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

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

and

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

writer and agorist. A three-time winner of the

Prometheus Award The Prometheus Award is an award for libertarian science fiction given annually by the Libertarian Futurist Society. American author and activist L. Neil Smith established the Best Novel category for the award in 1979; however, it was not award ...

, Koman is mainly popular in the

libertarian Libertarianism (from ; or from ) is a political philosophy that holds freedom, personal sovereignty, and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according ...

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. Capella has 47 degree programs with over 1,600 courses. Approximately ...

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

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

(2001) and an MBA from

Pepperdine University Pepperdine University () is a private university, private Christianity, Christian research university affiliated with the Churches of Christ, with its main campus in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Pepperdine's main campus consists ...

(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 fiction magazine, fantasy and science-fiction magazine, first published in 1949 by Mystery House, a subsidiary of Lawrence E. Spivak, Lawrence Spiv ...

'', ''

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 Edi ...

'', 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 ''

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 Apocaly ...

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

(which was sold to

Berkley Books Berkley Books is an American imprint founded in 1955 by Charles Byrne and Frederic Klein owned by the Penguin Group unit of Penguin Random House. History Berkley Books began as an independent company in 1955. It was founded as "Chic News Compa ...

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

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

'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 Bradford Swain Linaweaver (September 1, 1952 – August 29, 2019) was an American science fiction writer, film producer, actor, and magazine publisher. Over a 40-year career, he completed a body of work including novels, short stories, and scree ...

, "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'', 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 (July 8, 1947 – February 23, 2004), also known as SEK3, was a Canadian-American libertarian philosopher and Austrian school economist. As the author of the publication ''New Libertarian Manifesto'', he was a proponen ...

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''.

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