Bending the Landscape
Bending the Landscape is the title of an award-winning series of LGBT-themed anthologies of short speculative fiction edited by Nicola Griffith and Stephen Pagel.[1][2] Three books were produced between 1997 and 2002, subtitled Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror.[3] Each volume won LGBT or genre awards.[4]
Themes
    
The editors asked contributors to "imagine a different landscape... some milieu that had not happened" and then address the theme of Alien or Other, with the Other being a lesbian or gay man. However the stories were not specifically aimed at a gay readership.[5][6] Mark R. Kelly's review in locus magazine bemoaned the anthologies lack of thematic breadth.[5]
Awards
    
The series received awards including a World Fantasy Award,[7] two Lambda Literary Awards, and two Gaylactic Spectrum Awards.[4] Some individual stories contained within were also recipients of awards and nominations.
Bending the Landscape: Fantasy
    

Published in 1997.[3]
Awards
    
- Lambda Literary Award, Lesbian and Gay Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror
 - World Fantasy Award, Best Anthology
 
Contents
    
- Frost Painting – novelette by Carolyn Ives Gilman
 - Gary, in the Shadows – shortstory by Mark Shepherd
 - Prince of the Dark Green Sea – shortstory by Mark McLaughlin
 - Water Snakes – shortstory by Holly Wade Matter
 - Gestures Too Late on a Gravel Road – shortstory by Mark W. Tiedemann
 - The Fall of the Kings (The World of Riverside) – novelette by Ellen Kushner and Delia Sherman
 - Cloudmaker – shortstory by Charlee Jacob
 - Magicked Tricks – novelette by K. L. Berac
 - The Sound of Angels – shortstory by Lisa S. Silverthorne
 - The King's Folly – shortstory by James A. Moore
 - Beside the Well – shortstory by Leslie What
 - The Home Town Boy – shortstory by B. J. Thrower
 - Expression of Desire – shortstory by Dominick Cancilla
 - There Are Things Which Are Hidden from the Eyes of the Everyday – shortstory by Simon Sheppard
 - Full Moon and Empty Arms – shortstory by M. W. Keiper
 - Mahu – novelette by Jeff Verona
 - The Stars Are Tears – shortstory by Robin Wayne Bailey
 - Desire – shortstory by Kim Antieau
 - Young Lady Who Loved Caterpillars – shortstory by Jessica Amanda Salmonson
 - In Memory of – shortstory by Don Bassingthwaite
 - In Mysterious Ways – novelette by Tanya Huff
 - In the House of the Man in the Moon – shortstory by Richard Bowes
 
Bending the Landscape: Science Fiction
    

Published in 1998.[3]
Awards
    
- Lambda Literary Award, Lesbian and Gay Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror
 - Gaylactic Spectrum Award
 - Stonewall Book Award: Literature (finalist)
 
Contents
    
- Sex, Guns, and Baptists – shortstory by Keith Hartman
 - Half in Love With Easeful Rock and Roll – shortfiction by Rebecca Ore
 - Powertool – shortfiction by Mark McLaughlin
 - Time Gypsy – novelette by Ellen Klages
 - Lonely Land – shortfiction by Denise Lopes Heald
 - The Rendez-Vous – shortfiction by Nancy Johnston
 - Silent Passion – shortfiction by Kathleen O'Malley
 - Sun-Drenched – shortfiction by Stephen Baxter
 - The Flying Triangle – [Near Space] – shortfiction by Allen Steele
 - Brooks Too Broad For Leaping – shortstory by Charles Sheffield
 - A Real Girl – shortfiction by Shariann Lewitt
 - Dance at the Edge – novelette by L. Timmel Duchamp
 - Love's Last Farewell – shortfiction by Richard A. Bamberg
 - On Vacation – shortfiction by Ralph A. Sperry
 - The City in Morning – shortstory by Carrie Richerson
 - State of Nature – shortstory by Nancy Kress
 - The Beautiful People – shortfiction by Wendy Rathbone
 - Who Plays With Sin – shortfiction by Don Bassingthwaite
 - Surfaces – shortfiction by Mark W. Tiedemann
 - Stay Thy Flight – shortfiction by Élisabeth Vonarburg
 - Free in Asveroth – shortstory by Jim Grimsley
 
Bending the Landscape: Horror
    

Published in 2001.[3]
Awards
    
- Gaylactic Spectrum Award
 
Contents
    
- Coyote Love – shortstory by Kraig Blackwelder
 - Explanations Are Clear – novelette by L. Timmel Duchamp
 - What Are You Afraid Of? – shortstory by Simon Sheppard
 - The Lost Homeland – novelette by Cynthia Ward
 - The Man Who Picks the Chamomile – shortstory by Mark McLaughlin
 - Love on a Stick – novelette by Carrie Richerson
 - Triangle – shortstory by Ellen Klages
 - Memorabilia – novelette by Holly Wade Matter
 - Blood Requiem – shortstory by Gary Bowen
 - In the Days Still Left – novelette by Brian A. Hopkins and James Van Pelt
 - Broken Canes – shortstory by Alexi Smart
 - Keep the Faith – shortstory by A. J. Potter
 - The WereSlut of Avenue A – shortstory by Leslie What
 - Kindred – novelette by Alexis Glynn Latner
 - 'Til Death – shortstory by Barbara Hambly
 - If I Could See Lazarus Rising – novelette by Kathleen O'Malley
 - The Waltz of the Epileptic Penguins – shortstory by Keith Hartman
 - Passing – novelette by Mark W. Tiedemann
 
References
    
- "Bending the Landscape – Series Bibliography", Internet Speculative Fiction Database, retrieved 16 October 2008
 - "Bending the Landscape". 22 October 2008.
 - Huber, George K., Anthologies of Gay Fiction, archived from the original on 16 October 2008, retrieved 16 October 2008
 - "The Locus Index to SF Awards", Locus, archived from the original on 24 October 2008, retrieved 16 October 2008
 - "Profiles of Recent Books from reviews in Locus Magazine", Locus, 19 October 1998, retrieved 16 October 2008
 - Pearson, Wendy (March 1999), "Identifying the Alien: Science Fiction Meets Its Other", Science Fiction Studies, 26, vol. Part 1, no. 77, archived from the original on 4 October 2008, retrieved 16 October 2008
 - World Fantasy Convention (2010). "Award Winners and Nominees". Archived from the original on 1 December 2010. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
 
- Anders, Charlie Jane (25 August 2021). "How Bending the Landscape Helped to Queer Speculative Fiction Forever". Tor.com. Retrieved 29 August 2021.
 
External links
    
- In depth review in Science Fiction Studies
 - Reviews of some individual science fiction stories