Don Sakers

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Don Sakers is a notable gay[1] Science fiction writer living in Maryland, who has written several novels and edited a short story collection. Sakers is probably best known in the science fiction community as a frequent guest speaker at science fiction conventions. The home he shares with his partner, Tom, Meerkat Meade,[2] was featured in Weird Maryland.

When asked about the reaction to the diversity elements in his SF, Sakers said:

By and large, it seems to me that most SF fans are fairly comfortable with diversity. Part of this, I feel, comes from the common experience of being thought "weird" by the general populace.... Another reason that fans seem comfortable with diversity stems from the nature of Science Fiction itself. SF is often concerned with "the other" -- the alien being, the time traveler, the citizen of a totally different society. After you've wrapped your mind around the concept of falling in love with a silicon-based insectoid creature whose society is based on ritual cannibalism, a friendly chat with the black lesbian sitting next to you is easy to handle.

—Don Sakers, see [3]

Contents

[edit] Written works and editing

He is most prominent as the author of four novels, Dance for the Ivory Madonna (2002) and its prequels A Voice in Every Wind and The Leaves of October (1988); Curse of the Zwilling (2003),[4] and The Leaves of October (2003). He is also author of the short story "The Cold Solution" (Analog, 1991) and other short fiction. Sakers was editor of Carmen Miranda's Ghost Is Haunting Space Station Three (1990), the SF Book of Days (2004),[5] and the Gaylaxicon 2006 Sampler.[6]

[edit] Dance for the Ivory Madonna

Dance for the Ivory Madonna is formally about when

it's 2042, and the U.S. has split into three nations; special interest groups have their own House in Congress; artificial intelligence has kicked humans out of cyberspace; and the African continent, a hotbed of technological advancement, is united under a contract government called Umoja. Making his way through this brave new world is a young African-American operative of a secret organization whose task is to avenge his father's murder and save humankind.

—Publisher's Weekly review, cited at [7]

The author says it is really about:

a lot of things: friendship, toleration, a celebration of the creative spirit, a paen to unconventionality. It's about what's wrong with today's world, what's right with today's world, and what hope there is for the future. It's about how our technology affects us, and about the decisions we can make regarding those effects.

—Don Sakers, see [8]

Dance for the Ivory Madonna was a Spectrum Award finalist, and received many Hugo award nominations.

[edit] Scattered worlds

Sakers has written two other books in what he calls the "Scattered Worlds Universe":

  1. A Voice in Every Wind, consisting of two short stories, and
  2. The Leaves of October, which started as a short story in August 1983's Analog, and was expanded as a novel in 1988.

[edit] Science fiction conventions

Speculative fiction Portal

Sakers was guest of honor at the 1995 Gaylaxicon,[9] [10] and is a frequent guest speaker at other Gaylaxicons,[11] Albacon, Arisia, and Boskone.[12]

Melissa Scott called him "a left wing Heinlein."[13]

A member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, he has written numerous obituaries for their web site, including that of Lisa A. Barnett.[14]

Sakers is an active blogger.[15]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ SFRevu Interview. Accessed January 23, 2008. "For the record, I am gay, of Caucasian ancestry, and fall into the category of "obese" rather than Ivory-Madonna-range 'fat.' I do have good friends who are black, as well as others who are fat."
  2. ^ Meerkat Meade Blog by Don Sakers. Accessed January 23, 2008.
  3. ^ SFRevu Interview. Accessed January 23, 2008.
  4. ^ Review of Curse of the Zwilling. Accessed January 23, 2008.
  5. ^ SF site review of SF Book of Days. Accessed January 23, 2008.
  6. ^ Powell's Books review of Gaylaxicon 2006 Sampler. Accessed January 23, 2008.
  7. ^ Foxacre web site. Accessed January 23, 2008.
  8. ^ SFRev Interview
  9. ^ Gaylaxian Guest of Honor Speech. Accessed January 23, 2008.
  10. ^ Gaylaxicon 1995 Badges
  11. ^ Gaylaxicon panel list. Accessed January 23, 2008.
  12. ^ Boskone 2007 program. Accessed January 23, 2008.
  13. ^ SFRevu Interview. Accessed January 23, 2008.
  14. ^ Sakers, Don (2006-05-04). Lisa A. Barnett. Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Retrieved on 2007-05-16.
  15. ^ Profile at Blogger.com. Accessed January 23, 2008.

[edit] External links