Rob Gates of the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards Foundation explains the delay in telling us who won the 2008 awards: “We experienced an email glitch a couple months back and got wrapped up in other activities and lost sight of the fact that we never seemed to hear back from anyone. We just discovered the glitch recently and figured it was better to send something out now than not send anything at all for last year’s winners.”
The Gaylactic Spectrum Awards were created in 1999 by The Gaylactic Network, “the premiere organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) fans of science fiction, fantasy, and horror (SF/F/H), to honor works in SF/F/H that deal positively with gay characters, themes and issues.” Nominations for the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards are open to everyone. Winners and a short list of recommended works in each category are selected by a jury. The 2008 Awards, for works that originally appeared in 2007, were presented in three categories: Best Novel, Best Short Fiction, and Best Other Work.
The winner of the best novel award is Wicked Gentlemen by Ginn Hale, published by new independent publisher Blind Eye Books. Gates says “This atmospheric novel combined unique fantasy elements with theology and mystery and incorporated complex emotional and relationship content between its two main characters. This was author Ginn Hale’s first novel, and the first title published by Blind Eye.”
The short fiction winner is “Ever So Much More Than Twenty” by Joshua Lewis, which appeared in the anthology So Fey, published by Prime Books. “This story of a man’s realization that middle age does not preclude the magic of love from one’s life was rich and sweet. As with the novel winner, this was the author’s first published story.”
The rest of the novels appearing on the judges’ short list were:
Lady Knight by LJ Baker (Bold Strokes)
Dust by Elizabeth Bear (Ace)
New Amsterdam by Elizabeth Bear (Subterranean)
Whiskey & Water by Elizabeth Bear (Roc)
Vintage by Steve Berman (Lethe Press)
Ink by Hal Duncan (Del Rey)
Daughters of the North by Sarah Hall (Harper Perennial)
Hero by Perry Moore (Hyperion)
Hex by Darieck Scott (Carroll & Graf)
Spaceman Blues by Brian Francis Slattery (Tor)
Ha’Penny by Jo Walton (Tor)
The other short fiction nominees were:
“Prime Suspect” by KS Augustin (Total-E-Bound)
“Bittersweet” by Steve Berman (Endicott Studios)
“The Coat of Stars” by Holly Black (So Fey)
“Charming: A Tale of True Love” by Cassandra Clare and Ruby deBrazier (So Fey)
“Side Effects” by M. Decker (Alleys and Doorways)
“The Healing” by Leigh Ellwood (Phaze)
“A Bird of Ice” by Craig Giney (So Fey)
“Dividing the Sustain” by James Patrick Kelly (New Space Opera)
“Dancing on the Head of a Pin” by Kiernan Kelly (Torquere)
“The Steel Anniversary” by Valerie Lewis (Alleys and Doorways)
“Medusa’s Touch” by Catherine Lundoff (Crave: Tales of Lust, Love, and Longing)
“The Reflection of Love” by Julia Talbot (Alleys and Doorways)
“Were” by JoSelle Vanderhooft (Alleys and Doorways)
In the Best Other Work category, the judges did not identify one winner, but listed a group of “recmomended works”:
the comic book series 52 by Greg Rucka, Grant Morrison, and others (DC Comics)
the comic book series Y The Last Man by Brian Vaughn, Pia Guerra, and others (Vertigo/DC)
the comic book series Buffy, Season 8 by Joss Whedon and others (Dark Horse)
the television show Torchwood (BBC)
the special episode of the television series Battlestar Galactica, “Razor” (Universal/Sci-Fi Channel)
the film Socket (Dark Blue Films)
the film Stardust (Paramount)
the anthology So Fey: Queer Faery Fiction edited by Steve Berman (Prime Books)
the anthology Alleys and Doorways edited by Meredith Schwartz (Torquere Press)
Winners in the Best Novel and Best Short Fiction category receive physical awards and a cash prize. The 2009 Awards will be presented at Gaylaxicon 2009 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in October 2009. To nominate works for the 2009 awards (for works appearing in 2008), see this page. Nominations are open to anyone, but must be received by 15 March 2009.