File 770
Issue 143: June 2004
Fandom's most famous frefan, Sam Konkin, was found dead of natural causes in his Los Angeles apartment on February 23.
I met Sam for the first time during a riverboat cruise at the 1975 Rivercon, along with three other libertarian fans moving from New York to California, Rob Cohen, Andy Thornton and J. Neil Schulman. Neil still refers to this journey as coming to the "promised land" and Sam made it such a part of the libertarian legend that I felt I had not simply gone on a boat ride with him, I had witnessed a signal moment in political history -- these libertarians had set out to change the world.
I was not politically well-informed when we met, but I happened to know what a libertarian was because I had been in a USC history class with Shawn Steele, a disenchanted conservative who'd moved on to libertarianism but still bragged that he was the Young Republican who started everyone booing Nelson Rockefeller at the 1968 Republican Convention. Also, a USC professor, John Hospers, had been the Libertarian Party's first Presidential candidate in 1972. (Sam had traveled to St. Louis in 1969 to attend the convention that formed the Libertarian Party. That same weekend the Worldcon was being held in St Louis and Sam hit both events.) Of course, Sam soured on the "partyarchs" before long, but before that happened, he (unforgettably) defended the Libertarian Party to me as a placeholder "until people could be educated to stop voting altogether."
Fandom is full of extroverts seeking forums for their strong political opinions. While Sam was one, of all the people I've met I think Sam was the most capable of enjoying the company of people he disagreed with. He was passionate about his economic worldview, and even more passionate about his Mac Powerbook, delighted to fence with anyone willing to make an argument. That is a characteristic he had in common with Christian apologist C.S.Lewis, a figure who intrigued Sam enough to stay an active member of the Southern California C.S.Lewis Society for many years.
Sam's good humor about people who were involved with things he opposed kept our relationship pleasant when it might have gone another direction. I took a date to see the movie Harry's War in 1981, a kind of comedy that ends with an armed attack on the evile IRS. Lo and behold, who should we meet outside the theater afterwards - Sam, Neil and company handing out a tabloid paper encouraging tax protest. Sam knew I worked for the IRS but greeted me as cordially as ever - we were amused by the coincidence.
Sam contributed some juicy news items in the early days of File 770. He stayed busy with a number of publications, making the New Libertarian Weekly famous by serializing an interview with Robert A. Heinlein. And his Daily FreFanzine stirred the fanpolitical pot at many conventions over the years.
Sam leaves behind a brother in Edmonton and his son, Samuel Konkin IV. His brother took him home to Edmonton to be buried next to his father.
NEXT PAGE