Victor Koman (born August 9, 1954) is an American

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

writer and

agorist Agorism is a social philosophy that advocates creating a society in which all relations between people are voluntary exchanges by means of counter-economics, engaging with aspects of nonviolent revolution. It was first proposed by American lib ...

. A three-time winner of the

Prometheus Award The Prometheus Award is an award for libertarian science fiction novels given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society. American author and activist L. Neil Smith established the award in 1979, but it was not awarded regularly until the newl ...

, Koman is mainly popular in the libertarian community. He is the owner of the publishing house KoPubCo. His Ph.D. in Information Technology was conferred by

Capella University Capella University is a private for-profit, online university headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The school is owned by the publicly traded Strategic Education, Inc. and delivers most of its education online. Capella has 52 degree pr ...

in 2016. He also possesses a BSIS (with honors, summa cum laude) from

University of Redlands The University of Redlands is a private university headquartered in Redlands, California. The university's main, residential campus is situated on 160 acres (65 ha) near downtown Redlands. An additional eight regional locations throughout Califo ...

(2001) and an MBA from

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California. Pepperdine's main campus consists of 830 acres (340 ha) overlooking the Pacific Ocean and th ...

(2004). Koman's short stories have appeared in such publications as ''

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction ''The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction'' (usually referred to as ''F&SF'') is a U.S. fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Press. Editors Anthony Boucher ...

'', ''

Galaxy Science Fiction ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published in Boston from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market. World Editi ...

'', and the anthologies ''Weird Menace'', ''The King is Dead: Tales of Elvis Post-Mortem'', the second and third ''Dark Destiny'' collections set in the

White Wolf A white wolf or Arctic wolf is a mammal of the ''Canidae'' family and a subspecies of the gray wolf. It may also refer to: Organizations * White Wolf (band), a Canadian heavy metal band * White Wolf (band), white power oi band from the USA * Whi ...

World of Darkness ''World of Darkness'' is a series of tabletop role-playing games, originally created by Mark Rein-Hagen for White Wolf Publishing. It began as an annual line of five games in 1991–1995, with '' Vampire: The Masquerade'', '' Werewolf: The Apoca ...

'', and the libertarian short-story collection ''Free Space''. In the early 1980s, Koman collaborated with

Andrew J. Offutt Andrew Jefferson Offutt V (August 16, 1934 – April 30, 2013) was an American science fiction, fantasy, and erotic fiction author. He wrote as Andrew J. Offutt, A. J. Offutt, and Andy Offutt. His normal byline, andrew j. offutt, has all his nam ...

on Offutt's ''Spaceways'' series for

Playboy Press PLBY Group, Inc. is an American global media and lifestyle company founded by Hugh Hefner as Playboy Enterprises, Inc. to oversee the ''Playboy'' magazine and related assets. Its headquarters are in Los Angeles, California. The company is focu ...

(which was sold to Berkley Books in mid-stride). Koman wrote two novels in the series, to which Offutt added his own scenes, then edited and published the novels under the series name " John Cleve". These paperbacks are long out of print. Covers for both novels were painted by

Ken Barr Ken Barr, working name of Kenneth Barr (17 March 1933 – 25 March 2016), was a Scottish artist who drew and painted DC Comics, DC and Marvel Comics, Marvel comics and magazines, Doc Savage magazine covers, science fiction and fantasy novel and m ...

. A community activist, Koman was instrumental in preventing the 1988 destruction of the

Disneyland Monorail System The Disneyland Monorail System (originally named the Disneyland ALWEG Monorail System) is an attraction and transportation system at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, United States. It was the first daily operating monorail in the W ...

's last bubble-topped Mark III monorail (''Old Red''), generating a one-man public-relations campaign that resulted in nationwide news coverage. The Walt Disney Company subsequently saved, restored, and converted the historic monorail fuselage into a street-legal promotional vehicle. Koman's 1995 story collaboration with Brad Linaweaver, "The Light That Blinds", features an occult battle between Aleister Crowley and Adolf Hitler. Koman has appeared as an extra in several films, including '' Star Trek: The Motion Picture'', ''CyberZone'', ''Rapid Assault'', ''Fugitive Rage'', ''Mom’s Outta Sight'', ''Billy Frankenstein'', ''KidWitch'' (in which his daughter, Vanessa Koman, played the title role), '' Red Dragon'', ''

The Hot Chick ''The Hot Chick'' is a 2002 American comedy film written and directed by Tom Brady, with additional writing by Rob Schneider. Schneider stars as Clive Maxtone, a middle-aged criminal who switches bodies with mean-spirited cheerleader Jessica Spe ...

'', and ''A-List (film)''. On November 15, 1998, he was the winner on the game show '' Inquizition''. Koman has made available the body of work of

Samuel Edward Konkin III Samuel Edward Konkin III (8 July 1947 – 23 February 2004), also known as SEK3, was an American libertarian philosopher and Austrian school economist. As the author of the publication '' New Libertarian Manifesto'', he was a proponent of a polit ...

through KoPubCo. He is the pseudonymous author of the Gloamingerism pamphlets published as afterwords in the 1999 trade paperback edition of J. Neil Schulman's novel ''

Alongside Night ''Alongside Night'' is a dystopian novel by science fiction writer J. Neil Schulman intended to articulate the principles of Agorism, a political philosophy created by Samuel Edward Konkin III, to whom Schulman dedicated the work. It was first ...

''.

Selected bibliography

* '' Starship Women'' (1980) * ''Spaceways #13: Jonuta Rising!'' (1983) * ''Spaceways #17: The Carnadyne Horde'' (1984) * '' The Jehovah Contract'' (1987) * '' Solomon's Knife'' (1989) * '' Kings of the High Frontier'' (1996) * '' Millennium: Weeds'' (1997) * '' Death's Dimensions: A Psychotic Space Opera'' (1999) * '' Captain Anger Adventure#1: The Microbotic Menace'' (1999)

References

External links

KomanSense
Koman's official website

Saving the last Mark III monorail

Advocates of Self-Government
Victor Koman
Fantastic Fiction * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Koman, Victor 1954 births Living people 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American novelists 20th-century American short story writers Agorists American libertarians American male novelists American male short story writers American science fiction writers People from Los Gatos, California Writers from California