Don Sakers

Don Sakers is a science fiction writer and fan living in Maryland, who has written several novels and edited a short story collection. In 2009 he succeeded Thomas Easton as book reviewer for Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazine. Sakers is probably best known in the science fiction community as a frequent guest speaker at science fiction conventions. Openly gay, he shares a home with his spouse, costumer Thomas Atkinson. Their house in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, Meerkat Meade, was featured in Weird Maryland. His self-described "day job" is with the Anne Arundel County public library, where he has worked for 40 years.
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.

Sakers is the author of sf novels Dance for the Ivory Madonna (2002) and companion titles The Leaves of October (1988), A Voice in Every Wind (2003), Weaving the Web of Days (2004), and A Rose From Old Terra (2007); and dark fantasy novel Curse of the Zwilling (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), an anthology of stories based on Leslie Fish's song of the same name; the SF Book of Days (2004); and the Gaylaxicon 2006 Sampler.

Gay Young Adult Novels

Sakers is also the author of two gay young adult novels: Act Well Your Part (1986) and Lucky in Love (1988).

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.

— Publishers Weekly review, cited at

The author says it is really about:

a lot of things: friendship, toleration, a celebration of the creative spirit, a paean 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

Dance for the Ivory Madonna was a Spectrum Award finalist.

Science fiction conventions

Sakers was guest of honor at the 1995 Gaylaxicon, and is a frequent guest speaker at other Gaylaxicons, Albacon, Arisia, and Boskone.

Melissa Scott called him "a left wing Heinlein."

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. Sakers is an active blogger.