2010 Lammies Awards Finalists: The Dark Horse?

[reviews_and_ramblings]

First of all this is not a post aimed to raise polemics, it's only a post to prove that, sometime, people get inflamed over nothing.

When the LFF changed the guidelines adding the notorious "gender orientation/identity of the author" eligibility point ("In determining whether a book should be submitted for consideration, please note that the Lambda Literary Awards are based principally on the LGBT content, the gender orientation/identity of the author and the literary merit of the work"), a lot of people, me first, even if not publicly, felt like "castigate", like someone was telling me to not enter in a field that was not for me. But my philosophy is to "live and let live", and so, as I said before, the Rainbow Awards were not "against" the Lammies, but merely to give space to a lot of authors who usually have not otherwise.

Like someone tried to say, probably nothing really was changing for the Lammies, and indeed I saw, and cheered, to some submissions that were not exactly "strict" to the guidelines, and no one in the LLF commission said nothing. Good for the authors and good for the commission.

But let us be sincere, I think that people was, most of all, scared of the "kind" invasion of female authors of gay romance. They are mostly in the Romance category, but in the last few years, they are spreading on the Mystery, Fantasy, Sci-Fic, Young Adult... yes, I think they were who the commission was pointing at. Nevertheless, I don't think they were really banned from the Awards, and in fact, some of them are among the finalists.

But I think no one noticed something else, probably since it's not common: among the finalists there is also a male romance author, who is competing for the Best Gay Romance, and you know what? He is not at all a new name for the romance readers. H. Leigh Aubrey, self published author of A Keen Edge (my review here: http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/953851.html), is the pen-name of Leigh Greenwood, a well respected author of heterosexual Historical Romance; and, from what you can read on Leigh Greenwood's bio, he was married with a woman for more than 30 years, and it was his wife that, in a way, pushed him to write Romances, leaving all those trashy books around the house. Now, as he said, he has decided to stop to prented, and instead of writing het romances, he is writing gay romances... well I wish him best of luck and to have the same success he had with his Western Historical Romance.

Gender is not the same as genre in novel, as it should be. Now, I'm not saying that I want to mix Gay with Lesbian or Transgender or Bisexual, but that is the "theme" of the book, not the gender of the author. This is my idea.

Comments

[aileenfan.livejournal.com]

"...that is the "theme" of the book, not the gender of the author."

I so agree with you:) I, as a foreign reader, don't even think of an author's gender since most of those names don't tell me if the author is male or female. Sexual orientation doesn't matter either.

It is the fact that the book is a great read (or not) that counts.

The only exeption, when I want to know more about the author's private life, is a memoir.

And as for the male straight author writing gay novels - I was so surprised but if his books are good it only proves that talent doesn't depend on gender and/or orientation:)

Caroline

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

Gender of the author doesn't matter for me; I can have the feeling that female are more kind and romantic than male authors, but then, like for Leigh Greenwood, it's not absolutely a true in the stone.

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

From what I've observed of the Lammies, the judges are less concerned with the orientation of the writer than his or her gender. Look at the history. In fact, some years back Lesbian writers formed their own awards because they felt they were not getting a fair shake, and they were probably right.

As a part of the GLBTQ population, I'm disappointed to see discrimination written into any rules. I would not have entered Tangled Web; my publisher made that decision.

I'm delighted to see Transgressions in the finals, but I'll be astonished if it wins. Not because it doesn't deserve to...

I don't care who writes a book as long as it's written well. A story comes from above the ears, not below the belt.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

> A story comes from above the ears, not below the belt.

Right. If you consider the "classical" parameter of Romance, romanticism, lover meets lover, happily ever after, A Keen Edge is a good example. It's not surprise for me that the author has experience on Romance genre, it can be said reading the book.

[rbm00.livejournal.com]

please note that the Lambda Literary Awards are based principally on the LGBT content

While LLA's actions hurt some people's feelings, it was ultimately up to LLA to decide what the awards will be based on. I actually respect the decision to honor LGBT writers, given that the current market for gay fiction seems to be overwhelmingly straight writers versus a small fraction of LGBT writers, even though the subject of the books is LGBT people. But I also respect the opinions of those who disagree with LLA's new guidelines, such as Victor J. Banis and others who don't use offensive language/terms like "reverse discrimination". There are legitimate grounds for disagreement, and there are thoughtless attacks.

What I love about your Rainbow Awards was that you didn't set out to attack LLA. You simply accepted the fact, started your own award and made it more inclusive, instead of trying to raise a bunch of wank over the decision. I have a lot of respect for you for that.

I don't know how I'd feel about straight people who still try to enter despite the guidelines. You shouldn't have to abide by rules you don't consider just, but LLA placed its trust on the authors submitting. I would be disgusted by someone who knew he was straight but still entered anyway because he felt like an award for LGBT people owes something to him.

That said...

among the finalists there is also a male romance author, not gay, who is competing for the Best Gay Romance :-))) THAT probably no one was expecting

H. Leigh Aubrey actually is gay. From his website:

"I’m a romantic. I always have been even though I spent many years trying to be something else. Suffice it to say that I poured a lot of energy into being married and rearing a family. While the rewards were many, they were never enough to alleviate the stress of attempting to deny something as basic as my sexuality. ... Just short of retirement age I came tumbling out of the closet despite being grey and balding. What an attractive sight! Not an optimum time to make your appearance in the gay world."

[rbm00.livejournal.com]

I forgot the link.

H. Leigh Aubrey's website: http://hleighaubrey.wordpress.com/about-me/

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

Wow, I really like this man then. Indeed he is Leigh Greenwood, even if the picture on the website is of him a little younger, and instead the one here (http://hleighaubrey.wordpress.com/about-me/) is of a very handsome middle age man... I have to say that he is better now, and he looks happier even.

Well, so he is gay, but doesn't matter, as I said the book is a good old classical romance, very romantic, and it's clear that this man has experience in writing romances.

[rbm00.livejournal.com]

I am really curious about his book. It's $18 on Amazon, and if it weren't so expensive, I would try it.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

I bought (yes I still buy some books ;-)) the ebook version directly on Iuniverse website. It's 6 dollar: http://www.iuniverse.com/Bookstore/BookDetail.aspx?BookId=SKU-000110549 (and no shipping cost!)

or 7.68 dollar on EbookMall:
http://ebooks.ebookmall.com/ebook/342138-ebook.htm

[rbm00.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the links! I tried Adobe Digital Editions last year and it froze my computer so I uninstalled it. But since the ebook is out, I'll keep my eye out for a non-DRM version.