Author | Blair Mastbaum |
---|---|
Language | English |
Genre | |
Set in | Honolulu |
Publisher | Alyson Books |
Publication date | 2004 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | |
Pages | 246 |
Awards | Lambda Literary Award |
Clay's Way is the debut novel of American writer Blair Mastbaum. Released in 2004 by Alyson Books, this contemporary novel, which won the Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Debut Fiction, [1] follows 15-year-old gay skateboarder Sam and the object of his affection, conflicted surfer Clay around Honolulu.
Poet and novelist Trebor Healey called Clay's Way "a brilliantly raw and insightful coming-of-age story for a new queer generation" and concluded as "a coming of age novel, it hits pay dirt because, instead of a happy ending, it ends on a note of expansion: Something has happened to Sam that, after the smoke has cleared, causes him to look up at the sky and realize he's no longer Sam the kid, but Sam the man." [2] The Gay & Lesbian Review found it an "impressive comic debut novel" and that "Mastbaum’s quirky narrator and comic verve propel the reader through this story of painful yet instructive young love made art for readers of all ages." [3]
LGBT themes in speculative fiction include lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender (LGBTQ) themes in science fiction, fantasy, horror fiction and related genres.[a] Such elements may include an LGBT character as the protagonist or a major character, or explorations of sexuality or gender that deviate from the heteronormative.
Lambda Literary Awards, also known as the "Lammys", are awarded yearly by Lambda Literary to recognize the crucial role LGBTQ+ writers play in shaping the world. The Lammys celebrate the very best in LGBTQ+ literature. The awards were instituted in 1989.
Emma Donoghue is an Irish-Canadian novelist, screenwriter, playwright and literary historian. Her 2010 novel Room was a finalist for the Booker Prize and an international best-seller. Donoghue's 1995 novel Hood won the Stonewall Book Award and Slammerkin (2000) won the Ferro-Grumley Award for Lesbian Fiction. She is a 2011 recipient of the Alex Awards. Room was adapted by Donoghue into a film of the same name. For this, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Sarah Miriam Schulman is an American novelist, playwright, nonfiction writer, screenwriter, gay activist, and AIDS historian. She holds an endowed chair in nonfiction at Northwestern University and is a fellow of the New York Institute for the Humanities. She is a recipient of the Bill Whitehead Award and the Lambda Literary Award.
Alyson Books, formerly known as Alyson Publications, was a book publishing house which specialized in LGBT fiction and non-fiction. Former publisher Don Weise described it as "the world's oldest and largest publisher of LGBT literature" and "the home of award-winning books in the areas of memoir, history, humor, commercial fiction, mystery, and erotica, among many others".
Lesléa Newman is an American author, editor, and feminist best known for the children's book Heather Has Two Mommies. Four of her young adult novels have been finalists for the Lambda Literary Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature, making her one of the most celebrated authors in the category.
Gay literature is a collective term for literature produced by or for the gay community which involves characters, plot lines, and/or themes portraying male homosexual behavior.
Steve Berman is an American editor, novelist and short story writer. He writes in the field of queer speculative fiction.
Blair Mastbaum is an American writer and former model. Mastbaum fabricated a series of stories published by Atlas Obscura. The articles were retracted after investigations found plagiarism, fabricated quotes and interviews, and misinformation.
Michael Thomas Ford is an American author of primarily gay-themed literature. He is best known for his "My Queer Life" series of comedic essay collections and for his award-winning novels Last Summer, Looking for It, Full Circle, Changing Tides, and What We Remember.
Mary Wings was an American cartoonist, writer, and artist. She was known for highlighting lesbian themes in her work. In 1973, she made history by releasing Come Out Comix, the first lesbian comic book. She also wrote a series of detective novels featuring lesbian heroine Emma Victor. Divine Victim, Wings' only Gothic novel, won the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Mystery in 1994.
Karin Kallmaker is an American author of lesbian fiction whose works also include those originally written under the name Laura Adams. Her writings span lesbian romance, lesbian erotica, and lesbian science-fiction/fantasy. Dubbed the Queen of Lesbian Romance, she publishes exclusively in the lesbian market as a matter of personal choice.
Lee Lynch is an American author writing primarily on lesbian themes, specifically noted for authentic characterizing of butch and femme characters in fiction. She is the recipient of a Golden Crown Literary Society Trail Blazer award for lifetime achievement, as well as being the namesake for the Golden Crown Literary Society's Lee Lynch Classics Award.
Carol Anshaw is an American novelist and short story writer. Publishing Triangle named her debut novel, Aquamarine, one of "The Triangle's 100 Best" gay and lesbian novels of the 1990s. Four of her books have been finalists for the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction, and Lucky in the Corner won the 2003 Ferro-Grumley Award.
Malinda Lo is an American writer of young adult novels including Ash, Huntress, Adaptation, Inheritance,A Line in the Dark, and Last Night at the Telegraph Club. She also does research on diversity in young adult literature and publishing.
Martin Wilson is an American writer. He is best known for his award-winning debut novel What They Always Tell Us, published in 2008.
Chinelo Okparanta is a Nigerian-American novelist and short-story writer. She was born in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, where she was raised until the age of 10, when she emigrated to the United States with her family.
Sub Rosa is a 2010 queer novel by Canadian Amber Dawn published by Vancouver-based Arsenal Pulp Press. The novel was Dawn's debut novel, and is a work of speculative fiction that touches on topics of sex, work, imagination, and survival. It narrates the story of "Little," a teenage girl who cannot remember her real name and ends up involved in the dark world of Sub Rosa, "a fantastical underground community of sex workers", where she enters the company of ghosts, magicians, and magical Glories. Sub Rosa won the Lambda Award for Lesbian Debut Fiction in 2011.
Bisexual literature is a subgenre of LGBTQ literature that includes literary works and authors that address the topic of bisexuality or biromanticism. This includes characters, plot lines, and/or themes portraying bisexual behavior in both men and women.
Paula Martinac is an American writer. She is most noted for her novel Out of Time, which won the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction at the 3rd Lambda Literary Awards in 1991. The novel was also a finalist for the ALA Gay and Lesbian Book Award.