User:Thechagossians/Michael Andaluz

Michael Andaluz (born July 22, 1967 Sarnia, Ontario, Canada) performing as Miguel Antonio Calabig Navarro Andaluz is an essayist and short fiction author.

Fandom
Andaluz is an active participant in southern Michigan genre literature conventions, for which he has served as staff volunteer for their social events in Southeastern Michigan since 1989. Under the pseudonym 'Freon', he has been instrumental in organizing several lasting phenomena for Michigan Genre Fandom including RadioFreeFandom, Sanctuary Press Writers Workshops, Pinata Riders Costuming Guild, MichiganFandom discussion groups, and has published both essays and short stories in Science Fiction’s Small Press both online and in print, earning him recognition as Fandom Guest of Honor at Michigan's annual Detroit-area convention ConFusion in 2009. Under his real name, he has published the opening volume of a short story series in near-term Science Fiction, and is continuing research on at least four similarly themed novel projects.

Career
Andaluz began a professional career as an auto service mechanic in 1988 with two years discipline at Michigan State University College of Agricultural Engineering in East Lansing Michigan, and further coursework leading to a degree of excellence at the (formerly Chrysler Corporation sponsored) MoTech Automotive Technical Center in Livonia Michigan. He quickly earned Michigan State Auto Mechanic Certification for Auto and Light Duty Truck in all applicable categories for Master Certified Automobile Service, which in 1990 he supplemented with the National Institute of Automotive Service Excellence (NIASE) master certification in the same categories. In the automobile service industry, he attained dealer and aftermarket authorized training and proficiency, and became a trainer at GM service facilities before leaving to pursue management opportunities in the auto service aftermarket.

In 1997, Andaluz made a career move that took advantage of his early computer sciences disciplines at MSU as well as his self-study of computer technologies. After working briefly in corporate IS, he resigned to become a full time genre author in 1999.

Written Fiction
Two novellas which Andaluz had originally published online appeared in the short story collection Ascent Stage, Tales from the Fantoon Dynasty.

In 1999, his first online fiction, THE ICE TRAIN, was serialized in four parts in the Fiction Category of themestream.com.

His debut novella, THE JAM, appeared online as a 9-11 tribute, having been accepted by WritersHood.com in first draft submission on September 15, 2001 and subsequently featured in early October there with embedded links to known charities such as the American Red Cross and Twin Towers Fund.

The two novellas and five other stories, which revolved within a near-term plausible-science continuum called the 'Fantoon Dynasty', became available in print initially at SF/F conferences in Michigan and nearby states, and wider release via online Print-on-Demand followed shortly afterward.

In addition to the Dynasty fiction, Andaluz has published in the semi-pro market Lost Worlds (ed. Holley Drye) and in prose supplements to the multi-genre comic format periodical IF-X, a title published by Hamtramck Idea Men, and has penned piecework for Tri-Tac Gaming Systems' Fringeworthy adventure game's upcoming rerelease.

A promotional short story entitled Gianni Bubonic (based on the radio teleplay parody written by Andaluz for Radio Free Fandom in 1999 spoofing William Gibson's short story Johnny Mnemonic), is permanently available royalty-free at the Sanctuary Press.

Recordings
In parallel with his written prose, 'Freon' created original script for the Gianni Bubonic satire and many other SF genre audio materials, to feature in a micro-broadcast LPFM radio station serving ConFusion in January and other conventions year round from 2000 thru 2005, a project called Radio Free Fandom. Performing as 'Freon', Andaluz narrated extra-short fiction supplied by himself and other writers in SF genre literature including David Kopaska-Merkel, Eric Schulman, Lida Broadhurst, Stephen D. Rogers, Clif Flynt and Nick Pollotta. At present, Radio Free Fandom operates as a shoutcast promoting shows weekly on a schedule reminiscent of Old Time Radio serials, eschewing the podcasting format, Andaluz has claimed, to instill a form of that traditional 'gather around the glowing dial' family entertainment sentiment which was a strong inspiration for the 2000 project itself.

Current Work
Having toured historic Athens, Greece, as well as the Greater South Luzon in the Philippines and parts of the North American NorthWest's volcanic 'Pacific Ring of Fire', Andaluz is currently researching social and political histories for an upcoming novel, which is planned to be a 'classically SF styled social commentary' on poverty and the unethical treatment of indigenous peoples worldwide, including but not limited to the North American Indian (Native American), the indigenous tribes of Pinatubo Aeta, the Tasmanian Aborigines and the Chagossian (Diego Garcia), set in a near-term geologically significant 'time of human reckoning'. The working title for the novel is 'The Bone Age'.

Personal Belief
Freon is a self described neo-stoic with collectivist/progressive-end lifestyle spectrum morals. An ordained minister since 1994 with the Universal Life Church, whose tenets vigorously advocate freedom of all religious expression over regulation and/or licensure legitimization by wholesale government, is in his view personal testimony for his belief system.