Elizabeth A. Lynn (born 1946) is a US writer most known for

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

and to a lesser extent

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

. She is particularly known for being one of the first writers in science fiction or fantasy to introduce gay and lesbian characters; in honor of Lynn, the widely known California and New York-based chain of LGBT bookstores A Different Light took its name from her novel."Locus: Elizabeth A. Lynn interview". Locusmag.com. Retrieved 2008-10-0

/ref> She is a recipient of the

World Fantasy Award—Novel The World Fantasy Awards are given each year by the World Fantasy Convention for the best fantasy fiction published in English during the previous calendar year. The awards have been described by book critics such as ''The Guardian'' as a "presti ...

Body of work

Elizabeth Lynn is an openly lesbian science fiction and fantasy writer who has written numerous works featuring positive gay protagonists.Garber & Paleo, "Elizabeth A. Lynn: Biographical note" p. 84 Her '' Chronicles of Tornor'' novels (1979–80), the first book of which, ''Watchtower'', won the

World Fantasy Award The World Fantasy Awards are a set of awards given each year for the best fantasy literature, fantasy fiction published during the previous calendar year. Organized and overseen by the World Fantasy Convention, the awards are given each year a ...

, were among the first

novels to have gay relationships as an unremarkable part of the cultural background, and included explicit and sympathetic depictions of same-sex love. The other books in this series are ''The Dancers of Arun'' (1979); and ''Northern Girl'' (1980) – the last of which is of particular lesbian interest. Lynn's early science fiction novels were similarly ground-breaking in their treatment of sexual themes. In ''The Sardonyx Net'' (1981), one of the primary characters is a sexual sadist. Her SF novel ''A Different Light'' (1978) featured a same-sex relationship between two men. The magical lesbian tale "The Woman Who Loved the Moon" also won a World Fantasy Award and is the title story in Lynn's ''The Woman Who Loved the Moon'' collection along with other gay speculative fiction stories. Both these novels featured the science fiction concept

hyperspace In science fiction, hyperspace (also known as nulspace, subspace, overspace, jumpspace and similar terms) is a concept relating to dimension#Additional dimensions, higher dimensions as well as parallel universes in fiction, parallel universe ...

. Lynn later returned to fiction with a fantasy series, again featuring gay relationships: ''Dragon's Winter'' (1998) and ''Dragon's Treasure'' (2004).

Bibliography

Series

* '' The Chronicles of Tornor'' ** ''

Watchtower A watchtower or watch tower is a type of fortification used in many parts of the world. It differs from a regular tower in that its primary use is military and from a turret in that it is usually a freestanding structure. Its main purpose is to ...

'' (1979), ** '' The Dancers of Arun'' (1979), ** ''The Northern Girl'' (1980), * ''Karadur Atani'' ** ''Dragon's Winter'' (1998), ** ''Dragon's Treasure'' (2003),

Novels

* ''A Different Light'' (1978), * ''The Sardonyx Net'' (1981),

Short story collections

* ''The Woman Who Loved the Moon and Other Stories'' (1981), * ''Tales from a Vanished Country'' (1990)

Novellas

* ''The Red Hawk'' (1983)

Children's books

* ''The Silver Horse'' (1986) novel,

Non-fiction

* ''Babe Didrikson Zaharias: Champion Athlete'' (1989) (biography)

Selected short stories

* "We All Have to Go" (in ''Tricks and Treats'', 1976) * "Jubilee's Story" (in ''

Millennial Women ''Millennial Women'' is a 1978 science fiction anthology, edited by Virginia Kidd, in which all the stories are written by women and have a female character as the primary protagonist. The themes which these stories have in common are those of soc ...

'', 1978) * "Wizard's Domain" (in ''Basilisk'', ed. Ellen Kushner, 1980) * "The Silver Dragon" (in ''Flights: Extreme Visions of Fantasy'', 2004)

References

External links

*
Elizabeth A. Lynn
at SF Encyclopedia * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lynn, Elizabeth 1946 births 20th-century American novelists 21st-century American novelists 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers American fantasy writers American science fiction writers American women novelists American women short story writers American lesbian writers American LGBT novelists Living people Women science fiction and fantasy writers World Fantasy Award-winning writers 20th-century American short story writers 21st-century American short story writers