GLBT Spectrum Awards

Italiangirl · **Posted:** Tue Jul 16, 2002 12:50 am

Well, I got a response to my letter that I thought was more specific to the comments I had made. No change, but to me, the tone of the response suggested that they were getting a fairly large amount of mail on this issue and were getting worn down. Yay kittens! Anyway, here's the response. It opened with the stock "We can only use 2001 blah blah" but then Gates talked about the issue of the comic...

_________________________________________________

Thank you for your comments.

The current slate of Spectrum Award Finalists are for work *solely* from calendar year 2001. Any episodes or content from after December 31, 2001 is completely irrelevant to this year's Spectrum Awards. The identification of Buffy as a finalist is not a statement for or against anything that occurred in calendar year 2002 on the show, indeed the judges will not be

discussing anything that occurred in the 2002 episodes of the show when we discuss our categories to determine winners. For purposes of the 2002 Spectrum Awards, the Buffy universe ended with the episode "Wrecked" (which was originally broadcast in November 2001). Nor do the judges ever consider anything outside of the actual content of the show or story or movie or

book being judged. The Spectrum Awards are about the works themselves, not about the creators of those works. Creator comments in interviews, quotes from message boards and the like are all irrelevant to our discussion of the artistic merit and GLBT content of the actual work itself.

In addition, alas, our call for recommendations was made and distributed widely months ago (to all the same places we distributed our announcement of Finalists) and we unfortunately received no recommendations for the comic book you and others have recently mentioned and thus it was not, and at this time cannot, be considered. If we had received a recommendation during

our recommendation period so that it could be considered by the judges as we developed our list of finalists, it would have been given the serious and thoughtful consideration that all of the recommended works received as we identified our slate of finalists.

We encourage you to continue finding and enjoying quality genre works with positive GLBT elements wherever you may find it.

- Rob Gates

Administrator, Spectrum Awards

Verdant · **Posted:** Tue Jul 16, 2002 11:06 am

I’m going to dissent from the popular opinion here and I’ll explain why. I think that the nomination should stand. Regardless of creator intent or ignorance the work that was produced prior to 2002 was material we admired, and practically worshipped. It was good material. Willow and Tara were exactly the true to life couple we loved. Alyson Hannigan and Amber Benson did stellar work that deserves to be recognized. The fact that Tara was killed is awful but it does not ruin all that came before it – it ruins all that comes after it.

If Tara were alive would all the little arguments about the memory spell, the break up, and every other little thing would be touted as examples of negative lesbian stereotyping as they are being right now? Somehow, I doubt it. All of the things that went down between Willow and Tara in 2001 were examples of how they were treated the same as any other character. It’s what made them special. It’s what we watched and loved, it’s what should be recognized and rewarded so that others will do more of the same.

Joss being a lying, egotistical fuck who ruined it all the next year is a separate issue. If I met the man tomorrow first I would thank him for the excellent work he produced through 2001, then I would tell him that I’m extremely disappointed and I hope he learned something. I would tell him that he behaved exactly like his own characters in abusing a power he obviously did not respect. And I would tell him that I no longer trust his creative vision and I won’t be watching any of his new shows because of it. But I would not yell at him or condemn him.

The show should be recognized for the good work it did. It should also be recognized for the bad work it did. For better or for worse those are generally going to be separate forums.

And I agree with Warlock. Joss will look stupid if he wins. It will give everyone more ammo to make the points against him by comparing the "award winning" work of 2001 to the travesty of 2002.

____________________

Maybe you wanna put some ice on it.

WebWarlock · **Posted:** Tue Jul 16, 2002 12:30 pm

I get what you are saying Verdant.

There were good bits in 2001. But the lies that we have recently learned about hav clouded all that to me.

Plus Mr. Gates prefers to live in ignorance over anything that might have him change his opinions. That is fine, it is not my job to correct his parent's mistakes.

I say let "Buffy" win the damn thing. I'd love to hear how either camps try to spin it. Given Joss' track record to date he is just going end up saying something really stupid.

Warlock

-----

Web Warlock

The Other Side, home of Liber Mysterium: The Netbook of Witches and Warlocks

But I'll be damned if I don't take a stand.
- Cypress Hill, We Ain't Goin' Out Like That.

xita · **Posted:** Tue Jul 16, 2002 12:38 pm

verdant I agree with you , that the time period would likely warrant a nomination. My problem I guess has been the lack of a receptive ear over there. Wouldn't you want to know, instead of getting all defensive? I would have hoped for a , but this is definitely and issue we want to look at next year. I am glad you brought your concerns to us. Instead of, it's done and you know what people may not agree with you. Disappointing.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"Oooh Xita!" - Amber Benson

xita · **Posted:** Tue Jul 16, 2002 2:28 pm

I think kitties when contacting organizations we have to be real careful. The easiest way to get dismissed is to resort to name calling. Apparently this happened here. And we cannot afford to be dismissed like that. We are already criticized for the passion we feel about all this, let's not make it worse for ourselves. We can disagree respectfully even when they ignore us but resorting to name calling, death threats, etc. won't get us anywhere. I think this year's awards are lost but we should monitor these next year and be positive and get some vibes going towards amber and the comic book. However, it must be polite and it must not be excessive.

Anyway, I emailed the guy here and apparently there were numerous insults, threats being bandied about. No one I know resorted to that so I am putting this out to the board as a whole. Show respect or be aware that you could be doing more harm than good.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"Oooh Xita!" - Amber Benson

Verdant · **Posted:** Tue Jul 16, 2002 4:25 pm

Below is a letter from Rob Gates that showed up in my mail box after I posted the message above. I was impressed by what he had to say and largely agree with him. I asked his permission to reprint it and he said yes. As Xita mentioned above the actions taken by some of the members of this board are a very good example of how over-zealousness can be detrimental to the cause. Name calling, invasion of privacy and death threats do nothing but convince people we are nutters on a vengeance kick (gee sound familiar) and do not win people over.

The rational, yet indignant essays that have been written and published, the wonderful Lesbian Cliché FAQ, and the hundreds of heartfelt letters spawned from this board will continue to have more lasting positive effect. But a handful of irresponsible, angry people with a mob mentality will ruin it all. It sounds trite – but treat others the way you want to be treated.

Below is Rob’s letter to me that helps explain why many of you were getting form letters back instead of lengthy responses. I understand his position of no time and feeling scared perfectly. In my opinion whoever violated the privacy of the judges and sent the kinds of emails described below to Rob or anyone else should apologize. Barring that, just be smart. Be respectful. You can still be indignant, focused and determined to get your point across. The time for yelling is over. We have their attention. Not just Spectrum’s but many others. The Kitten board is getting noticed. Now that we have that attention we need to use it wisely—not squander it by throwing tomatoes and acting like scary nutcases out for blood.

Believe me I understand the anger and frustration. I have spent the last 18 years of my life fighting for gay rights and equality. I have seen good people do terrible things in the name of that fight. I would hope the posters on this board are above that. For the most part the evidence says they are. The most radical thing each and everyone of us can do is live our life the way we want to and respect that others can too.

I’ll get off my high horse now. Thanks. Here’s the letter from Rob.

Quote:
Greetings Jennifer,

Thank you for your well reasoned and thoughtful message on the message

board about the Spectrum Awards. Yes, I've been watching the messages there, after becoming very concerned that the privacy of the judges had been violated. Given the tenor and content of some of the messages we received I had to ascertain whether the judges were in danger of anything more offensive than the email messages we've gotten.

I understand the anger you all feel about what happened with Buffy at the end of the season, as I very much loved the Tara character as well. I too very much wish she had not been killed. I may not agree entirely with the implications of that death, or rather I also see the artistic story arc value of the death and its method, but at the very least her death has set some high expectations of what I expect Buffy to deliver

in terms of GLBT content in the fall to consider it a positive GLBT content show. At the same time, I think it's important to recognize the positive when it occurs, and the Buffy episodes aired in 2001 had very significant positive GLBT content. If we don't recognize the positive things that happen and only rail against what we see as negatives, those

creating works will never know what it is we *do* want to see, they'll just worry that they'll do something wrong and not bother to try at all.

I also know people on the kittens boards are frustrated about what they've seen as a lack of responsiveness. At the same time, they've done very little that would facilitate that. If you could read some of the offensive and outrageous personal attacks that were sent you'd understand how reticent we are to engage in a dialogue or to respond personally. In addition, a number of folks there far overstepped the bounds when they searched out and privately emailed the individual judges (with some of the exceedingly offensive diatribes I mentioned).

It was an extreme invasion of privacy and given the content of some of the email actually had some of the judges concerned about less electronic invasions of privacy.

The Spectrum Awards are handled by volunteers. It's a hell of a lot of work, for instance between the 6 of us we just read the equivalent of 35 novels over the course of the last four weeks, all around our "normal lives". The fact that we chose to send a polite but form response wasn't a sign of disrespect, but the only way we could respond given

the zillion other things we all have to do and we DID want to respond to make sure people understood that we had heard and considered the message. We *have* chosen not to take the path that some have requested - removing the nomination - but that doesn't mean we didn't give the requests consideration. We didn;t make that choice to save face, or to

pander to anyone, or to kiss anyone's ass - we made that decision because we, as a group, felt it was the right decision to make because the 2001 episodes of Buffy *deserve* the nomination. Nothing that happened in 2002 can change the fact that we saw a very loving and open lesbian couple in 2001 in Willow and Tara (fights and awkwardness and

all).

And you're right in your final comments in your post. If Buffy does win (and who knows how it will fare, the category its in has some very tough competition) it will add that much more food for thought to the idea that what happened in 2002 had a different impact and interpretation than perhaps intended. Without the acknowledgement of the positive, it's hard to suggest something is negative.

Again, thanks for being a voice of reason and giving some thought to the concept that maybe we had a *good* reason for what we did and what we chose.

Thanks,

Rob Gates

Spectrum Awards Administrator

____________________

Maybe you wanna put some ice on it.

Kendahl897 · **Posted:** Tue Jul 16, 2002 9:32 pm

Wouldn't it be ironic for Joss to win the Spectrum award for Willow and Tara in the same year that he destroyed said COUPLE ON tv..Might give him food for thought..

emma peel · **Posted:** Tue Jul 16, 2002 9:51 pm

Maybe I'm just very naive, but I can't imagine anyone who posts on the Kitten on a regular basis would behave as badly as Mr. Gates indicates. Do we know factually that it was someone from the Kitten?? I hope not.

I'll drop the subject now.

Janice

xita · **Posted:** Tue Jul 16, 2002 10:06 pm

The problem is there is no way to know. I think certainly they got the info here, whether it is a regular poster or not, I don't think so. Still I felt it's better to air it all out and make sure that we all approach these things in the same manner.

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"Oooh Xita!" - Amber Benson

kajo 2000 · **Posted:** Wed Mar 12, 2003 4:18 am

Does anyone here know which of Amber & Chris Golden's Willow/Tara comic books might qualify for nomination in the Best Other Work category? It would be nice if we could help them win an award.

Categories:

Best Novel - The best science fiction, fantasy or horror novel released during the prior calendar year in North America that includes significant positive GLBT content.

Best Short Fiction - The best science fiction, fantasy or horror short fiction work released during the prior calendar year in North America that includes significant positive GLBT content.

Best Other Work - The best science fiction, fantasy or horror work released in any non-novel, non-short-fiction medium during the prior calendar year in North America that includes significant positive GLBT content. This includes comic books, graphic novels, movies, television episodes, multimedia, anthologies, story collections, gaming products, artwork, music or other.

Recommendations are accepted from anyone.

The Closing Date for Nominations/Recommendations will be March 31.

Link to Nomination Form:

www.spectrumawards.org/nomform.htm

tommo · **Posted:** Wed Mar 12, 2003 4:24 am

Well, I suppose either WannaBlessedBe or Wilderness would qualify for the third category of "other" work.

For the first category of novel, I wonder if Chris Golden's Buffy novels would be considered? They're not chock full of W/T but what there is, is solid and credible in terms of a gay relationship, I guess. The Wisdom of War and Monster Island are two that strike me as being the best of the best, so to speak.

I'm not sure if this is what they're looking for though.

In you the song which rights my wrongs; In you the fullness of living;
The power to begin again; From right now, in you...

Edited by: tommo at: 3/12/03 5:33:48 am

kajo 2000 · **Posted:** Wed Mar 12, 2003 4:34 am

tommo: What I was really getting at when I asked which of the comic books would qualify for nomination is that they have to have been published/released in the 2002 calandar year. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

The same applies to any of CG's novels too.

Edited to add: I have since found out this info, thanks - it is contained in my subsequent post.

Dr G: Yes, the comic book collection will qualify for next year's nominations, as will CG's novel Monster Island.

Edited by: kajo 2000 at: 3/12/03 3:22:32 am

urnofosiris · **Posted:** Wed Mar 12, 2003 4:40 am

Thanks for reminding us Kajo. That is a really good idea.

Too bad the short novel based on Amber and Christoper Golden's collected W/T comics isn't published yet. I don't suppose we can nominate in advance so we can put them in more catagories.

Edit: well Kajo posted just as I was typing up my post. We can save some good stuff for next year then.

-------------------------

Coffee, Food, Kisses and Gay Love........Get it while you are hot

Edited by: DrG at: 3/12/03 2:42:24 am

kajo 2000 · **Posted:** Wed Mar 12, 2003 4:49 am

Found out some info from Essence of Amber :

www.efanguide.com/~amber/biblio.html

Wanna Blessed Be was released in April 2001 so it is too late to nominate that one but both parts of Wilderness qualify:

Willow & Tara: Wilderness #1 (by Amber Benson & Christopher Golden; Buffy the Vampire Slayer special, published July 10th, 2002 by Dark Horse Comics, Inc.)

Willow & Tara: Wilderness #2 (by Amber Benson & Christopher Golden; Buffy the Vampire Slayer special, published September 11th, 2002 by Dark Horse Comics, Inc.)

Edited to add: info on Chris Golden's novels:

www.scifan.com/titles/title.asp?TI_titleid=40814

The Wisdom of War by Christopher Golden

Novel, first publication in July 2002 by Pocket Books (Simon & Schuster)

Monster Island by Thomas E. Sniegoski, Christopher Golden

Novel, first publication in March 2003 by Pulse

Only The Wisdom of War qualifies by date but does anyone here who has read the book think that it has enough gay-related content?

This reader's review sounds encouraging that it does:

www.growinglifestyle.com/prod/0743427602.html

Customer Review:

"One of Best Buffy Books Ever Written!!!

The Wisdom of War, is the best Buffy book I have ever read. It has all the characters from Season Six, and they throw in Faith for good measure. Buffy comes to the realization in this book that evil can not be compromised with, it must be fought and destroyed. Spike proves again that he will do anything for the love of Buffy. Anya shows her true love for Xander. Willow and Tara show that they are true soul mates. Faith shows that she wants to find redemption, but that she has a long way to go before she finds true forgiveness for her past sins. This book is a great addition to the Buffy mythology. This is truely a must read Buffy The Vampire Slayer Novel."

Also, WebWarlock are there any Willow/Tara RPGs that might qualify for these awards?

Edited by: kajo 2000 at: 3/12/03 5:04:20 am

tommo · **Posted:** Wed Mar 12, 2003 7:36 am

I suppose it depends on what the definition of enough is, for the gay-related content. Certainly Willow and Tara are seen to be a caring and committed couple, and are featured as much in the novel as the other Scoobies. But the storyline doesn't revolve around them per se, so I'm not sure precisely what the awards would want to see as "enough".

In you the song which rights my wrongs; In you the fullness of living;
The power to begin again; From right now, in you...

kajo 2000 · **Posted:** Wed Mar 12, 2003 8:06 am

tommo: Thanks for your reply.

The actual wording of the Best Novel category is:

Best Novel - The best science fiction, fantasy or horror novel released during the prior calendar year in North America that includes significant positive GLBT content.

Considering that the TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer was one of the nominees in the Best Other Work category last year, I think that if Willow/Tara feature at least as prominently in the The Wisdom of War as they did on the TV show, then the novel does qualify for these awards.

Edited by: kajo 2000 at: 3/12/03 6:10:06 am

WebWarlock · **Posted:** Wed Mar 12, 2003 8:45 am

Kajo, (love every one of your posts by the way!)

The only product out in 2002 was the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer Role Playing Game Core rulebook" by C.J. Carrella (forward by Chris Golden. Additional writting by Timothy S. Brannan and Alexander Jurkat), produced by Eden Studios.

I guess there was also the Buffy RPG adventure "The Dark Druid" by Timothy S. Brannan, published in the July issue of Games Unplugged that is very Willow/Tara centric.

Lot's coming out for 2003 though. The "Slayers Handbook" and "Magic Box Sourcebook" by Eden are full of Willow and Tara goodness. The MB even features Willow and Tara on the cover.

Other games are not so good.

Wizards of the Coast had a positive lesbian character in the "Forgotten Realms Campaign Book" back in 2001 for D&D, but that was it from the industry leader.

On the otherside of the issue Mongoose Publishers should get a mention for their "Slayer's Guide to Female Gamers" and "The Quintessential Witch" for supporting age old cliches and stereotypes.

Kinda sad when you think about it.

Warlock

-----

Web Warlock

The Other Side,
home of Liber Mysterium: The Netbook of Witches and Warlocks

"It was so dumb." - Amber Benson on the death of Tara.

kajo 2000 · **Posted:** Wed Mar 12, 2003 9:57 am

WebWarlock: Thanks for the info. It seems like we can nominate both of these items (Buffy the Vampire Slayer Role Playing Game Core rulebook and The Dark Druid) for Best Other Work.

It would be nice to see Chris Golden, Amber and one of the Kittens all nominated in that category.

Edited to add: just a reminder that the deadline for submitting nominations for these awards is next Monday (March 31st). If you would like to vote for Amber, Chris Golden and Tim Brannan (Web Warlock of the Kitten Board), here are the details:

Link to Nomination Form:

Categories:

Best Novel

Title of Work: The Wisdom of War

Author/Creator of Work: Christopher Golden

Publisher/Distributor of Work: Pocket Books

Best Other Work

Title of Work: Willow & Tara: Wilderness #1 & #2 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer special

Author/Creator of Work: Amber Benson & Christopher Golden

Publisher/Distributor of Work: Dark Horse Comics Inc.

Best Other Work

Title of Work: Buffy the Vampire Slayer Role Playing Game Core Rulebook

Author/Creator of Work: C.J. Carrella (forward by Chris Golden. Additional writing by Timothy S. Brannan and Alexander Jurkat)

Publisher/Distributor of Work: Eden Studios

Best Other Work

Title of Work: The Dark Druid

Author/Creator of Work: Timothy S. Brannan

Publisher/Distributor of Work: Games Unplugged

Edited by: kajo 2000 at: 3/28/03 2:54:08 pm

GiftofAmber · **Posted:** Sun Mar 30, 2003 6:13 pm

I made sure I included how Willow and Tara were the only character sheets up for preview. :)

I want to emphasize the importance of Kitten nominations--one of their big reasons for not listening to us originally about withdrawing the nomination was that "where were we when the call for nominations was put out".

Anyone can put in a nomination--you don't even have to be a member.

Next year, I intend to nominate Ghosts of Albion.

kajo 2000 · **Posted:** Thu Jun 26, 2003 10:03 am

The list of finalists has been posted at the Spectrum Awards website - the good news is that Chris and Amber's Wilderness comic is a finalist in the Best Comic/Graphic Novel category but the bad news is that Seeing Red has unbelievably been nominated for Best Other Work.

Quote:
2003 Best Comic/Graphic Novel

Awarded to the best science fiction, fantasy or horror comic or graphic novel work originally released in North America during 2002 with significant positive gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender content.

The Authority (issues 28 & 29) by various (Wildstorm/DC)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Willow and Tara: Wilderness by Amber Benson & Christopher Golden (Dark Horse)

Green Lantern: Hate Crime (issues 154 & 155) by Judd Winnick (DC)

Murder Mysteries by Neil Gaiman & Craig Russell (Dark Horse)

Uncanny X-Men (414) by various (Marvel)

X-Statix (1-5) by various (Marvel)

2003 Best Other Work Finalists

Awarded to the best science fiction, fantasy or horror work in any format other than novel, short fiction, or comic/graphic novel originally released in North America during 2002 with significant positive gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender content. This includes movies, television episodes, anthologies, story collections, multimedia, gaming products, artwork, music or other.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ("Seeing Red") Joss Whedon et al (television) (FoxTV et al)

Eyes of the God: The Weird Fiction and Poetry of R.H. Barlow edited by S T Joshi, Douglas Anderson and David Schultz (academic collection) (Hippocampus Press)

Mind & Body edited by Cecilia Tan (anthology) (Circlet Press)

Queer Fear II edited by Michael Rowe (anthology) (Arsenal Pulp)

Wired Hard 3 edited by Cecilia Tan (anthology) (Circlet Press)

---------

"I want to be Byron... because I want to date young boys." Amber Benson
Edited by: kajo 2000 at: 6/26/03 9:29 am

xita · **Posted:** Thu Jun 26, 2003 10:09 am

OMG!! significant positive gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender content = seeing red????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

:rofl

oh ok that's a laugh. Thank you but thank you not.

But congratulations to Amber and Chris.

-----------------------------------
Leora......Leora....

Edited by: xita at: 6/26/03 9:31 am

urnofosiris · **Posted:** Thu Jun 26, 2003 1:01 pm

Quote:

warded to the best science fiction, fantasy or horror comic or graphic novel work originally released in North America during 2002 with significant positive gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender content.

Can someone explain to me the meaning of the word positive? If Seeing Red is considered positive than I am seriously worried about what they would consider negative. I'll bet it will win too and Wilderness won't, because that will probably be what we *need* instead of what we *want*. In case we did not know that the world can be full of shit, and pretentious lying fucks get credit whereas modest and sincere people don't.

-------------------------

Coffee, Food, Kisses and Gay Love........Get it while you are hot

kajo 2000 · **Posted:** Mon Jun 30, 2003 2:30 am

BBC Cult has picked up on this story:

Quote:
Buffy honoured

27 June 2003

Buffy has been nominated in the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards created to recognise works of interest to gays and lesbians.

The shortlist has just been announced, ahead of an awards ceremony to be held at the World Science Fiction Convention, Toronto, from 28 August to 1st September.

The awards are primarily organised by the Gaylactic Network, a US based group for gay people, and their friends, who are interested in science-fiction, fantasy, and horror. Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been nominated in two categories.

In the Best Genre Comic Book/Graphic Novel category the graphic novel Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Willow and Tara: Wilderness by Amber Benson and Christopher Golden has been nominated.

While in the Best Other Work category the season six episode Seeing Red has been nominated. This is despite the episode causing an outcry amongst the lesbian community at the time for its depiction of the death of Tara.

Edited to add: the winners have been announced at spectrumawards.org:

Quote:
2003 Best Comic/Graphic Novel

Awarded to the best science fiction, fantasy or horror comic or graphic novel work originally released in North America during 2002 with significant positive gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender content.

The Authority (issues 28 & 29) by various (Wildstorm/DC)

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - Willow and Tara: Wilderness by Amber Benson & Christopher Golden (Dark Horse)

Green Lantern: Hate Crime (issues 154 & 155) by Judd Winnick (DC)

Murder Mysteries by Neil Gaiman & Craig Russell (Dark Horse)

Uncanny X-Men (414) by various (Marvel)

X-Statix (1-5) by various (Marvel)

WINNER: (tie) The Authority (issues 28-29) - Mark Millar et al - Wildstorm/DC Comics

WINNER: (tie) Green Lantern: Hate Crime (issues 153-155) - Judd Winnick et al - DC Comics

2003 Best Other Work Finalists

Awarded to the best science fiction, fantasy or horror work in any format other than novel, short fiction, or comic/graphic novel originally released in North America during 2002 with significant positive gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender content. This includes movies, television episodes, anthologies, story collections, multimedia, gaming products, artwork, music or other.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer ["Seeing Red"]

Joss Whedon et al (television) (FoxTV et al)

Eyes of the God: The Weird Fiction and Poetry of R.H. Barlow

edited by S T Joshi, Douglas Anderson and David Schultz

(academic collection) (Hippocampus Press)

Mind & Body edited by Cecilia Tan (anthology) (Circlet Press)

Queer Fear II edited by Michael Rowe (anthology) (Arsenal Pulp)

Wired Hard 3 edited by Cecilia Tan (anthology) (Circlet Press)

WINNER: Queer Fear II, edited by Michael Rowe (Arsenal Pulp)

So, Chris and Amber did not win but "Seeing Red" didn't either.

---------

"I want to be Byron... because I want to date young boys." Amber Benson
Edited by: kajo 2000 at: 9/4/03 6:51 am

WebWarlock · **Posted:** Thu Sep 04, 2003 10:25 am

So it was a Buffy shut out. Chris and Amber didn't get anything, but neither did asshole.

Ok, so now we can send in nominations for next year's awards.

Chris Golden had "Monster Island", which of course featured Willow & Tara.

His fourth book of the Shadow War Saga, "The Gathering Dark" was also released this year, so it *could* be eligible. I say could because I have not read it yet, but the last three had very positive lesbian and gay characters, including two, Meghan and Alexandra, who were lovers and credited with saving the world. I don't know if this book has any or not, but I would be very surprised if it didn't.

On the RPG front there is Eden's Buffy RPG "Magic Box" sourcebook by John Snead, Alex Jurkat and Timothy S. Brannan.

Eden Studios produces

On October 31st "Liber Mysterium: The Netbook of Witches and Warlocks" by Tim Brannan will be released featuring write-ups on two witches, Sallie and Teamhair, that will be reoccurring characters.

Published by the FanCC and ShadowEarth Games.

If I find out anything else, I'll post here.

Here is the page you can use to nominate, www.spectrumawards.org/nomform.htm.

ETA: I posted three of my witches on the Inward Eye board. Of the three, two of them, Saillie and Temahair, are a couple and in love. Granted, in what I posted I didn't say that, I am still working on that section of the book.

Warlock

-----

Web Warlock

The Other Side,
home of Liber Mysterium: The Netbook of Witches and Warlocks: Available October 31st, 2003!

"And she never had dreams, so they never came true.
My fade away angel, angel in blue." - Angel in Blue

Edited by: WebWarlock at: 9/5/03 8:32 am

Triscuit7 · **Posted:** Fri Sep 05, 2003 6:40 am

Unfortunately we can't nominate Chris Golden's "The Wisdom of War" - that was in the total list of nominees for this year.

I do think that getting organized on this early for next year is a great idea. Here's a link to the Spectrum Award site so you can see what the various categories are and what books and other media have been nominated in past years (although only do complete lists for novels and short fiction).www.spectrumawards.org/

This really is a fantastic opportunity for fans of LGBT Science Fiction and Fantasy to participate since the finalists are chosen from fan-nominated lists and then passed onto the judges to vote on.

As Kittens the "Best Other Work" category is the one where we have the most trouble. It's the one that causes the most anger and anguish for us. And unfortunately there was another season of BTVS after Season Sux. There will be people out there who nominate some of those eps in this category. Don't doubt it. People in general just are as "picky" as Kittens. The trick for us is to find "Other Works" that can be nominated in this category. WebWarlock's suggestion of the Eden RPG "Magic Box" is a fantastic one as is his other suggestion of "Liber Mysterium". :clap

Kittens should keep their eyes or the media front too; TV and movies do very well in this category.

And yes, you do need to have read/view the things you nominate.

Darcy and I just got back from Torcon/Worldcon but we skipped the actual Spectrum Award and Hugo presentations. We did go to one of the Gaylactic Network parties and had the opportunity to chat with Rob Gates at length. We've known him for several years and he's really a nice guy. His one little bit of news for next year's Spectrum Awards: they've changed the judging a bit. It's now possible to be a judge in just one category (Novel judge, Other Work judge) rather than have a small group of people do all of it. And they're looking for judges....

Ciao, Melissa

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I brought marshmallows!

sam7777 · **Posted:** Sat Sep 06, 2003 10:43 pm

As the Miami Herald article said (posted by Tyche):

Quote:
There's another minstrel-show aspect to the current spate of gay television -- namely, the way these shows have co-opted gay viewers and gay critics.

The spectrum awards is just another part of the cabal with the gay rags to refuse to criticize or even spend much time examining gay portrayal in the media. Rather they rubber stamp any portrayal however cliched.

Last Year the Spectrum Awards dismissed the many cogent arguments (Bob's essays, Tod Ramlow's article at Pop Matter) for the lesbian cliche in Tara's death and only heard the angry rantings of a very few. I dismissed them soon after. This year they nominate "Seeing Red" the episode that perpetuated the lesbian cliche. I would lose respect for them if I had any left. I have nothing against Mr Gates. He and I exchanged some pleasant emails during the height of the badness that the Kittens experienced with the spectrum folks last year. Still I have no respect for the decision of his organization. I believe that the death of Tara was an egregious instance of the lesbian cliche and simply can neither support nor respect an organization that recognizes that episode as a hallmark of gay portrayal.

For me now getting a spectrum award is a negative. I would be less likely to want to look at anything endorsed by them. I have become cynical from the constant complete dismissal of the lesbian cliche point of view by presumed gay organs such as the spectrum awards, gay web sites and the gay rags. Mainstream publications like the Miami Times and the San Francisco Chronical have given a more critical analysis of gay portrayals than any of the "gay" media IMHO. I personally doubt that we can change anything from within. Like Dekalog suggested in the Lesbian Cliche thread, I also think it's better to directly support gay artists. I have shunned and will continue to shun awards, networks, web sites and magazines that praise awful gay cliches and stereotypes. I can't change the world but I can change my bit of it.

ETA: In any case, it's possible that the spectrum rubber stamp (eh awards or whatever) will be OT when next given since when they will almost certainly nominate episodes from a certain unspeakable season of a certain ME show.

Edited by: sam7777 at: 9/8/03 10:03 am

MadeinNZ · **Posted:** Wed Sep 10, 2003 3:33 pm

I really like your suggestion Melissa about getting out there and making a positive contribution. I'm not a big Sci-Fi reader (although I have recently discovered the wonder of The Sandman) but I understand the need to get out there and do some reclaiming. Yay you.

"Oh! I know this one: "Slaying entails certain sacrifices... blah blah bity blah. I'm so stuffy, give me a scone."

"It's as if you know me." -- Buffy and Giles

sam7777 · **Posted:** Wed Sep 10, 2003 5:05 pm

Quote:
As Kittens the "Best Other Work" category is the one where we have the most trouble. It's the one that causes the most anger and anguish for us.

Too True. It would be great if we could nominate enough stuff to keep Buffy off the list but I doubt that that will happen. To be practical, Buffy has a much higher profile than RPG games. Though I doubt that Buffy will win an award next year, I don't doubt they will have at least one ep in the mix. The difficulty with the spectrum awards is that there is so little GLBT in scifi that there are few things to nominate so anything with a gay theme even if cliched will make it in. Being judges won't change this. I don't even recognize the "Best Other Work" entries. Frankly, anything as high profile like BTVS is almost an automatic shoo in. I think we may be better off forgetting about next year and trying again after BTVS is no longer eligible. Especially since any BTVS nominee for 2004 will, I think, make the spectrum awards OT to discuss here .

Personally I prefer supporting gay artists directly financially by buying their products and by grass roots word of mouth to get others to buy it. The gay press and awards are cheering anything GLBT the media deigns to give us but I think they need to move toward quality rather than quantity. If the awards and mags will not lead, then fans need to do it for themselves and the internet gives us unprecedented communication channels to get the word out.

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I see dead lesbian cliches
Edited by: sam7777 at: 9/10/03 4:12 pm

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