Most of the books and stories that Otherwise Award jurors read to pick a winner are nominated by authors and readers. We need your suggestions. If you’ve read a work of science fiction or fantasy that explores or expands our notions of gender, please tell us about it by filling out the recommendation form below. If you have more than one, just fill out the form again with a new recommendation and repeat the process until you’ve told us about them all.
Recommendations close on the 1st of December, 2017. Because recommendations are accepted from everyone, and haven’t been reviewed by the jury, we request that nominated creators not publicize their appearance on this list: if you win, or your work shows up on an honor list or long list, please publicize to your heart’s content!
The 2017 Otherwise Award will be given in 2018, location to be determined.
To let us know something related to recommendations that doesn’t fit in the form, please email recommendations@otherwiseaward.org.
Recommendations are Closed
The current Recommendations for the Otherwise Award can be found here:
2025 Otherwise Award Recommendations
The 2017 Otherwise Award Recommendations
| Author | Title | Publisher | Comments | Sub Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samantha Heuwegan | Dawn Among The Stars | Trifecta | In her debut novel, Mrs. Heuwagen explores the stigma of invisible disability (anxiety, depression, etc) as well as difficult topics (sexual consent, gender identity, etc) by following a strong female lead as she not only struggles with her inner disabilities but attempts to save the world. With this series, Heuwagen hopes to bring to light the issues and constraints surrounding these difficult topics for two main reasons: First, to show readers it is okay to deal with internal disabilities while still being a hero, and second, to allow a focal point for open discussion within our society to better understand these disabilities. Dawn Among The Stars debuts May 21, 2018. Mrs. Heuwagen's full bio can be found on the included link to works. Thank you for your consideration. Jeremy Pledgertrifectapublishinghouse.com/samantha-heu… | 2018-02-04 21:00:51 | |
| L.S. Johnson | To Us May Grace Be Given | Giganotosaurus | giganotosaurus.org/2017/10/01/to-us-may-… | 2017-10-29 13:13:53 | |
| David Demchuk | The Bone Mother | ChiZine Publications | In particular, the stories Sabina and Lorincz.chizinepub.com/the-bone-mother/ | 2017-10-28 13:02:06 | |
| Meredith FinchIg Guara | Rose, Vol. 1 | Image Comics | imagecomics.com/comics/releases/rose-vol… | 2017-10-26 15:12:06 | |
| D.A. Xiaolin Spires | Bubblegum Botress | Grievous Angel | Unapologetically queer POV romance in a lush retro future and cyberpunk setting that challenges and pushes boundaries in areas of love, sexual identities and 'rules' of courtship. urbanfantasist.com/grievous-angel/bubble… | 2017-10-26 01:28:08 | |
| D.A. Xiaolin Spires | Twisted Knots | Clarkesworld | This heartfelt story addresses the concept of the creation of life, but places at its core, the fraught female relationship of Taiwanese-American Lilian and her mostly absent mother. The story subversively casts a female, protagonist Lilian, as the catalyst of breathing life to a golem, a role usually reserved for rabbis and males in classic Hebrew narratives—and expands upon this narrative by bringing in multicultural perspectives, specifically that of Chinese and Taiwanese cultures. Women are portrayed as technically savvy and empowered characters with agency in their lives. The maternal ideal of the caring mother is challenged; instead, the story provides a deeper look at alternative mother-daughter relationships that do not conform to the typical ideas and tales of nurture, care and empathy. Strong-willed LGBTQ characters also play an important role in this story and further enrich the development of theclarkesworldmagazine.com/spires_08_17/ | 2017-10-26 01:12:53 | |
| E.M. Hamill | Dalí | NineStar Press | ninestarpress.com/product/dali | 2017-10-21 13:13:29 | |
| A. M. Blaushild | Good Angel | Angels/demons have entirely different notions of sex and gender, also discussions of those in humans. Asexual, Aromantic character questioning what boxes society has put her in and if/how they fit and experiments with her identity. | 2017-10-18 08:26:14 | ||
| Cat Winters | Odd and True | Amulet Books (Abrams) | 2017-10-16 13:19:11 | ||
| Joyce Chng | Water Into Wine | Annorlunda Enterprises | A novella about a character redefining their gender identity and discovering new things about themself and their family after moving to a new planet to start a new life. The story is set against the backdrop of a war which causes all the characters to come to terms with what they would do to protect their family.annorlundaenterprises.com/books/water-in… | 2017-10-11 07:43:19 | |
| Carmen Maria Machado | Her Body and Other Parties | Greywolf | 2017-10-08 09:47:31 | ||
| Petra Kuppers | Dinosaur Dreams | The Deaf Poets Society: An Online Journal of Deaf and Disabled Literature and Art | deafpoetssociety.com/petra-kuppers-issue… | 2017-10-03 08:51:36 | |
| Sandra M. Odell | Meat | Pseudopod | Narrated by Linda Hamiltonpseudopod.org/2017/03/31/pseudopod-536-a… | 2017-10-02 17:07:10 | |
| Yoon Ha Lee | Raven Stratagem | Solaris | 2017-09-30 07:43:29 | ||
| Daisy Johnson | Fen | Graywolf | 2017-09-30 07:37:20 | ||
| Helen Sedgwick | The Growing Season | Harvill Secker | A world in which anyone can have a baby. | 2017-09-25 07:20:21 | |
| Rick Riordan | Magnus Chase and the Hammer of Thor | Puffin | 2017-09-25 07:18:08 | ||
| KB Wagers | After the Crown | Orbit | 2017-09-21 12:20:08 | ||
| Mur Lafferty | Six Wakes | Orbit | 2017-09-21 12:19:35 | ||
| Lila Bowen | Malice of Crows | Orbit | 2017-09-21 12:18:59 | ||
| N.K. Jemisin | Stone Sky | 2017-09-21 12:18:26 | |||
| Kate Elliott | Dead Empire | 2017-09-21 12:17:37 | |||
| April Daniels | Sovereign | Diversion | 2017-09-21 10:21:41 | ||
| Calvin Gimpelevich | Rent, Don't Sell | Topside Press | topsidepress.com/product/pulpware-device… | 2017-09-20 11:58:02 | |
| Tej Turner | Dinnusos Rises | Elsewhen Press | amazon.co.uk/dinnusos-rises-tej-turner-e… | 2017-09-19 01:26:05 | |
| R. K. Williams | The Ozone Hotel | Callisto Green | An exclusive members’ club beyond even the constraints of time, the Ozone Hotel is the ultimate salon – a palatial edifice floating above the clouds, a playground for the most creative minds in the universe. When Mr Brown, a humble bank clerk from 1929, unexpectedly receives a Golden Ticket and boards a jet, he embarks on an adventure that will change his life forever. Joining forces with the formidable Chloë Passion and time travellers Global Baby, Pink in Feathers and Celeste Skyworld, will Mr Brown be able to save the hotel from the clutches of megalomaniac gender-blender Lucy-Fur Quimm? Will he ever see his little house on Devonshire Avenue again? And will Chloë find her muff? All will be revealed as you take your seat and buckle up on Ozone Airways. We hope you enjoy your flight.theozonehotel.com | 2017-09-17 02:40:04 | |
| Carmen Machado | Her Body and Other Parties | Graywolf Press | Slipstream stories about, among many other things, cultural treatment of women's bodies. Longlisted for the National Book Award. | 2017-09-15 11:39:43 | |
| Debbie Urbanski | How To Find A Portal | Lightspeed | An aromantic, asexual narrator struggles between accepting her life versus continuing to search for her portal. lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/how-to-fi… | 2017-09-11 07:31:29 | |
| Andrea Lawlor | Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl | Rescue Press | Hi there! I'm not sure if it's okay to self-nominate, but thought I'd try, since my book isn't coming out until November 1. I'd be happy to have the press send a review copy if that's helpful! Thank you and all my best, Andreakirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/andrea-la… | 2017-09-08 05:45:51 | |
| Red Harvey | Piece Simul | Wattpad | simul /ˈsɪməl/ noun 1. a shortened form of simultaneous 2. a display in which a player plays a number of games simultaneously against different opponents. A diverse star-bound research team stumble upon what it means to exist in the vastness of space. They grapple with sexual, class, racial, and cultural identity issues. After each newly discovered planet, they find their minds and bodies changing. Decades into their journey, they must decide if they can return to the life they left behind. wattpad.com/180809018 | 2017-08-31 10:07:54 | |
| Sam Miller | The Art of Starving | Harper Collins | A novel about a gay teenager who believes starving himself will give him superpowers. The novel examines notions of masculinity, queer identity, friendship, family, love, and the pain caused by eating disorders, among other things. | 2017-08-27 09:29:56 | |
| E.P. Clark | Unplanned Parenthood | Indie | In this standalone novelette, two women (or is one of them a vampire?) flee to Canada to escape a repressive regime at home. | 2017-08-27 07:15:21 | |
| E.P. Clark | The Midnight Land: Part One: The Flight | 2017-08-27 07:11:32 | |||
| Anna Jakobsson Lund | Equilibrium | Annorlunda förlag | This is a Swedish book about Ari, who has to run to a town full of bandits, smugglers and illusionists. It's a story about identity and gender, friendship and magic. From the authors previous work, I expect this to be great, involving a lot of different kind of people.goodreads.com/book/show/35408839 | 2017-08-26 21:30:06 | |
| Rose Michael | The Art of Navigation | UWA Publishing | The year of the Slippery When Wet Tour three girls leave their safe suburban world to spend a life-changing night in a forest on the outskirts of Melbourne, where they plan a half-serious séance to call forth bushranger Ned Kelly. A world away in time Edward Kelley - alchemist, necromancer and crystal ball 'scryer' for Elizabeth I's astrologist Doctor Dee - is beset by visions. Narratives from 1987, 1587 and 2087 merge and converge as this gothic ghost story becomes a fantastic tale of possession in a blazing work of speculative fiction. uwap.uwa.edu.au/products/the-art-of-navi… | 2017-08-21 16:39:29 | |
| Lisa YaszekPatrick Sharp | Sisters of Tomorrow: The First Women of Science Fiction | Wesleyan University Press | I realize from last year and not typical Tiptree but if not looked at last year might be worth a Special Mention especially for K A Goonan's concluding essay. | 2017-08-16 12:06:56 | |
| Tessa Crowley | Godspeaker | tessacrowley.com/books/ | 2017-08-16 07:50:05 | ||
| Alison Evans | Ida | Echo Publishing | Four out of six characters in the book are trans, I really tried to show a broad range of gender identities in the book.echopublishing.com.au/titles/ida/ | 2017-08-03 22:34:05 | |
| Taneka Stotts | ELEMENTS: Fire An Anthology By Creators of Color | Beyond Press | ELEMENTS: Fire is a comics anthology of 23 stories by creators of color from around the globe. With stories featuring peaceful warriors, blossoming brujas, godly hackers, and a fire-breathing dragon boy, we are the main characters of our own stories, not the sidekicks or token characters. This is an anthology that is full of our passions, magic, and inner fire because our diversity is not just a buzzword: it's our reality! The physical softcover edition of ELEMENTS: Fire has a striking gold foil cover, along with 272 pages of stories in black, white, and a special striking red Pantone (185 U) for the interiors. All brought to you by a truly diverse list of 32 creators of color.amazon.com/dp/0998282804 | 2017-08-03 10:00:34 | |
| Krissy Kneen | An Uncertain Grace | Text Publishing | A powerful, and moving exploration of the future of human sexuality. | 2017-07-07 13:56:31 | |
| Seanan McGuire | Down Among the Sticks & Bones | tor.com | 2017-07-07 08:19:54 | ||
| Lara Elena Donnelly | Amberlough | Tor | 2017-07-07 08:18:57 | ||
| Margaret Killjoy | Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion | tor.com | 2017-07-07 08:07:27 | ||
| Ada Palmer | Seven Surrenders | Tor | 2017-07-06 14:57:28 | ||
| Ellen Klages | Wicked Wonders | Tachyon | 2017-07-06 14:44:56 | ||
| Alexander Weinstein | Children of the New World | Picador | ALEXANDER WEINSTEIN is the director of the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing. He is the recipient of a Sustainable Arts Foundation Award, and his stories have received the Lamar York, Gail Crump, and New Millennium Prizes, have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, and appear in the anthology New Stories from the Midwest. He is an associate professor of creative writing at Siena Heights University and leads fiction workshops in the United States and Europe. | 2017-07-06 10:27:20 | |
| Andrew DeYoung | THE EXO PROJECT | Boyds Mills Press | Discover THE EXO PROJECT, a sharply written YA science-fiction debut. On a future, dying Earth, seventeen-year-old Matthew has a choice: live out his days on a doomed planet or leave his family forever to join the Exo Project and journey one hundred years into space to find a new home for humankind. One hundred light-years away, a teenage girl named Kiva is preparing to lead her people. But she is troubled by a vision of a ship hurtling through space, bringing a strange boy who seems to see her, too. When they finally meet, Matthew and Kiva discover an emotional connection that neither expected, powerful and dangerous. Now each must make an impossible decision: stay loyal to the bonds that tie them together, but risk the loss of their communities. Or protect their own worlds at all costs. boydsmillspress.com/bmp/books/fiction/ex… | 2017-06-30 08:39:38 | |
| Alison Tam | Beauty, Glory, Thirft | Book Smugglers Publishing | booksmugglerspub.com/2017/06/beauty-glor… | 2017-07-26 04:09:15 | |
| D.J. Goodman | Lord of Stone | Severed Press | amazon.com/lord-stone-d-j-goodman-ebook/… | 2017-07-23 04:34:32 | |
| Jessica Reisman | Bourbon, Sugar, Grace | Tor.com | tor.com/2017/06/07/bourbon-sugar-grace/ | 2017-07-21 06:43:43 | |
| Ann Leckie | Provenance | Orbit | 2017-07-14 08:55:53 | ||
| Hiromi Goto | Notes from Liminal Spaces | Uncanny Magazine | uncannymagazine.com/article/notes-limina… | 2017-07-13 04:09:39 | |
| Lavie Tidhar | Central Station | Tachyon | 2017-07-10 09:39:18 | ||
| Maggie Shen King | An Excess Male | Harper | 2017-07-08 10:05:43 | ||
| Annalee Newitz | Autonomous | Tor | 2017-07-08 10:02:05 | ||
| Petra Kuppers | Ice Bar (short story) | PodCastle | podcastle.org/2017/03/10/podcastle-459-a… | 2017-06-27 23:27:22 | |
| David Michael Miller | The Becomer | Indie | The Becomer is currently #14 in the free kindle store and is available for free until June 27. If you would like a free copy after the promotion date, I will happily send one. Thank you for your consideration! All the best, Davidamazon.com/dp/b072z6cn9b | 2017-06-24 09:55:58 | |
| JY Yang | Red Threads of Fortune & Shards of Heaven | tor.com publishing | 2017-06-19 15:50:57 | ||
| Julia Ember | The Tiger's Watch | Harmony Ink Press | fantasy with gender fluid MC. Goodreads reviews look positive | 2017-06-19 09:01:22 | |
| J Tullos Hennig | Summerwode | DSP Publications | dsppublications.com/books/summerwode-by-… | 2017-06-13 17:11:42 | |
| Meg Elison | The Book of Etta | 47 North | Fearless, beautifully executed examination of gender, sexuality, and gender roles in post-apocalyptic world after plague wipes out most women and makes childbearing deadly. | 2017-06-13 14:07:54 | |
| Adam Walker | Ball | Il & Elle Publishing | I love this book. The world imagined puts two women at the forefront of AI development. The characters are complex and full of wit. A fresh look at robots, free of dystopian themes. ballthenovel.com | 2017-06-12 14:43:11 | |
| Seanan McGuire | Down Among the Sticks and Bones | Tor.com | I really enjoyed how the twins are shoved into stereotypical boxes, and the entire book is about them breaking out of those boxes in order to be themselves. It also shows some negative repercussions of forcing a child to act a certain way. | 2017-06-11 07:10:31 | |
| Naia Poyer | The Kindly Ones | Northampton House Press | This story might be classified as dark fantasy or fabulism, but it is is one of the best evocations I have read of the emotions conjured by being trans but not being accepted or recognized by family and society in general. "The Kindly Ones" is also incredibly vivid and inventive in its details of a different, parallel world which not so much passes judgment on human beings as it finds them rather irrelevant. It is also a fantastic portrayal of the how the fae world might operate inside our own, and not in a pretty, idealized, Disneyfied way. northampton-house.com/supernatural-and-f… | 2017-06-08 09:57:41 | |
| K.M. Szpara | Small Changes Over Long Periods of Time | Uncanny Magazine | Main character is a transgender gay manuncannymagazine.com/article/small-change… | 2017-06-07 13:43:49 | |
| K.M Szpara | Smalls Changes Over Long Periods of Time | Uncanny Magazine | uncannymagazine.com/article/small-change… | 2017-06-06 17:48:16 | |
| Kendra Fortmeyer | Octopus vs. Bear | Lightspeed | "You woke up female this morning, so now you have a choice: do what other people want, or be a bitch." This horror story follows a lonely man who wakes up one morning in a woman's body and treats himself to a borrowed day on the town. Though it could easily devolve into a "Men are from Mars/Women are from Venus" one-off, the story deftly delves into the dangers of unconscious privilege and the horrors of being abruptly stripped of it. In conclusion: the patriarchy is bad for everyone. Originally appearing in Lightspeed. lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/octopus-v… | 2017-06-05 08:11:25 | |
| Theodora Goss | Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter | 2017-06-03 14:11:44 | |||
| Catherynne Valente | Refrigerator Monologues | Saga Press | 2017-06-03 14:09:13 | ||
| Stephen Leigh | A Fading Sun | DAW | 2017-06-03 13:52:36 | ||
| Anne Charnock | Dreams Before The Start of Time | 47 North | An intimate novel about how the introduction of various reproductive technologies interweave through several generations of a family. There are gay and trans characters. Gender is definitely in play here. I read it for the Dick Award jury, but immediately thought of it as a Tiptree contender. | 2017-05-30 11:41:33 | |
| Virginia Bergin | Who Runs the World | Macmillan Children's Books | See: https://www.panmacmillan.com/authors/virginia-bergin/who-runs-the-world | 2017-05-26 01:36:52 | |
| Rivers Solomon | An Unkindness of Ghosts | Akashic | One of my favorite books of the year. Explores gender, race, class, disability, revolution, oppression aboard a generation ship. Aster is one of those protagonists who will really stick with you. | 2017-05-22 13:01:36 | |
| Lindsey Drager | The Lost Daughter Collective | Dzanc Books | Every woman was once a girl and every girl was once a daughter For every woman in the world, there will always be laughter in slaughter. Midnight at the Institute. Using bedtime stories as cautionary tales, a Wrist Scholar tells his only child of the Lost Daughter Collective: a fabled group of bereaved fathers who meet in an abandoned umbrella factory to mourn the loss of their girls. Over everything hangs the mystery of the Archivist’s daughter―neither dead nor missing, but indisputably gone. Blurring the line between reality and artifice, far past and near future, Drager’s satirical exploration of gender politics and identity queers the old adage: “A son is a son ’til he finds himself a wife, but a daughter is a daughter all her life.” The Lost Daughter Collective is a gothic, fabulist, gender-bending fairytale that haunts.dzancbooks.org/our-books/the-lost-daught… | 2017-05-06 10:21:04 | |
| Yoon Ha Lee | Ninefox Gambit | Solaris Books | 2017-05-05 16:28:58 | ||
| Anne Charnock | Dreams Before the Start of Time | 47North | Dreams Before the Start of Time imagines a near future when infertility is a thing of the past. A man can create a child without a woman, a woman can create a child without a man. Artificial wombs eliminate the struggles of pregnancy and dangers of childbirth. Two characters are asexual. One character is non-binary. The novel considers what it may mean in the future to be a parent, a child, and a family. The story follows two women from their 30s to old age in a series of interconnected vignettes spanning five generations and three continents. They face the aftershocks of human progress, as their children and grandchildren embrace new ways of making babies. https://www.amazon.com/Dreams-Before-Start-Time-Charnock-ebook/dp/B0176BJYRKamazon.com/dreams-before-start-time-char… | 2017-05-05 02:11:42 | |
| Nicholas Wilson | Whores | Amazon Digital Services, LLC | A Dystopian novel reminiscent of Handmaid's Tale that is frighteningly slipping into reality. Women have lost almost all rights, ranging from the right to abortion to basic health care, including pre-natal care. Men can literally brand them with A's, as in the Scarlett letter and doctors who perform abortions are executed. While this is a simplification, with the current administration and the current Vice President and Speaker of the House and new SCOTUS justice, we are not too far off from this happening. It is an important book that I have sent to my Senators and Representatives in hopes that they will share their colleagues where we can be heading. In fact, the recent ACHA bill that was put forward but did not reach a vote suggested cutting women's health care.amazon.com/whores-gender-dystopia-nicola… | 2017-05-01 09:41:45 | |
| Lindsey Miller | Mask of Shadows | Sourcebooks Fire | I was lucky enough to receive an ARC from NetGalley. The Protagonist is a gender fluid, and we never learn his/her birth gender. Salotte is an amazing character, a combination of the Artful Dodger and Batgirl. I've never met a character like Salotte before, nor have I read a YA book that has the acceptance of all gender romantic combination. The writing in itself is sublime and I did the mythical read through. I started it early one morning and didn't do anything (other than the absolutely necessary) until I was done and wrote the review. I cannot recommend this book enough, to OA (old adults) and YA.amazon.com/mask-shadows-linsey-miller-eb… | 2017-05-01 09:31:28 | |
| Baker and Dovey | How I Became Coruscating Queen Of All The Realms, Pierced The Obsidian Night, Destroyed A Legendary Sword, And Saved My Heart’s True Love | Alliteration Ink | Link is to Podcastle reprint, which is free to read. Work originally appeared in Alltieration Ink's "No Shit, There I Was" anthology in March of 2017: https://www.amazon.com/No-Shit-There-I-Was/dp/1939840422/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1493234011&sr=8-1&keywords=no+shit+there+I+waspodcastle.org/2017/04/25/pc-467-coruscat… | 2017-04-26 11:13:52 | |
| Saba Razvi | In the Crocodile Gardens | Agape Editions | Dear Committee, I did not see a poetry category, so I am offering my collection for consideration in the Contest, here. The book is also a 2017 Elgin Award Nominee, and utilizes elements and tropes of science fiction, fantasy, and speculative fiction approaches. The book explores ideas within and beyond gender and sexuality both explicitly and implicitly in many of its poems. If you'd like to know more about it, I'd be glad to send a review copy or answer any questions you have.sundresspublications.com/agape/titles.ht… | 2017-04-24 09:05:39 | |
| Nicky Drayden | Prey of Gods | Harpercollins | 2017-04-22 13:49:09 | ||
| SA Chakraborty | City of Brass | HarperCollins | 2017-04-22 13:48:34 | ||
| Katharine Wibell | Issaura's Claws | Phaesporia Press | “Issaura's Claws by Katharine E Wibell is an impressive fiction work that focuses on breaking the stereotype of women as a weak gender.” “Issaura's Claws is a story of friendship, courage, loyalty, and gender neutrality.” “The characters of Issaura's Claws are dynamic and full of surprises.” “The author has done an incredible job of keeping readers on their toes throughout the story. There are many pearls of wisdom in the book, but my favorite one is that by using the right tools and reason, people of different mindsets can learn to not only work together, but also to care for one another. If you are a fan of fantasy-based books that keep you on the edge of your seat, then Issaura's Claws by Katharine E Wibell is definitely a good choice for you.” amazon.com/issauras-claws-incarn-saga-1/… | 2017-04-21 06:20:23 | |
| Lidia Yuknavitch | The Book of Joan | Harper | 2017-04-18 11:55:47 | ||
| Mishell Baker | Phantom Pains | Saga Press | 2017-04-15 08:46:27 | ||
| Katherine Arden | Bear and the Nightingale | Del Rey | 2017-04-15 08:24:28 | ||
| Debbie Urbanski | A List of My Utopias | The Sun | A cross-genre essay-story about asexuality, a mixed-orientation marriage, and depression. thesunmagazine.org/issues/496/a-list-of-… | 2017-04-11 04:14:57 | |
| T.S. Porter | "The Junkyard" in MakerSex: Erotic Stories of Geeks, Hackers, and DIY Culture | Circlet Press | Cecilia Tan asked that this be considered as well as another short story title nominated from the same anthology. Gretchen is entering this now to keep the record up to date. | 2017-04-04 15:57:53 | |
| Renata Piper | "Making Love" in MakerSex: Erotic Stories of Geeks, Hackers, and DIY Culture | Circlet Press | Cecilia Tan asked that this be considered as well as another short story title nominated from the same anthology. Gretchen is entering this now to keep the record up to date. | 2017-04-04 15:57:07 | |
| K. Arseneault Rivera | Tiger's Daughter | Tor | Queer POC fantasy novel--great worldbuilding, the protagonists' cultures are so varied and well-drawn and their experiences so challenging, the pacing was great, I loved this book a whoooooole lot and am hungry for the next one! | 2017-03-28 14:02:28 | |
| Indrapramit Das | The Devourers | Del Rey | This was one of my favorite books last year. | 2017-03-28 13:53:48 | |
| John Kessel | The Moon and the Other | Saga Press | Novel sequel to Tiptree-winning novella "Stories for Men." | 2017-03-28 13:01:34 | |
| Tina Pisco | A Carol's Christmas from the collection Sunrise Sunset | Fish Publishing | The novella, A Carol's Christmas, is a timely updating of the Dickensian fable and a zippy read with a feminist punch to it. An entertainment with a status-quo challenging message which should be read as a life-saving antidote by anyone who intends to waste their existence in the fruitless and all-round destructive pursuit of money, status, and the 'business career'. fishpublishing.com/book/sunrise-sunset/ | 2017-03-27 07:24:55 | |
| Emma Newman | After Atlas | Roc | Non-binary supporting character. Also interesting male-male relationship. | 2017-03-26 13:07:34 | |
| Jeanne G'Fellers | Surrogate | Supposed Crimes | Surrogate is a fast-paced, multi-world Sci-Fi novel with a bisexual alien protagonist who struggles to find her place within the confusing, tradition-clinging Combined Takla/ Human Empire. Alien. Worker. Outsider. Etain Ixtii detests the labels others give her but knows there are some things she must accept. She was born owing for her own existence, and her species’ breeding instincts interrupt her life every forty-five days. But workers like Etain are taught not to question so when she returns from training questioning her home world Gno’s profit-based caste system, she risks her life. Determined to survive, repay her debt, and free the workers she left behind, Etain breaks barriers, battles xenophobia, and changes the lives of everyone she encounters—all while striking a careful balance between her species’ inborn bisexuality and the expectations of the strange new world of Humans and Taklas. | 2017-03-21 20:52:24 | |
| Ellen Klages | Passing Strange | tor.com | 2017-03-18 16:22:31 | ||
| Michael Collins | Pale Winter Sun | Createspace | This book wasn't written just to tell a story, but to help teens and parents in similar situations. Not all kids runaway to the city, some have no choice but to stay close to the rural areas they live in.amazon.com/michael-r-collins/e/b00lv3rzf… | 2017-03-16 09:21:33 | |
| JD Scott | Cross | Ninth Letter | A humorous short story about an unknown narrator surviving a fantastic variation on the Abrahamic crucifixion, dealing with complicated pain of the human body and how humans perform (and are expected to perform) gender.ninthletter.com/web-edition/winter-2017/… | 2017-03-14 09:10:20 | |
| Dagny Paul | Standard Procedure | For Mortal Things Unsung, Escape Artists, Inc. - reprinted in Pseudopod | pseudopod.org/2017/03/03/pseudopod-532-f… | 2017-03-14 06:49:04 | |
| Kameron Hurley | The Stars Are Legion | Saga Press | amazon.com/stars-are-legion-kameron-hurl… | 2017-03-13 23:15:50 | |
| Ausma Zehanat Khan | The Bloodprint | HarperCollins | 2017-04-22 13:47:28 | ||
| Callie Bates | Waking Land | Del Rey | 2017-04-15 08:23:38 | ||
| Jamie Le Fay | Ahe'ey | "A thoughtful look at empowerment for women." "A rollicking trip into a fantasy world complete with dragons, love and strength, and ideas that really get you thinking." "Highly recommended for all ages." Ahe'ey: The Complete Collection Morgan is a dreamer, change maker and art lover. She is a feisty, slightly preachy, romantic feminist full of contradictions and insecurities. Morgan uncovers a world where women have the power, and where magic is no longer just a figment of her wild imagination. Sounds like a dream, but it may, in fact, turn into a nightmare. The world of the Ahe'ey challenges and subverts her views about gender, genes, and nature versus nurture. The strong and uninvited chemistry between her and the dashing Gabriel makes matters even more complicated. His stunning looks keep short-circuiting her rational mind. EDITORIAL REVIEWS "A bracing mix of emotionally and intellectually honestamazon.com/dp/b06xf7t8p1/ | 2017-04-15 06:32:01 | ||
| Deanna Madden | Forbidden Places | Flying Dutchman Press | Forbidden Places is a novel set in the near future when cultural practices of the past are preserved in cultural sanctuaries in the same way that endangered species are preserved in animal sanctuaries today. On their visits to four such sanctuaries, newlyweds Peter and Mele observe shocking cultural practices inflicted on females in the past, including foot binding in China, sati in India, stoning to death in Afghanistan, and female genital mutilation in Kenya.amazon.com/forbidden-places-deanna-madde… | 2017-04-14 13:22:42 | |
| Linsey Miller | Mask of Shadows | Sourcebook Fire | This book stars the first gender fluid character I've ever had the pleasure of meeting. At no time does Ms. Miller make excuses for Salott's fluidity. Told entirely in the first person, the fact that Salott has chosen neither and yet both genders creates a whole new world of gender. I feel this book truly meets the criteria and the point of the Tiptree Award, defining gender in a new way and also showing young people (this is a YA fantasy novel) that it is okay to be different. I had the pleasure of reading via NetGalley so I've no dog in this fight. Had I not been the old lady I am at 45, this book would have changed my view of life as a teen. This book will also change the view of many about the LGBTQIA community.amazon.com/mask-shadows-linsey-miller/dp… | 2017-02-25 18:25:29 | |
| Michele Fogal | Root of the Spark | Loose Id | Dell has an unexpected spark that masculine and feminine energies create when swirled and fused inside a single person. Born in the midst of the oldest human war, the war of the sexes, Dell is the first true hermaphrodite on the planet of Ameliaura. Dell has used the anonymity of the Fatherlander to survive, and the tight community of the Motherlander to manage, but reaching maturity means that neither of those are enough anymore. After a vicious attack, and an unexpected love interest, Dell must step into the light to fight for a real home. Warning: this book contains a child who is actually an ancient dragon made of fungus, a lovely villain imprisoned inside the creature’s body, a hasty clan gathering in the collective subconscious, a hermaphrodite orphanage on the brink, and some very naughty acts on a staircase. amazon.com/root-spark-wild-seed-novel-eb… | 2017-02-18 22:59:22 | |
| T. J. Klune | Murmuration | Dreamscape | This novel creates (and then undercuts) a virtual 1950s in which gender and sexuality are unproblematic but identity and reality are at risk in pretty interesting ways. dreamspinnerpress.com/books/murmuration-… | 2017-02-16 14:51:03 | |
| Moxie Marcus | Shiny New Toy | Circlet Press, Inc. | This is a short story in an anthology. I considered submitting the whole anthology, but not every story deals with gender-related issues as directly as this one. | 2017-02-15 22:59:55 | |
| April Daniels | Dreadnought | Diversion Publishing | A young adult novel about a transgender superhero. This is the single most trans-affirming book I have ever read. This book is designed to appeal to young teens experience gender dysphoria through its use of a idealized sci-fi transition. However, it is more than just a wish-fulfillment fantasy. It's carefully written to make it clear that its protagonist is transgender and that being transgender is okay. Her transition, while idealized, does not change her DNA, helping to draw a connection between her and real-world transgender people and making it easier for trans girls to admit to themselves that they are trans. By letting transgender girls know that their feeling are normal and that they aren't alone, I truly believe that this book could save lives.amazon.com/dreadnought-nemesis-book-apri… | 2017-02-12 16:52:47 | |
| Torrey Peters | Infect your Friends and Loved Ones | One of my favourite Tiptree novellas is Houston, Houston, Do You Read. Reading Peter's novella evoked that book, not simply because there are significant thematic echoes, but with the fierce intelligence and bleak humour of her narrative voice. As well, this book makes fresh hay out of the tropes of the sex role reversal utopia of new wave/second wave feminist SF, reimagining sexual difference from the perspective of a trans/cis divide.torreypeters.com/book/infect-your-friend… | 2017-02-05 06:51:03 | ||
| Kellie Doherty | Finding Hekate | Desert Palm Press | Finding Hekate is the first book in the scifi Cicatrix Duology that features two lesbian main characters and their crew, following them on their journey to save one character from a band of evildoers bent on taking her captive...and on the way, the two women fall in love.amazon.com/finding-hekate-cicatrix-duolo… | 2017-01-31 12:42:55 | |
| Eleanor Arnason | Hwarhath Stories: Transgressive Tales by Aliens | Aqueduct Press | This collection of stories about the Hwarhath people explores (among other things) the rigid gender norms of this alien race and how they are subverted. Wonderful work. | 2017-01-30 10:24:24 | |
| Jenni Fagan | The Sunlight Pilgrims | Hogarth | 2017-03-23 13:48:18 | ||
| Naomi Alderman | The Power | Viking | amazon.co.uk/power-naomi-alderman/dp/067… | 2017-01-23 07:26:12 | |
| Grant Hamilton | Heroes of Karth: The Curse of the Undead | Heroes of Karth Inc. | Heroes of Karth: The Curse of the Undead is the first book in an inclusive tale of high fantasy incorporating LGBTQ and autistic heroes that work to overcome obstacles of discrimination and racism. Grant Hamilton has taken the traditional fairytale device and turned it on its head, creating a multi-faceted story of love and betrayal, battles and magic, and families and heroes. amazon.com/heroes-karth-undead-grant-ham… | 2017-01-23 06:08:14 | |
| Aliete de Bodard | The House of Binding Thorns | Ace | I realize this won't be eligible for this year's award. The novel features racially diverse characters, bisexual characters, gay characters, and one transgender (in the sense a male angel transforms himself into a female and has a lesbian relationship with a mortal woman). | 2017-01-19 17:20:37 | |
| SL Huang | The Little Homo Sapiens Scientist | The Book Smugglers | This is one of the most gorgeous and poignant fairy tale retellings I have ever read. Unapologetically queer, heartbreakingly tragic (as is to be expected from a retelling of The Little Mermaid), and incredibly well-written.thebooksmugglers.com/2016/12/cover-revea… | 2017-01-18 06:18:50 | |
| Alma Alexander | Twice Promised | Kos Books | What happens when a first-born child gets promised to two different witches by both parents...? Joint custody - and just like in all the best fairy tales, country witch Ethelreda and city witch Shula first squabble and complain about the unbearable arrangements... and then, slowly, quietly, inevitably, fall in love... (this story was a successfully crowd-funded project under the hashtag #morewitchcentriclesbianfairytaleromcom)amazon.com/twice-promised-alma-alexander… | 2017-01-14 16:40:28 | |
| Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam | The Orangery | Beneath Ceaseless Skies | Uses a familiar mythological trope--women turning into trees--to explore power imbalances between men and womenbeneath-ceaseless-skies.com/stories/the-… | 2017-01-10 15:50:21 | |
| D. J. Goodman | Planet Leviathan | Severed Pres | amazon.com/planet-leviathan-d-j-goodman-… | 2017-01-07 14:21:19 | |
| Matthew Rossi | Heartless | 2017-01-04 16:52:55 | |||
| Matthew Rossi | Nameless | Narcoleptic Dogs Press | Book deals with genderfluid main characters and a character deals with being transgender as well. The sequel, Heartless https://www.amazon.com/Heartless-Nameless-Book-Matthew-Rossi-ebook/dp/B01M5ISESX/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8 also deals with these issues.amazon.com/nameless-novel-matthew-rossi-… | 2017-01-04 16:35:09 | |
| Heather Rose Jones | Mother of Souks | Bella Books | 2017-01-04 16:30:10 | ||
| Felicity Banks | Heart of Brass | Odyssey Books Australia | odysseybooks.com.au/titles/9781922200587… | 2017-01-04 01:10:19 | |
| Jennifer Marie Brissett | Kamanti's Child | Uncanny Magazine | A science fiction short story inspired by Toni Morrison's Beloved. This issue of Uncanny also includes an interview with me about this story. http://uncannymagazine.com/article/interview-jennifer-marie-brissett/uncannymagazine.com/article/kamantis-chi… | 2017-01-03 21:29:49 | |
| A. Merc Rustad | Monster Girls Don't Cry | Uncanny Magazine | uncannymagazine.com/article/monster-girl… | 2017-01-03 15:10:03 |