1995 Otherwise Award

The Otherwise Award is pleased to announce that the award ceremony for the 1995 Otherwise Award winner(s) has been held, and the winners have received their award and accolades.

Award Information

Conference Information

  • Award Year: 1995
  • Award Year Number: Year 5
  • Conference: WisCon 20
  • Date: 26-05-1996
  • Location: Madison, WI

Award Sections

Award Winners

The 1995 jury chose 2 works for the Otherwise Award.

Waking the Moon by Elizabeth Hand (HarperPrism, 1995)

The struggle between women and men, between the female and the male principles, dramatized with intelligence and humor in a novel that spans the 1970s to the present day and marries a nineteenth-century high realism style to a modern gothic content. The author offers no solutions but raises questions both metaphysical and emotional, confronting issues of power, violence and sexuality.  — Sara Lefanu

Work Information

Title: Waking the MoonAuthor:
Publisher:
Publisher Name: HarperPrismCountry: USYear: 1995
Work Type: NovelOriginal Language: English
Elizabeth Hand – Waking the Moon
Elizabeth Hand – Waking the Moon

The Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein by Theodore Roszak (Random House, 1995)

A powerful book about, among other things, the sexual politics of science, and the relationship between gender and knowledge-how gender may affect ways of knowing, ways of approaching and doing science, and affect our world views. It posits that the domination of “male” ways of knowing and doing science, lacking an understanding of, and sympathy for, the Earth and Nature itself, have resulted in a world being ravaged and destroyed in the name of progress and science. And it does all this in the context of a variation on the book many believe marks the beginning of modern science fiction. You may not agree with everything in this book, but you will think about it for days and weeks after reading it.  — Richard Russo

Work Information

Title: The Memoirs of Elizabeth FrankensteinAuthor:
Publisher:
Publisher Name: Random HouseCountry: USYear: 1995
Work Type: NovelOriginal Language: English
Theodore Roszak – Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein
Theodore Roszak – Memoirs of Elizabeth Frankenstein

Award Honor List

See full details about the 1995 Honor List

The 1995 jury chose 4 works for the Honor List

And Salome Danced, (Millennium, US, 1994)

Deserves a spotlight. A new and stellar treatment of an old metaphor-theater as life-this story is an exquisitely written exploration of the shuddering fascination that gender-limited people feel toward androgyny. This is also a tragedy imbued with a clear-eyed, chilly-hearted beauty worthy of the biblical Salome herself. A must-read.  — Nancy Springer

This story is in Flying Cups and Saucers.

Little Deaths: 24 Tales of Sex and Horror

Little Sisters of the Apocalypse, (Black Ice Books / Fiction Collective Two, US, 1994)

An intriguing short novel, finely written, and thought provoking. Will probably infuriate many, but will encourage debate about our assumptions about men and women, social roles, and the effects on women of life without men. — Richard Russo

Kit Reed — Little Sisters of the Apocalypse

Food Man, (Lisa Tuttle (chapbook), UK, 1994)

A nicely finessed story about an eating disorder carried to the illogical extreme, gives food for thought (sorry) about body image. Who really “owns” the way we look-or try to look? Where is it written that women shall be thin? What are the sexual politics involved, the hidden connections between food and power-or empowerment? The ending was not unequivocally satisfying but the story explores some quirky gender issues and deserves to be recommended and read. A highly original story.  — Nancy Springer

This story is in Flying Cups and Saucers.

Otherwise Award Cover Art Fallback Image

The Armless Maiden and Other Tales for Childhood's Survivors, Terri Windling (ed.) (Tor, US, 1995)

This anthology includes stories and poems from writers known within and outside fantasy and science fiction, such as Louise Gluck, Jane Gardam, Emma Bull, Tappan King, Tanith Lee, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Jane Yolen, and the editor herself, Terri Windling. They are of a strikingly high literary quality. Through retelling fairy tales and folk tales they explore the grim terrain of abused childhood, Tiptree territory of pain and cruelty. But while they explore the pain of children cruelly exploited, they also recount the stories of their growing up and the piecing together of their shattered selves into women and men capable of loving and being loved. A powerful, haunting collection. — Sara Lefanu

Terri Windling — The Armless Maiden and Other Tales for Childhood's Survivors

Award Long List

See full details about the 1995 Long List

The 1995 jury chose 6 works for the Long List

  • The Pumpkin Eater, (Sybylla Feminist Press, Australia, 1995)
  • Lines Upon the Skin, (Pan / Pan Macmillan Australia, Australia, 1995)
  • Women of Wonder, the Classic Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1940s to the 1970s, Pamela Sargent (ed.) (Harvest / Harcourt Brace, US, 1995)
  • Women of Wonder, the Contemporary Years: Science Fiction by Women from the 1970s to the 1990s, Pamela Sargent (ed.) (Harvest / Harcourt Brace, US, 1995)
  • Shadow Man, (Tor, US, 1995)
  • Other Nature, (Tor, US, 1995)

Jurors

  • Sara Lefanu
  • Richard Russo
  • Nancy Springer

Award Ceremony

See full details about the 1995 Ceremony

The 1995 Otherwise Award was given to Elizabeth Hand and Theodore Roszak at WisCon 20, May 26, 1996, in Madison, Wisconsin.