A friend who attended Gaylaxicon 2011 at Outlantacon this weekend informs me that my Arabian Nights-esque short story “Firooz and His Brother” appeared on the shortlist for the 2010 Gaylactic Spectrum Awards. Which all seems rather odd to me since “Firooz” first appeared in 2008, but apparently the 2009 awards recognized only novels while 2010 bundled together two years’ worth of short fiction. Huh.
At any rate, I have not yet found a press release or anything on the Web but choose to trust my source. The irrepressible Hal Duncan won the short-fiction award, I’m told, but I don’t know which story. When I do find back up, I’ll update the entry for “Firooz and His Brother” on the stories page with a link.
Meantime, should you wish to read my story, which appeared originally in the May 2008 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, it’s readily available in two best-of-the-year anthologies: Wilde Stories 2009, edited by Steve Berman (Lethe Press, 2009), and The Year’s Best Science Fiction & Fantasy 2009, edited by Rich Horton (Prime Books, 2010).