March 14, 2011

Life, Leather and the Pursuit of Happiness, authored by Leather Life columnist Steve Lenius and published by Nelson Borhek Press, has been named a Finalist for this year’s Geoff Mains Non-fiction Book Award presented by the NLA-I (National Leather Association: International).

The award is named for Geoff Mains, author of Urban Aboriginals, a pioneering book about gay male leather culture and community published in 1984. According to Lenius, “Urban Aboriginals is one of the first books I read as I was getting into leather in 1993, and in some ways Life, Leather and the Pursuit of Happiness could be considered an update and an expansion of what Mains originally wrote in Urban Aboriginals. Mains was primarily writing in 1984 about gay men in leather, while Life, Leather and the Pursuit of Happiness includes the entire GLBT and pansexual leather/BDSM/fetish community as it has evolved over the years since Urban Aboriginals was written. The two books are the same in spirit, in that they are about the life, history, and culture of the community—so I’m especially thrilled and honored to have my book be named a Finalist for this award named in honor of Geoff Mains.”

Other NLA-I Writing Awards include the Cynthia Slater Non-fiction Article Award, the Pauline Reage Novel Award, the John Preston Short Fiction Award and the Samois Anthology Award. The awards were first presented in 2009 for books published in 2008.

Winners of the NLA-I Writing Awards will be announced on April 17 at the National Leather Association’s Annual General Meeting, which will be held during Spring Iniquity XX (April 15-17, 2011) in Houston, TX, and mark the National Leather Association’s 25th anniversary.

Below is the press release from the NLA-I announcing all the finalists for all the awards:

FINALISTS ANNOUNCED FOR NLA-I WRITING AWARDS

 

(Columbus, OH) — National Leather Association: International (NLA-I), a leading organization for activists in the pansexual SM/leather/fetish community, announced today the finalists for its annual writing awards. Named after activists and writers Geoff Mains, John Preston, Pauline Reage, Cynthia Slater, and the groundbreaking organization Samois, they are awarded annually to recognize excellence in writing and publishing about leather, SM, bondage and fetishes.

 

The finalists for the Cynthia Slater Non-fiction Article Award are:

M. Svairini, “Kaliyuga Yoni” (blog post from the bottom runs the fuck)

 

Sinclair Sexsmith, “Reconciling Feminism & Sadism” (Sugarbutch Chronicles)

Lady Elsa, “Service Topping as a Spiritual Practice” from Lee Harrington (ed.), Spirit of Desire: Personal Explorations of Sacred Kink (Lulu.com).

 

Alice Wood-Jones, “Kim West, A Life in Latex Fashion” (Skin Two 61)

 

The finalists for the Geoff Mains Non-fiction Book Award are:

TammyJo Eckhart and Fox, At Her Feet: Powering Your FemDom Relationship (Greenery)

 

Steve Lenius, Life, Leather and the Pursuit of Happiness: Life, History and Culture in the Leather/BDSM/Fetish Community (Nelson Borhek)

 

Nancy Ava Miller, Pervert: Notes from the Sexual Underground (Xlibris)

 

Bill Reed, Exploring Your Kink: A practical guide to BDSM play (Lulu.com)

 

Justin Spring, Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

 

The finalists for the Pauline Reage Novel Award are:

 

Evangeline Anderson, Dangerous Cravings (Loose Id)

 

James Buchanan, All or Nothing (MLR Press)

 

Cherise Sinclair, The Dom’s Dungeon (Loose Id)

 

Claire Thompson, Cowboy Poet (Romance Unbound)

 

India Wilson, The Knot Artist (Lightning Strikes)

 

The finalists for the John Preston Short Fiction Award are:

 

Laura Antoniou, “That’s Harsh” from the 2010 edition of The Slave (Circlet)

 

Jeff Mann, “Demon Seed” from Amie M. Evans and Paul J. Willis  (eds.), Saints+Sinners 2010: New Fiction from the Festival (Queer Mojo/Rebel Satori)

 

Xan West, “Ready” from Christopher Pierce (ed.), Biker Boys: Gay Erotic Stories (Cleis)

 

 

The finalists for the Samois Anthology Award are:

 

Rachel Kramer Bussel, Fast Girls: Erotica for Women (Cleis)

 

Thom Magister, The Slave Journals and Other Tales of the Old Guard (Perfect Bound)

 

Tristan Taormino, Sometimes She Lets Me: Best Butch/Femme Erotica (Cleis)

            

Peter Tupper, The Innocent’s Progress (Circlet)

 

The winners will be announced on April 17 at the National Leather Association’s Annual General Meeting, which will be held during Spring Iniquity XX (April 15-17, 2011) in Houston, TX and mark the National Leather Association's 25th anniversary. Please contact the award committee chair, Steve Vakesh, for more information about the awards at stevevakesh@gmail.com. For more information about Spring Iniquity, the National Leather Association, and the NLA-I’s meeting on Sunday morning, see: http://www.springiniquity.com and http://www.nla-i.com.