ghost Stories
- “Parts” by Kal Cobalt in Wired Hard 4 (Edited by Lauren Burka and Cecilia Tan)
- “Remember” by Astrid Amara in Tangle (edited by Nicole Kimberling)
- “The Succession Knoorikios Khnum” by Zachary Jernigan in Wired Hard 4
- “Waiting Tables and Time” by Lyn McConchie in Haunted Hearths and Sapphic Shades: Lesbian Ghost Stories
Best Other Works:
- Were the World Mine, a film by Tom Gustafson.
- Haunted Hearths and Sapphic Shades: Lesbian Ghost Stories (edited by Catherine Lundoff)
- Periphery: Erotic Lesbian Futures (edited by Lynne Jamneck)
- Unspeakable Horror: From the Shadows of the Closet (edited by Vince Liaguno and Chad Helder)
- Wilde Stories 2009 (edited by Steve Berman)
(Information gathered from the Spectrum Awards official website as well as The Outer Alliance announcements, here.)
Lee Mandelo is a multi-fandom geek with a special love for comics and queer literature. She can be found on Twitter and Livejournal.
