Location: Panama
Member Since: May 04, 2010

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Sandy Sandfort

Biography

I was conceived in Liberty... really, Liberty, Missouri, that is. For better or worse, I spent my formative years in that sleepy suburb of Kansas City. My parents were iconoclasts and took pride in being different from the common herd, an attitude I adopted and maintain to this day. My father's inquisitive and thoughtful nature were enormously influential in my life.

Early on, I loved my TV western heroes--Roy Rogers, Hopalong Cassidy, Cisco and Poncho. Then I discovered Tom Corbett--Space Cadet, Space Patrol, Rocky Jones--Space Ranger, et alia. And at age 7, I was radicalized by Disney's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. So, I turned in my six-guns, strapped on a blaster and cavorted around the neighborhood with my brother in the spacesuits that my mother and father had crafted for us. During my teenage years, I survived on books by such authors as Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Poul Anderson and especially Robert A. Heinlein who was also reared in the Kansas City area. It has been science fiction ever since.

Went to school, got a BA, then returned to school and got my JD. I worked as a lawyer, discovered I really did not care for the law and went to California to work on a magazine called, FREEDOM TODAY. That is where I did my first serious non-fiction writing. Later that was followed by writing for such publications as MONDO 2000, WIRED, REASON, SOLDIER OF FORTUNE, MALAYSIA TATLER and the LA TIMES.

In 2007, I attended the ROBERT A. HEINLEIN CENTENNIAL in Kansas City, where my short story "World Ceres" was one of the winners in the Centennial short story contest. Later, Big Head Press (http://www.bigheadpress.com/) ran a highly rated webcomic adapted from a series of short stories I wrote that were derived from "Ceres." That series of short stories, ADVENTURES IN HUMAN SPACE are available right here on Smashwords. See below. More stories in this series are in the works, as are other fiction and non-fiction stories and books. To get on my email notification list, please send an email to sandy@sandfort.biz with "List" in the subject line.

Sandy Sandfort

Smashwords Interview

Where did you grow up, and how did this influence your writing?
Well, I was conceived in Liberty... Liberty, Missouri, that is. So maybe that started me on the whole freedom thing. By the way, Liberty is the home of the historic Liberty Jail. Ponder that oxymoron for a moment... It's where Joseph Smith and other Mormon leaders were imprisoned after the "Mormon War," by a kangaroo court where they were tried in absentia. When local hero, General Alexander Doniphan, was ordered by the governor and a superior general to illegally execute Smith, he refused. That's my kind of general! But I digress.

A big influence in my life and writing were my parents. They were strong individualists and always said their mind. My brother and I were encouraged to think for ourselves and come to our own conclusion. In my writing, you will see shadows of them in many of my characters.

Of course, I read a lot of science fiction in high school. Most of it was intensely individualistic. Especially the works of Robert A. Heinlein, another Missouri boy from a few miles away from Liberty. In a way, he was my second father. Without him, I would not have survived the evils of public school.

At university, I read Atlas Shrugged and it was philosophically off to the races for me. I moved on from Rand to various libertarian writers of fiction and nonfiction. At first I thought I was a "minarchist," but couldn't reconcile the internal inconsistencies. Today, I variously describe myself (and thus my writing) as an anarcho-libertarian, market anarchist, literal anarchist (from anarchy, literally, "no ruler"), etc. What is most important, though, is my commitment to the overarching principle of non-aggression. You will see that theme throughout my writings.
What do your fans mean to you?
My fans are very important to me for at least a couple of reasons. For one, they keep me honest. Chaos help me if I have a typo, get the the science wrong or otherwise drop the ball. they will let me know in no uncertain terms. Another reason is that it feels good to be liked; to get applause and complements when I succeed in entertaining, amusing, inspire or informing my readers.
Read more of this interview.

Where to find Sandy Sandfort online

Facebook: Facebook profile
LinkedIn: http://pa.linkedin.com/pub/sandy-sandfort/0/b/376

Books

Adventures in Human Space: Across Time and Beyond, Vol. 3 by
Price: $1.99 USD. Words: 49,190. Language: English. Published: March 7, 2014 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » Hard sci-fi, Fiction » Adventure » General
In the pages of Vol. 3 you will join us in adventures on six asteroids. You will learn about the cloning of a Neanderthal and a famous writer, again and again and again. You will meet space pirates and you will see penguins fly.
Adventures In Human Space: The Grand Tour and Beyond, Vol. 2 by
Price: $1.99 USD. Words: 48,820. Language: English. Published: March 7, 2014 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » Hard sci-fi, Fiction » Adventure » General
In Adventures in Human Space: The Grand Tour and Beyond, catch up with old friends and villains, and meet new characters and their adversaries. You are in for a treat when Reggie and Babbette get rejuved and take the grand tour of Mars, Venus and Mercury (the garden spot of the solar system). Along the way, you will discover new life, intrigue and adventure.
Adventures In Human Space: The Belt and Beyond by
Price: $0.99 USD. Words: 48,720. Language: English. Published: February 14, 2014 . Categories: Fiction » Science fiction » General
By the turn of the 22nd Century, intrepid emigres have escaped from Earth. They have create homes and societies in the next frontier, the Asteroid Belt. Their societies arose without government and its rulers. Instead, the Zero Aggression Principle led them to live in peaceful and free anarchy. Unfortunately, that was about to change...

Sandy Sandfort's tag cloud

anarchism    anarchy    asteroid belt    colonization of new worlds    freedom    libertarian    libertarian science fiction    libertarianism    liberty    nonaggression    space action adventure    space colonizination    spontaneous order    zero aggression principle