Best Gay Sci-Fi / Futuristic (1° place): Angel: 1089 (Heaven Corp, Book 1) by C.C. Bridges
There are sci-fi novels and futuristic novels, the main difference is probably that, in the futuristic one, the romance is more accentuated than in the pure science fiction genre; of course me, being a romantic at heart, have a preference for the futuristic theme, but I have to say that, not being an expert, Angel: 1089 probably lies in the middle, the romance is good, but also the alternative reality the author managed to build is more than good, and above all, original.
Gabriel 1089 is an Angel, 1000 for the Archangel series, and 89 since he was the 89 piece made in that series. Yes, you read correctly, “piece”: in this alternative reality Angels are not heaven made creatures, but simply former human with some engineering “corrections”; oh, an God is an AI gone out of control. Angels are now no more than puppets, and their target is to avoid humans to steal the AI knowledge that would allow them to better their life. Demons are half-smugglers, half-gangsters who are in control of what human territory remains, while Angels, and who controls them, are living in the “uplevel”. I think there is a little of modern mythology here, with the Demons in the guise of Titans trying to steal the knowledge to the Gods to help humans (remember Prometheus and the fire?).
Gabriel 1089 is a fallen Angel, he didn’t choose to fall, but he was practically abandoned by his Heaven comrades, without a wing and without any chance to go back. Demons bring him to Jeff, to be patched and brought back to health. While with Jeff, Gabe, as it’s not known, starts to recover memories from his past, and that is not a good thing since he also learns that not all it glitters is gold, and that Heaven could be not the paradise he believed. Plus in even Angels have no sex, and don’t have sex either, and on earth Gabe is developing an attraction to Jeff.
More than the romance, that is good, I think the strong point of this novel is the apocalypse now setting, and how the author played with mythological elements to make them into a sci-fi novel. Other good point is like she didn’t have good and bad, Angels against Demons, but she decided to give a share of good and bad to both of them.
http://store.samhainpublishing.com/angel-1089-p-6087.html
Amazon: Angel: 1089 (Heaven Corp)
Amazon Kindle: Angel: 1089 (Heaven Corp)
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing (August 2, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1609282051
ISBN-13: 978-1609282059
Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle
Cover Art by Kanaxa