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. Three books were produced, subtitled Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror, between 1997 and 2002.
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.
Each of the volumes won LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) or genre awards, including winning a World Fantasy Award, two Lambda Literary Awards and two Gaylactic Spectrum Awards; some individual stories contained within were also recipients of awards and nominations.
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. Mark R. Kelly's review in locus magazine bemoaned the anthologies lack of thematic breadth.
Each of the volumes won LGBT or genre awards, including winning a World Fantasy Award, two Lambda Literary Awards and two Gaylactic Spectrum Awards; some individual stories contained within were also recipients of awards and nominations.
Bending the Landscape: Fantasy
Published in 1997.
Lambda Literary Award, Lesbian and Gay Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror
World Fantasy Award, Best Anthology
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.
Lambda Literary Award, Lesbian and Gay Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror
Gaylactic Spectrum Award
Stonewall Book Award: Literature (finalist)
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.
Gaylactic Spectrum Award
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
