In honour of Spirit day - unofficial as it may be - "in memory those who ended their lives after being bullied and harassed because of the gender or sexual identity", I have decided to postpone the reading list I'd planned to post this month, and post this one instead. It's unfortunately not complete, so I will be adding to it when I get the time. If you'd like more ideas, here's the wiki page for Lambda (the GLBT award) nominees and winners for the speculative fiction category.
These are all books with either gay/lesbian protagonists or important supporting characters. Not all of the authors books that fall into this category are mentioned (for example, Mercedes Lackey has several series with gay characters, I just loved the Last Herald Mage trilogy and so wrote that one down).
Here are the books in no particular order:
Fantasy
Magic's Pawn, Magic's Promise, Magic's Price - Mercedes Lackey
The Steel Remains - Richard Morgan
Nights of Villjamur - Mark Charan Newton
A Companion to Wolves - Sarah Monette & Elizabeth Bear
Swordspoint, The Privilege of the Sword - Ellen Kushner
Havemercy, Shadow Magic, Dragon Soul - Jaida Jones & Danielle Bennett
Stepsister Scheme, Mermaid's Madness, Red Hood's Revenge - Jim Hines
Dhalgren - Samuel Delany
The Exile and the Sorcerer - Jane Fletcher
Daughters of an Emerald Dusk - Katherine Forrest
Palimpsest - Catherynne Valente
A Book of Tongues - Gemma Files
Mordred, Bastard Son - Douglas Clegg
Nightlife, Moonshine, Madhouse, Deathwish - Rob Thurman
Of Saints and Shadows - Christopher Golden
And thank you to the commenters who suggested the following fantasy titles:
Velum, Ink - Hal Duncan
The Chosen, The Standing Dead, The Third God - Ricardo Pinto
Science Fiction
Slow River - Nicola Griffith
Trouble and Her Friends - Melissa Scott
Try Vellum and Ink by Hal Duncan. Great books with strong characters, just be ready for their fluidity with time and place.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how good Ricardo Pinto is known in the US and Canada, but in this side of the Atlantic his 'The Stone Dance of the Chameleon' trilogy have been published in various countries, like Germany, Portugal or UK and his protagonist and secondary cast are all gay. Also, it is one of the best sagas in a kind of fantasy which dispense the typical Tolkien clichés, so it's a 'must read'!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the suggestions. Sometime soon I have to go through the Lambda awards and add those titles to my list. So much to do, so little time. :)
ReplyDelete@FF - I recognize Pinto's titles but haven't read him. I'll add him to my (ever growing) reading list. Thanks!