Lambda Literary Award Winners

The winners of this year's Lambda Literary Awards have been announced. They make for a great place to start if you're looking for something new in LGBT writing.

Lesbian Fiction: A Field Guide to Deception by Jill Malone

Lesbian Debut Fiction: The Creamsickle by Rhiannon Argo

Gay Fiction: Lake Overturn by Vestal McIntyre

Gay Debut Fiction: Blue Boy by Rakesh Satyal

LGBT Nonfiction: The Greeks and Greek Love by James Davidson

Lesbian Biography: The Talented Miss Highsmith by Joan Schenkar

Gay Memoir: Ardent Spirits by Reynolds Price

Transgender: Lynnee Breedlove's One Freak Show by Lynn Breedlove

Bisexual Fiction: (tie)

Holy Communion by Mykola Dementiuk

Love You Two by Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli

Bisexual Nonfiction: Leaving India by Minal Hajratwala

LGBT Anthology: Portland Queer edited by Ariel Gore

LGBT Drama: The Collected Plays of Mart Crowley by Mart Crowley

LGBT SF/Fantasy/Horror: Palimpsest by Catherynne M. Valente

LGBT Studies: The Straight State: Sexuality and Citizenship in Twentieth-Century America by Margot Canaday

LGBT YA: Sprout by Dale Peck

Lesbian Mystery: Death of a Dying Man by J.M. Redmann

Gay Mystery: What We Remember by Michael Thomas Ford

Lesbian Romance: The Sublime and Spirited Voyage of Original Sin by Colette Moody

Gay Romance: Drama Queers! by Frank Anthony Polito

Lesbian Poetry: Zero at the Bone by Stacie Cassarino

Gay Poetry: Sweet Core Orchard by Benjamin S Grossberg

Lesbian Erotica: Lesbian Cowboys edited by Sacchi Green & Rakelle Valencia

Gay Erotica: Impossible Princess by Kevin Killian

There are several books on the list that I want to read, though as usual I'm immersed in slightly older works of gay fiction, most recently the wonderful short story collections of Richard Hall and, at the moment, The Young and Evil, a novel about gay/bohemian life in Greenwich Village in the late 1920's by Charles Henri Ford and Parker Tyler.

The truly astounding thing is that the novel was originally published in 1933 but is incredibly upfront about gay life in that time and place without any attempt at moralizing.

I also recently read two very different books published at the same time and dealing with the same themes and settings: Larry Kramer's Faggots and Andrew Holleran's Dancer From the Dance. I read them back to back and I have to say that I found Holleran's novel to be beautifully written but I really didn't care for Kramer's.

That's not to say that it wasn't well written, but there was such an aura of bitterness surrounding it all, not to mention his sheer delight in reveling in the most seamy aspects of gay life, which left me feeling like I needed to take a shower each time I finished a chapter. Reading such a book would leave anyone feeling like being a gay man was a bleak experience at best.

Lest you think that I'm only reading fiction that's at least twenty five years old, I'm counting down the days until the release of Stephen McCauley's latest novel, Insignificant Others, in June and I was also very excited to notice the other day at work that there is now an October release date for Armistead Maupin's new Tales of the City novel, Mary Ann in Autumn!