He posits that the march of science could make possible the first pro-choice/pro-life alliance among those who will see transoption as a boon. But he does not avoid the satirical im-plications either: There is a second alliance of pro-choice and anti-abortion forces who oppose giving women this particular alternative, the first for political reasons, the latter for reli-gious ones. Before this gripping novel ends, Dr. Fletcher must put up with being called a Nazi by overheated partisans of both left and right. Mr. Koman is asking those who would defend life or choice to really think about what the words mean.
It does not ruin the denouement to praise Mr. Koman for his demonstration, both intellectually and emotionally, of what it will mean to the world when there are literal co-mothers. can do: it gives us a new context.
Brad Linaweaver is the author of Moon of Ice and The Land Beyond Summer. About the Author
Victor Koman is the author of eight novels and is at this moment working on his ninth. A native Californian, Koman wrote the underground classic millennial-noir novel The Je-novels won the Prometheus Award in their respective years.
The Jehovah Contract was written in 1978 and '79. It was first published in 1985 - in Bavaria (by publisher Heyne Verlag) - as a German language paperback titled Der Jehova-Vertrag. Ray Bradbury says of Koman's first novel, "The Jeho-vah Contract has a fascinating concept, imaginatively delivered," and of Koman, "Would that there were a dozen more 1988. Politically potent, it is a medical thriller and courtroom drama that shatters the moribund philosophies clinging to the abortion dilemma and creates a radical fusion of Pro-Life and Pro-Choice forces when a new medical technique threatens to make abortion obsolete. Franklin Watts published the hard-cover in 1989 and it won the Prometheus Award (making Koman the first two-time winner) in 1990. A German transla-tion, Der Eingriff, came out in 1991 from Goldmann Verlag. He co-wrote (with Andrew J. Offutt), two novels in the Spaceways saga: #13, Jonuta Rising! and #17, The Carnadyne Horde, published by Berkley Books in 1983 and 1984. Both were issued under the house name "John Cleve."
Koman's short story "Bootstrap Enterprise" appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and was noted by critic Ellen Datlow as one of the best stories of 1994. His stories have also appeared in Fred Olen Ray's Weird Menace, Paul Sammon's The King is Dead - Tales of Elvis Postmortem, Ed Kramer's Dark Destiny II and Dark Destiny III, as well as Kramer's and Brad Linaweaver's Free Space.
His novel, Kings of the High Frontier, won the Prometheus Award in 1997, making him the first three-time winner of the solid-gold prize. The novel was the first exclusively Web-avail-able novel to win such an award...and went on to earn a spot on the Preliminary Ballot for the Science-Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America's prestigious Nebula Award.
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction calls Kings "an intriguing, exhilarating, thought-provoking and, yes, sprawl-ing novel that brings back the sense of wonder that drew so many of us into science-fiction in the first place."
A community activist with a quixotic sense of what's impor-tant, Koman was instrumental in preventing the destruction of Disneyland'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 has also appeared as an extra in several films, includ-ing Star Trek - The Motion Picture, CyberZone, Nightshade, Rapid Assault, Mom's Outta Sight, X-Ray Kid, Billy Frankenstein, and Little Miss Magic (in which his actress daughter, Vanessa Koman, played the title role). He lives in southern California with his wife, Veronica, and daughter, Vanessa, as well as their cat and goldfish.