Mark Daku
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markdaku.bsky.social
Mark Daku
@markdaku.bsky.social
Canadian living in Athens, Greece. Ex-professor of political science. SciFi stories and literary non-fiction rejected from all of your favourite outlets.
Reposted by Mark Daku
a canceled streaming subscription is easily converted to several spec fic magazine subs on patreon and similar services, some are as low as 1-2 bucks. the more you know.
September 18, 2025 at 5:55 AM
Reposted by Mark Daku
Save the date 🗻🌄🏔
Conference "Mountains of Greece: Heritage narratives from the past for a sustainable future"

📆 22-24 October 2025
📍 British School at Athens, Souedias 52, 106 76 Athens and online 🌐
www.bsa.ac.uk/events/mount...
@mountainsofgreece.bsky.social

Full programme coming soon!
July 21, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Reposted by Mark Daku
Neuen is out now as an ebook, paperback, and hardcover. It is a science fiction genetic engineering novel with botany.

books2read.com/Neuen

#newrelease #newnovel #newbook #sciencefiction #dystopia #indieauthor #neuen
July 8, 2025 at 9:40 AM
Just finished this - highly recommend - an excellent dive into colonialism, imperialism, empire and resistance. #sff #booksky
OH GET MY BOOK CHEAP ON KOBO!

Hi Canadians, Countess is now $3.99 CAD. That is the cheapest price I've seen.

Also US friends I'm seeing that it's $3.99 USD in the US store right now too.

Nebula, Aurora and Locus nommed!

www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/...
www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/...
June 28, 2025 at 3:14 PM
Reposted by Mark Daku
OH GET MY BOOK CHEAP ON KOBO!

Hi Canadians, Countess is now $3.99 CAD. That is the cheapest price I've seen.

Also US friends I'm seeing that it's $3.99 USD in the US store right now too.

Nebula, Aurora and Locus nommed!

www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/...
www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/...
June 27, 2025 at 10:44 PM
Reposted by Mark Daku
Finally, a Holy War I can join
June 19, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by Mark Daku
Use Signal. We promise, no AI clutter, and no surveillance ads, whatever the rest of the industry does. <3
June 16, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Woke up to two more rejections today, ten for the year. This is good as my goal this year is "as many rejections as possible" but it's still not easy. At least in academia, rejections came with feedback. Here I'm flying blind.

So if anyone wants to give/swap feedback on short sci-fi, hit me up.
June 17, 2025 at 6:10 AM
Just tore through "The Dragonfly Gambit" by @thesuiway.bsky.social A remarkably engaging story of love, revenge, machiavellian machinations, seduction, grief and loss. I can't recommend it highly enough.

#novella #sff #revenge #NebulaAward #booksky
So hype for @thesuiway and THE DRAGONFLY GAMBIT!

If you haven’t read it yet, use code NEBULAS2025 to pick it up for $1.99 until the end of the month.

www.neonhemlock.com/ebooks/drago...
June 15, 2025 at 6:04 AM
Who did this? Who is this artistic genius, this inspired mastermind, this absolute legend who works at the Chania Maritime Museum?
June 5, 2025 at 6:58 PM
Novelette submitted! So glad to be able to read other people’s words for a while…
June 4, 2025 at 2:13 PM
Finished the first draft of a novelette last night 🎉

Now to revise and try to convince someone to publish a 14000 word existential crisis of a story about art history, severed limbs, and … space whales?

#amwriting #scifi #sff #writesky
May 30, 2025 at 6:13 AM
Sure, I mean they both make me want to drink heavily...
May 29, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Slowly making it through my short story backlog and finally got to "Liberation" by @tadethompson.bsky.social

Love this story. African politics, colonial legacies, ingenuity and hope, beautifully written. Big fan of science fiction that is deeply rooted in reality.

#SFF #SciFi #BookSky #shortstory
A young woman is recruited to be part of Nigeria's first ever space mission, but things go awry when the mission is thrown into chaos.

Next week. "Liberation" by @tadethompson.bsky.social at Reactor!
Art by Jenis Littles
Edited by @jonathanstrahan.bsky.social
May 28, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Just hit 10k words on my work in progress, which is a huge milestone for me. Most of my work is 2500 words or less - I like to get right to the point it seems - so this is a whole new terrifying world. #amwriting #writingcommunity #writesky #SpecFic
May 24, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Definitely the standout piece of the latest issue of @clarkesworldmagazine.com - a beautiful and compelling read.
Oh! I have a new story out in the latest issue of Clarkesworld Magazine. "Descent" is a standalone science-fantasy novella set in the amazing @sauutiverse.bsky.social about an exploration mission on a planet of storms, epistemology, parental expectations and the limits of knowledge. Check it!
The May Issue of Clarkesworld features original stories by Angela Liu, Rati Mehrotra, Alex T. Singer, Wole Talabi, Ann LeBlanc, Caryanna Reuven, and Marie Vibbert.

clarkesworldmagazine.com/issue_224

Please subscribe at:
clarkesworldmagazine.com/subscribe/
May 22, 2025 at 5:45 AM
Can't wait to start this!
Oh also you can get the ebook right now for 99c, I am forgetting

geni.us/Solarissale
May 21, 2025 at 4:04 PM
Reposted by Mark Daku
Oh also you can get the ebook right now for 99c, I am forgetting

geni.us/Solarissale
May 20, 2025 at 7:28 PM
Quiet plea from an unpublished: could more people please do this? It really helps to normalize rejections and emphasize that publishing is a marathon, not a sprint.
Some interesting stats on # of subs vs acceptances for mags I’ve sent the most short fic to 👀‼️

Clarkesworld: 30-0
The Dark: 29-12
The Dread Machine: 29-4
Apex Magazine: 27-1
Strange Horizons: 22-0
F&SF: 19-1
May 20, 2025 at 1:47 PM
Reposted by Mark Daku
p.s. did you know that 5 out of 6 Nebula novella finalists are also eligible for the Auroras?! Canadians are killing it this year!
April 4, 2025 at 2:24 AM
If you see this, quote with the energy you bring to Bluesky.
May 17, 2025 at 6:46 AM
Reposted by Mark Daku
The ebook of my first novel, last year's Nebula and Ignyte-winning, Le Guin and Hugo-nominated THE SAINT OF BRIGHT DOORS, is on sale at $2.99 right now across most ebook retailers! If you were holding out for a really good deal 👉🏾👉🏾 bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
The Saint of Bright Doors
Check out The Saint of Bright Doors - <p><b>Winner of the Nebula Award for Best Novel!</b><br><b>A 2023 <i>New York Times</i> Notable Book</b><br><br><b>“The best book I've read all year. Protean, sin...
bookshop.org
May 14, 2025 at 1:14 AM
This is one of the most powerful pieces of short sci-fi I've read in a long time.
May 13, 2025 at 1:46 PM
This is the strongest case for being pro-climate change I have ever seen.
April 25, 2025 at 2:33 PM
I'm late to this, but if you haven't read "Inside the House of Wisdom" by Tamara Masri in @lightspeedmagazine.com, it's an achingly beautiful, heart wrenching piece that masterfully captures the relationships between hope, despair, resilience, and identity: www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/insi...
Inside the House of Wisdom - Lightspeed Magazine
This is the eighth floor of the Al-Ahli Memorial Library, my favorite place in the building. When the elevator door opens, it’s like walking into a quiet circle of glass. So, as we walk, I’m going to ...
www.lightspeedmagazine.com
April 24, 2025 at 6:31 AM