Holy shit! Fumi Yoshinaga's Ooku won the Tiptree award this year! This is the first time a manga has ever won it, and, you guys, I srsly did not even know comics were even in the running. I don't know, okay, I never get the memo on these things.

For those unfamiliar: Ooku: The Inner Chambers depicts an alternate history medieval Japan in which a disease wiped out 3/4's of Japan's male population, and thus women ended up taking over most of the stations that men traditionally occupied, and men became carefully protected and valuable breeders. ("Ooku" refers to the harem at Edo castle; here it is populated, of course, by men.) This manga amazing and you should all go read it right now.

The Tiptree award is a well-known annual literary award that's given to SFF works that explore our understanding of gender and gender roles.

Ooku shares the top spot this year with Cloud & Ashes: Three Winter’s Tales, by Greer Gilman, which I am unfamiliar with but will have to check out. eta: Although now that I look closer, a related book of hers was recommended to me a while back.