2010-05-28

Winners Announced for the 22nd Annual Lambda Literary Awards

Congratulations to all the winners, but also to the finalists. Mick, I'm really happy for you.

LGBT Anthologies: Portland Queer: Tales of the Rose City, edited by Ariel Gore (Lit Star Press)

Finalists:
- Gay American Autobiography: Writings from Whitman to Sedaris, edited by David Bergman (University of Wisconsin Press)
- Moral Panics, Sex Panics: Fear and the Fight Over Sexual Rights, edited by Gilbert Herdt (NYU Press)
- My Diva: 65 Gay Men on the Women Who Inspire Them, edited by Michael Montlack (University of Wisconsin Press)
- Smash the Church, Smash the State! The Early Years of Gay Liberation, edited by Tommi Avicolli Mecca (City Lights)

LGBT Children's/Young Adult: Sprout, by Dale Peck (Bloomsbury USA) (In the Spotlight: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/990355.html)

Finalists:
- Ash, by Malinda Lo (Little, Brown)
- How Beautiful the Ordinary, edited by Michael Cart (HarperCollins)
- In Mike We Trust, by P.E. Ryan (HarperCollins) (In the Spotlight: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/528923.html)
- The Vast Fields of Ordinary, by Nick Burd (Penguin Books) (In the Spotlight: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/955620.html)

LGBT Drama: The Collected Plays Of Mart Crowley, by Mart Crowley (Alyson Books)

Finalists:
- The Beebo Brinker Chronicles, by Kate Moira Ryan & Linda S. Chapman (Dramatists Play Service)
- Revenge of the Women's Studies Professor, by Bonnie L. Morris (Indiana University Press)

LGBT Nonfiction: The Greeks and Greek Love, by James Davidson (Random House)

Finalists:
- The Golden Age of Gay Fiction, edited by Drewey Wayne Gunn (MLR Press) (Review: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/801875.html)
- I Am Your Sister: Collected and Unpublished Writings of Audre Lorde, edited by Rudolph P. Byrd, Johnnetta Betsch Cole & Beverly Guy-Sheftall (Oxford University Press)
- Ties That Bind: Familial Homophobia and Its Consequences, by Sarah Schulman (The New Press)
Unfriendly Fire:How the Gay Ban Undermines the Military and Weakens America, by Nathaniel Frank (St. Martin's Press)

LGBT SF/Fantasy/Horror: Palimpsest, by Catherynne M. Valenta (Bantam/Spectra Books)

Finalists:
- Centuries Ago and Very Fast, by Rebecca Ore (Aqueduct Press)
- Fist of the Spider Woman, by Amber Dawn (Arsenal Pulp Press)
- In the Closet, Under the Bed, by Lee Thomas (Dark Scribe Press)
- Pumpkin Teeth, by Tom Cardamone (Lethe Press)

LGBT Studies: The Straight State: Sexuality and Citizenship in Twentieth Century America, by Margot Canaday (Princeton University Press)

Finalists:
- Metropolitan Lovers: The Homosexuality of Cities, by Julie Abraham (University of Minnesota Press)
- Moving Politics: Emotion and ACT UP's Fight Against AIDS, by Deborah B. Gould (University of Chicago Press)
- The Queer Child, or Growing Sideways in the Twentieth Century, by Kathryn Bond Stockton (Duke University Press)
- The Resurrection of the Body: Pier Paolo Pasolini from Saint Paul to Sade, by Armando Maggi (University of Chicago Press)

Bisexual Fiction (tie):
- Holy Communion, by Mykola Dementiuk (Synergy Press) (Review: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/700800.html)
- Love You Two, by Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli (Random House Australia)

Finalists:
- Arusha, by J.E. Knowles (Spinsters Ink)
- The Janeid, by Bobbie Geary (The Graeae Press)
- Torn, by Amber Lehman (Closet Case Press)

Bisexual Nonfiction: Leaving India: My Family's Journey From Five Villages to Five Continents, by Minal Hajratwala (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Finalists:
- Byron in Love: A Short Daring Life, by Edna O'Brien (W. W. Norton)
- Cheever: A Life, by Blake Bailey (Alfred A. Knopf)
- Map, by Audrey Beth Stein (Lulu.com)
- Vincente Minnelli: Hollywood's Dark Dreamer, by Emanuel Levy (St. Martin's Press)

Transgender: Lynnee Breedlove's One Freak Show, by Lynn Breedlove (Manic D Press)

Finalists:
- Bharat Jiva, by Kari Edwards (Litmus Press)
- The Nearest Exit May Be Behind You, by S Bear Bergman (Arsenal Pulp Press)
- Transmigration, by Joy Ladin (Sheep Meadow Press)
- Troglodyte Rose, by Adam Lowe (Cadaverine Publications)

Lesbian Debut Fiction: The Creamsickle, by Rhiannon Argo (Spinsters Ink)

Finalists:
- The Bigness of the World, by Lori Ostlund (University of Georgia Press)
- Land Beyond Maps, by Maida Tilchen (Savvy Press)
- More of This World or Maybe Another, by Barb Johnson (HarperCollins)
- Verge, by Z Egloff (Bywater Books)

Gay Debut Fiction: Blue Boy, by Rakesh Satyal (Kensington Books)

Finalists:
- God Says No, by James Hannaham (McSweeneys)
- Pop Salvation, by Lance Reynald (HarperCollins)
- Shaming the Devil: Collected Short Stories, by G. Winston James (Top Pen Press)
- Sugarless, by James Magruder (University of Wisconsin Press)

Lesbian Erotica: Lesbian Cowboys, edited by Sacchi Green & Rakelle Valencia (Cleis Press)

Finalists:
- Flesh and Bone, by Ronica Black (Bold Strokes Books)
- Punishment with Kisses, by Diane Anderson-Minshall (Bold Strokes Books)
- Where the Girls Are, by D.L. King (Cleis Press)
- Women of the Bite, by Cecelia Tan (Alyson Books)

Gay Erotica: Impossible Princess, by Kevin Killian (City Lights)

Finalists:
- Rough Trade: Dangerous Gay Erotica, edited by Todd Gregory (Bold Strokes Books)
- I Like It Like That: True Tales of Gay Desire, edited by Richard Labonté & Lawrence Schimel (Arsenal Pulp Press)
- The Low Road, by James Lear (Cleis Press) (In the Spotlight: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/388426.html)
- Eight Inches, by Sean Wolfe (Kensington Books)

Lesbian Fiction: A Field Guide to Deception, by Jill Malone (Bywater Books)

Finalists:
- Dismantled, by Jennifer McMahon (HarperCollins)
- Forgetting the Alamo, Or, Blood Memory, by Emma Pérez (University of Texas Press)
- Risk, by Elena Dykewomon (Bywater Books)
- This One's Going to Last Forever, by Nairne Holtz (Insomniac Press)

Gay Fiction: Lake Overturn, by Vestal McIntyre (HarperCollins)

Finalists:
- The River In Winter, by Matt Dean (Queens English Productions)
- Said and Done, by James Morrison (Black Lawrence Press)
- Salvation Army, by Abdellah Taia (Semiotext(e))
- Silverlake, by Peter Gadol (Tyrus Books)

Lesbian Memoir/Biography: The Talented Miss Highsmith: The Secret Life and Serious Art of Patricia Highsmith, by Joan Schenkar (St. Martin's Press)

Finalists:
- Called Back: My Reply to Cancer, My Return to Life, by Mary Cappello (Alyson Books)
- Mean Little deaf Queer, by Terry Galloway (Beacon Press)
- My Red Blood: A Memoir of Growing Up Communist, Coming Onto the Greenwich Village Folk Scene, and Coming Out in the Feminist Movement, by Alix Dobkin (Alyson Books)
- Likewise: The High School Comic Chronicles of Ariel Schrag, by Ariel Schrag (Simon & Schuster/Touchstone Fireside)

Gay Memoir/Biography: Ardent Spirits: Leaving Home, Coming Back, by Reynolds Price (Scribner Books)

Finalists:
- City Boy: My Life in New York During the 1960's and 70's, by Edmund White (Bloomsbury USA) (In the Spotlight: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/629113.html)
- Deflowered: My Life in Pansy Division, by Jon Ginoli (Cleis Press)
- Once You Go Back, by Douglas A. Martin (Seven Stories Press)
- The Pure Lover: A Memoir of Grief, by David Plante (Beacon Press)

Lesbian Mystery: Death of a Dying Man, by J.M. Redmann (Bold Strokes Books)

Finalists:
- Command of Silence, by Paulette Callen (Spinsters Ink)
- From Hell to Breakfast, by Joan Opyr (Blue Feather Books)
- The Mirror and the Mask, by Ellen Hart (St. Martin's/Minotaur)
- Toasted, by Josie Gordon (Bella Books)

Gay Mystery: What We Remember, by Michael Thomas Ford (Kensington Books) (In the Spotlight: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/423626.html)

Finalists:
- All Lost Things, by Josh Aterovis (P.D. Publishing) (Review: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1015536.html)
- The Killer of Orchids, by Ralph Ashworth (State Street Press)
- Murder in the Garden District, by Greg Herren (Alyson Books) (In the Spotlight: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/882286.html)
- Straight Lies, by Rob Byrnes (Kensington Books) (Review: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/871317.html)

Lesbian Poetry: Zero at the Bone, by Stacie Cassarino (New Issues Poetry & Prose)

Finalists:
- Bird Eating Bird, by Kristin Naca (HarperCollins)
- Gospel: Poems, by Samiya Bashir (Red Bone Press)
- Names, by Marilyn Hacker (W.W. Norton)
- Stars of the Night Commute, by Ana Bozicevic (Tarpaulin Sky Press)

Gay Poetry: Sweet Core Orchard, by Benjamin S. Grossberg (University of Tampa Press)

Finalists:
- Breakfast with Thom Gunn, by Randall Mann (University of Chicago Press)
- The Brother Swimming Beneath Me, by Brent Goodman (Black Lawrence Press)
- The First Risk, by Charles Jensen (Lethe Press) (Rainbow Award Winner: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/885934.html)
- What the Right Hand Knows, by Tom Healy (Four Way Books)

Lesbian Romance: The Sublime and Spirited Voyage of Original Sin, by Colette Moody (Bold Strokes Books)

Finalists:
- It Should Be a Crime, by Carsen Taite (Bold Strokes Books)
- No Rules of Engagement, by Tracey Richardson (Bella Books)
- Stepping Stone, by Karin Kallmaker (Bella Books)
- Worth Every Step, by KG MacGregor (Bella Books)

Gay Romance: Drama Queers!, by Frank Anthony Polito (Kensington Books) (In the Spotlight: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1035242.html)

Finalists:
- A Keen Edge, by H. Leigh Aubrey (iUniverse) (Review: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/953851.html)
- The Rest of Our Lives, by Dan Stone (Lethe Press) (Review: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/680513.html)
- Time After Time, by J.P. Bowie (MLR Press) (Review: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/762264.html)
- Transgressions, by Erastes (Running Press) (Review: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/605516.html)

http://www.lambdaliterary.org/awards/awards-finalists/

Winners Announced for the 22nd Annual Lambda Literary Awards

Dark Designs by Luisa Prieto

You have to bring a lot of patience and passion when you will start this book, and you have to save them till the end and beyond. Dark Designs is a more than 400 pages book and it’s only the beginning of a series, which, from what I understand, will have the same two main characters as leads.

Everything is complex in this book, from the intricate plot, switching back and forward in time, from the darkness of a past age with knights and mages, to the even too much light of modern time, where sometime the darkness would be welcomed to cover the ugliness of today. It’s also complex in the writing style, the author spent a lot of time to create her own language, mixing English, with Spanish and French, and yes also Italian, and I well know how much she took care in doing it, since I checked the Italian part of the story. It’s also complex in the relationship between the two men, probably one of the first time I read a book where the main heroes barely meet; true, as I told before, this is only the first book in a series, and maybe the author needed time for the world building and in the following books she will let her characters live inside it.

It’s strange since Kyler Withers, journalist and teacher, winner of a Pulitzer, who decided to join a small College instead of a big Ivy League, virtually meets Sorin, student in the same college, practically in the first pages, while Kyler is reading the college paper Sorin is editing. But then both of them are “kidnapped” by the Darkness, or better by two ambassadors, Rhune and Avery; and the author didn’t save the reader, and Kyler and Sorin, from anything, all the bad experiences are their to be lived, from having to witness the murders of innocent kids, to the one of your best friend. They are all proofs the Darkness is powerful and it doesn’t like t be ignored. Page after page the reader is waiting for the moment when Kyler will meet (again? eventually?) Sorin, something he was teased from the very beginning, something he understands is written in the stars, of better in their blood, but page after page he is delusional, it seems never the time.

In a way, especially for Kyler, I think that the Darkness is not a stranger, but it’s your half, like the Devil and the Angel playing on your shoulders, and when one is stronger than the other, you chosen path in life follow the consequences. Take modern Kyler for example, he is grieving from the bad experience he had in Colombia, he is continuously saying that he fears what he was, above all since he doesn’t remember; but then he wrote a book, and that book won a Pulitzer, and Kyler is the first to admit that it was his dream comes true… what if unconsciously Kyler is doing all of it basically to accomplice his thirst of recognition? What if he is paying his tribute to the Darkness in a macabre barter?

If you are starting this book with the attitude of reading 440 pages, filled till capacity of events, but hoping to find a resolution in the end, change your path. 440 pages are only the starters, and to complete your meal you will have to stay a lot of time with these men… after all, we are speaking of hundreds of years for them to wait, what is for us some months to know their complete story? This is not a light book, on the contrary, it’s quite oppressive, sometime even distasteful; it’s for sure more a dark fantasy than a romance: the characters have to let the Darkness go out in plain sight, to be finally free from it, but to do so, they have to fight and not in a fair play.

http://www.mlrbooks.com/ShowBook.php?book=DARKDSGN (print book)

http://www.aspenmountainpress.com/new-releases/dark-designs/prod_247.html (ebook)

Buy Here

Amazon: Dark Designs

Reading List:

http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading+list&view=elisa.rolle

Cover Art by Anne Cain

Dark Designs by Luisa Prieto

Cover Art by Anne Cain