2009 Rainbow Awards: Best Overall Bisexual / Transgender Novel

[reviews_and_ramblings]

And the Rainbow Award goes to:

1) Holy Communion by Mykola Dementiuk, Synergy Press

Holy Communion is a rite-of-passage novel that follows a seven-year-old boy's first communion preparations and celebration.Throughout the four-day peroid the boy deals with cruel nuns,sadistic babysitters,his mother's unfortunate accident,a drunken father,plus a pedophile or two, but finds a way to cope in the midst of so much tragedy-first by indifference,later by defiance and rebellion.He also discovers that his urban surrondings in New York City give him autonomy,comfort, and satisfaction.Holy Communion is full of the boy's dispair and self-questioning,along with the author Mykola Dementiuk's powerful insights into the human condition.

2) Two Spirits by Walter L. Williams & Toby Johnson, Lethe Press

Twenty years after publishing his groundbreaking The Spirit and the Flesh, anthropologist Walter L. Williams breaks his silence and publishes another book on Native Americans by teaming up with award-winning writer Toby Johnson. Together they have produced a work of historical fiction that is striking in its evocation of Navajo philosophy and spirituality. Set in the Civil War era of the 1860s, this novel tells the story of a feckless Virginian who finds himself captivated by a Two-Spirit male highly respected among the Navajo. It is a story of tragedy, oppression, and discrimination, but also an enlightening story of love, discovery, and beauty. Two Spirits illuminates the truth of what the United States did to the largest indigenous people of this nation. Full of suspense, plot twists, and endearing romance, this novel will captivate readers.

3) Complications by Cat Grant, Lyrical Press

Life becomes complicated for Ally Taylor when she falls for old college friend Eric Courtland.