By the time this post goes up we will know who won the Lambda Literary Award in all twenty-three categories in which it is given, including the winner for Children’s/YA LGBT Fiction.  In announcing the finalists for this year’s award, the Lambda Literary Foundation explained that for the fourth year in a row there was a record number of books nominated and a record number of publishers represented in those nominations.  For the first time this year, the judges were encouraged to choose more finalists in categories that drew a large number of submissions. I am absolutely thrilled [...]

Author Guest Blog: Catherine Ryan Hyde I’m not sure how many people are aware of the fact that I just published an ebook sequel to my 2006 LGBT YA novel Becoming Chloe. It’s called Always Chloe and Other Stories. This time Jordy gets to have a boyfriend. Actually, a husband. Jordy reunites with his old flame Kevin, and they decide to marry. While I was writing the first draft of the novel, the California Supreme Court ruled that it was unconstitutional to deny marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Good timing! Well, it would have been good timing whenever [...]

In summer 2010 I had the best idea. It was one of those times when it feels as if the universe has just lobbed a gift directly into your brain, and within minutes I was madly scribbling down notes. The notes, which can still be found on a page in one of my notebooks, look something like this: Ancient warrior (soul? spirit?) trapped in blade for centuries. Heroine accidentally releases? Sets magic/curse in train... Blade belongs to... heroine? Heroine's FAMILY. Warrior heroine - sword-fighter, like a manga heroine. OMG JAPANESE! British born Japanese heroine. Ancestral katana! Forbidden! Kitsune, [...]

Author Guest Blog: Laura Lam Caveat: What I reveal about characters in Pantomime does somewhat “spoil” a “twist” that is revealed 20% into Pantomime. Some people have enjoyed being surprised, but if you’d prefer to read the book without knowing, please skip this post! I will say that I don’t think knowing this going in unduly colours the reading experience, but then again it’s impossible for me to know, as I can never read the book I’ve written for the first time. Another note on gender pronouns: I use the pronoun the character identifies as at the point [...]

When I approached Mark Probst, owner of Cheyenne Publishing, about releasing a young adult book for charity, I did so with no clear idea of what to expect—only a vision of the end result as my guide. To my delight, Mark was enthusiastic: if I could organize the authors, he would take on the book at Cheyenne. Just the one snag. Organize the authors. If you work in the arts, you’ve heard it before: “Will you donate your time/talent for … ?” Now it was my turn to ask, with nothing but a pretty-please and assurance that they [...]

I was having a conversation with an author whose first book comes out next year, and he was worried that his book, written from a female point of view, wouldn't be well received because he's a man.  We got onto the topic of writing gay characters and having gay protagonists, and he said something that echoed exactly how I felt before my debut in 2010.  He didn't want to be labeled a "gay author." I didn't write Oliver Travers, my horny, teenage narrator from The Deathday Letter as heterosexual because I was worried about being a gay author, [...]