The Gaylactic Spectrum Awards are given to works of

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 ...

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

horror Horror may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Genres *Horror fiction, a genre of fiction ** Japanese horror, Japanese horror fiction **Korean horror, Korean horror fiction * Horror film, a film genre *Horror comics, comic books focusing o ...

that explore

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

(

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

, gay,

bisexual Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...

transgender A transgender (often abbreviated as trans) person is someone whose gender identity or gender expression does not correspond with their sex assigned at birth. Many transgender people experience dysphoria, which they seek to alleviate through tr ...

) topics in a positive way. They were founded in 1998, first presented by the

Gaylactic Network The Gaylactic Network is a North American LGBT science fiction fandom organization. It has several affiliate chapters across the United States and Canada, with a membership of LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) people and friends, shar ...

in 1999, and in 2002 they were given their own organization, the ''Gaylactic Spectrum Awards Foundation''. Awards are given in categories for novels, short fiction and best other work, although in some years the award for short fiction has not been presented due to lack of sufficient nominees or no nominee of high enough quality. Other categories have also been added and removed in intervening years, and works produced before the inception of the awards are eligible to be inducted into the "Hall of Fame". The short fiction category is open to submissions of short written works released during the prior calendar year in North America that includes "significant positive GLBT content". The long list of nominees is reduced to a short list of finalists, and the results are generally announced and presented at

Gaylaxicon Gaylaxicon is a recurring science fiction, fantasy and horror convention that focused on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender topics. It has taken in various locations in the United States and occasionally Canada, often on the East Coast. Sta ...

, a convention dedicated to LGBT science fiction, although they have also been presented at

Worldcon Worldcon, or more formally the World Science Fiction Convention, the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS), is a science fiction convention. It has been held each year since 1939 (except for the years 1942 to 1945, during ...

in the past. This article lists all the "Best short fiction" award nominees and winners, and short fiction hall of fame inductees. Each award consists of an etched image on lucite on a stand, using a spiral galaxy in a triangle logo, which is based on the logo the

. The award winner's name, work title, award year and award category are etched on a small plaque on the base or on the plexiglass itself. A small cash stipend is awarded to winners in the Best Short Fiction category. The cost of the awards is paid for through individual donations and fundraising events.

Steve Berman Steve Berman is an American editor, novelist and short story writer. He writes in the field of queer speculative fiction. Biography Berman was born on August 28 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and raised in southern New Jersey. Berman realized i ...

has the record for most nominations, having been a finalist four times without winning. No writer has won the short fiction award more than once. Per '' Locus'', the most recent short fiction award was given in 2010.

Winners and nominees

In the following table, the years correspond to the year of the award ceremonies; the books were released in the preceding years. Entries with a lavender background have won the relevant award; those with a white background are the finalist nominees. Superscript letters after the result indicate simultaneous nominations in other categories. Short fiction was part of other works this year.

Short fiction Hall of Fame inductees

In the following table, the years correspond to the year of the award ceremonies; the works were all first published before the founding of the awards in 1998. As of 2008, one short story has been inducted into the Hall of Fame:

References

;General * * ;Specific

External links

The Gaylactic Spectrum Awards official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gaylactic Spectrum Award Winners And Nominees For Best Short Fiction Best Short Fiction Lists of LGBT-related award winners and nominees Lists of speculative fiction-related award winners and nominees

Winners and nominees

Short fiction Hall of Fame inductees

See also

References

External links