Robert P. Hansen

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About Robert P. Hansen
Robert P. Hansen has taught community college courses since 2004 and is currently teaching introductory courses in philosophy and ethics. Prior to that, he was a student for ten years, earning degrees in psychology (AA, BA), philosophy (BA, MA-T), sociology (MA), and English (MA). Writing has been a hobby of his since he graduated high school, going through several phases that were influenced by what he was doing at the time.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he played Dungeons and Dragons, read fantasy novels, and wrote fantasy short stories. He was also influenced by country music, particularly ballads, and wrote a number of short fantasy ballads that were later incorporated into the long poem "A Bard Out of Time."
In the mid-1990s, college and work did not leave him much time for writing, and he mainly wrote poetry. It was during this period that he learned how to write sonnets and became obsessed with them. Since he was focused on developing the craft of poetry, it was a recurring theme in many of the poems from this period ("Of Muse and Pen"); however, as a student of psychology, psychological disorders were also of interest to him, and he wrote several sonnets about them ("Potluck: What's Left Over"). He also began to submit his poems for publication, and several appeared in various small press publications between 1994 and 1997.
Most of the poems appearing in "Love & Annoyance" (both the love poems and the speculative poems) were written while he was a student (1994-2004), and relate to his romantic misadventures and his discovery of philosophy, the proverbial love of his life.
The poems in "A Field of Snow and Other Flights of Fancy" do not fit into a specific period; they are humorous poems reflecting momentary insights or playful jests, which can happen at any time. However, most were written before 1999.
In 1999, his interest shifted to writing science fiction short stories. Most of these stories were a response to a simple question: Why would aliens visit Earth? The majority of these stories appeared in magazines published by Fading Shadows, Inc. He later returned to this question in 2013 to finish his collection, "Worms and Other Alien Encounters."
In 2003, he discovered the poetry of Ai as part of a project for a poetry workshop. Ai is known for her persona poems written from the perspective of serial killers, murderers, abusers, and other nasty characters. Her work inspired him, and he entered a dark period, writing several macabre persona poems similar to Ai's and compiling his thesis, "Morbidity: Prose and Poetry", which focused on death, dying, and killing. ("Last Rites ... And Wrongs" is an expansion of that thesis.)
While a graduate student at the University of Northern Iowa, he twice won the Roberta S. Tamres Sci-Fi Award for his short stories "Exodus" (2003) and "Cliche: A Pulp Adventure Story" (2004).
He did very little writing from 2004 to 2010; he was too busy developing or refining the courses he was teaching. From 2010 to 2013, he focused mainly on organizing, revising, and submitting the work he had already completed, which resulted in several poems and short stories being published. He wrote sporadically until the spring of 2013, when he finished the initial draft of his first full-length novel "The Snodgrass Incident," which expanded upon and integrated three short stories he had written in the fall of 2012.
In the fall of 2013, he prepared several collections (poems and stories) for publication on Amazon and made a final revision of "The Snodgrass Incident." These were posted early in 2014, and he redirected his attention to other projects, including revising a short fantasy novel and a collection of suspense-oriented fantasy/horror/science fiction stories.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, he played Dungeons and Dragons, read fantasy novels, and wrote fantasy short stories. He was also influenced by country music, particularly ballads, and wrote a number of short fantasy ballads that were later incorporated into the long poem "A Bard Out of Time."
In the mid-1990s, college and work did not leave him much time for writing, and he mainly wrote poetry. It was during this period that he learned how to write sonnets and became obsessed with them. Since he was focused on developing the craft of poetry, it was a recurring theme in many of the poems from this period ("Of Muse and Pen"); however, as a student of psychology, psychological disorders were also of interest to him, and he wrote several sonnets about them ("Potluck: What's Left Over"). He also began to submit his poems for publication, and several appeared in various small press publications between 1994 and 1997.
Most of the poems appearing in "Love & Annoyance" (both the love poems and the speculative poems) were written while he was a student (1994-2004), and relate to his romantic misadventures and his discovery of philosophy, the proverbial love of his life.
The poems in "A Field of Snow and Other Flights of Fancy" do not fit into a specific period; they are humorous poems reflecting momentary insights or playful jests, which can happen at any time. However, most were written before 1999.
In 1999, his interest shifted to writing science fiction short stories. Most of these stories were a response to a simple question: Why would aliens visit Earth? The majority of these stories appeared in magazines published by Fading Shadows, Inc. He later returned to this question in 2013 to finish his collection, "Worms and Other Alien Encounters."
In 2003, he discovered the poetry of Ai as part of a project for a poetry workshop. Ai is known for her persona poems written from the perspective of serial killers, murderers, abusers, and other nasty characters. Her work inspired him, and he entered a dark period, writing several macabre persona poems similar to Ai's and compiling his thesis, "Morbidity: Prose and Poetry", which focused on death, dying, and killing. ("Last Rites ... And Wrongs" is an expansion of that thesis.)
While a graduate student at the University of Northern Iowa, he twice won the Roberta S. Tamres Sci-Fi Award for his short stories "Exodus" (2003) and "Cliche: A Pulp Adventure Story" (2004).
He did very little writing from 2004 to 2010; he was too busy developing or refining the courses he was teaching. From 2010 to 2013, he focused mainly on organizing, revising, and submitting the work he had already completed, which resulted in several poems and short stories being published. He wrote sporadically until the spring of 2013, when he finished the initial draft of his first full-length novel "The Snodgrass Incident," which expanded upon and integrated three short stories he had written in the fall of 2012.
In the fall of 2013, he prepared several collections (poems and stories) for publication on Amazon and made a final revision of "The Snodgrass Incident." These were posted early in 2014, and he redirected his attention to other projects, including revising a short fantasy novel and a collection of suspense-oriented fantasy/horror/science fiction stories.
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Author Updates
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Blog postWell, my computer’s hard drive crashed. I had most of my writing files saved to a flash drive, so all I lost were the recent revisions I had made on both I Will Be King and the Angus the Mage series. Fortunately, I hadn’t gotten that far into them, and I still have what I had saved to my flash drive before I started those revisions. Once I settle into my routine for the Spring semester, it shouldn’t take too long to redo them. It is frustrating, though.
2 years ago Read more -
Blog postThis isn’t the first time that I’ve taken an extended break from writing. From the early 1980s to mid-1990s, I wrote a lot of poetry and short stories because they could be completed in one sitting. Most of the stories were plot-driven or idea-driven stories of 3,000 words or less. I rarely wrote anything longer than that, and my production was intermittent. Once I started college, I continued to write poetry but more-or-less tabled my fiction because the methodical, analytical mindset that i2 years ago Read more
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Blog postWell, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted anything, and that’s mainly because I haven’t written anything of consequence for several months. I usually don’t write that much during the Fall semester, but this year has been completely non-productive where writing has been concerned. I’ve written few poems, and my fiction has been tabled for quite some time. I expect that to change after Christmas, but I’m not sure what I’ll be doing yet. I am still tinkering with the idea of revising my Angu2 years ago Read more
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Blog postI know it’s been a couple of months since I posted anything, but there wasn’t any reason to give an update until now. Even so, this won’t be much of one. I spent the past few days proofreading what I had written for I Will Be King in the hopes that it will inspire me to write more. We’ll see if it works. I’ve written about a dozen poems since my last update, so I’m including a few of them in this post. I sorted through the poems I’ve written since 2014 in case I decide to publish second3 years ago Read more
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Blog postOkay, here’s the story. Let me know if you like it.
Portents “It is a sight to behold, My Liege,” Basil said. “A trophy well worthy of you.”
“Indeed,” Lord Arak said, his eyes surveying the small village of Hyd. It was far from impressive, but at least the bridge would give him easy access to the lands beyond. Still, something kept him from giving the order to attack. What was it?
Was it the wall? No. A low earth wall like that was child’s play for his trenching machin3 years ago Read more -
Blog postIt’s been awhile since my last writing update, but there wasn’t anything to report. I wasn’t doing any writing (poetry or fiction), and the poems I had written earlier in the year had nearly run out. I wasn’t even thinking about writing until about two weeks ago, and even then, there were only brief moments and a few ideas. I tried to follow up on one of those ideas about a week or so ago, but it just didn’t work. The character’s voice felt artificial and the writing was forced. It didn’3 years ago Read more
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Blog postAn historic moment just happened in the NCAA tournament: a 16 seed beat a 1 seed for the first time in its history. What did CBS do? It kept it on the game it was broadcasting. In the past, they would have switched games for the last 2 minutes, but no more. I was even surprised when they showed part of the 16 vs 1 game during the halftime of the CBS game because they’ve done almost none of that recently. Well, except for the Auburn game because it’s Charles Barkley’s alma mater and they were3 years ago Read more
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Blog postOkay, I still haven’t done anything significant with my writing. Eventually, I’ll break out of my funk and get back to it, but it is taking a lot longer than I thought it would. I seem to recall Theodore Sturgeon (or was it another famous author from that era?) taking 5 years off from writing at one point, but I don’t think it will be that long for me. Maybe when allergy season is over and I start walking again, I’ll get back into the writing mindset. We’ll find out in a few weeks.
In3 years ago Read more -
Blog postSorry for the delay in posting this poem. I’ve been dealing with my Spring allergies and spent much of the past few days drowsing. I’m also running out of poems to post, since I haven’t written much of anything this year yet. Anyway, if you haven’t heard of “The Ovarian Lottery,” it’s a term coined by Warren Buffet. He says he “won the ovarian lottery” by being born when and where he was and with the mental abilities that made it possible for him to take advantage of it.
The Ovarian Lotte3 years ago Read more -
Blog postFlashback It is an old cardboard box,
dark brown and pitted by age,
topped by a dusty, misshapen lid.
I haven’t opened it—haven’t even
seen it—in decades, and now
it sits there accusing me of neglect.
It was an old fossil my mom
discovered in her garage,
and she wanted it gone.
“It’s yours,” she told me.
“Take it with you.”
I lift the lid and the ancient
glue gives way. A side flap
pops loose, but the other
3 years ago Read more
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Books By Robert P. Hansen
The Tiger's Eye (Angus the Mage Book 1)
Jun 4, 2014
$0.00
Angus wakes up one day with a problem, a very BIG problem: his memory is gone. He doesn't know who he is or what he does. Voltari tells him he is his apprentice, but Angus knows nothing about magic. Still, Voltari is a Master Wizard, so he would know, wouldn't he? Voltari knows other things about him, too, but he isn't talking. Then, just as Angus begins to come to terms with his situation, everything changes....
Other Formats:
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Have You Seen My Cat?: and Other Stories
Dec 25, 2014
$2.99
This is a collection of mystery, science fiction, and cross-genre short stories. The strange disappearance of cats, a blind man who can see, and a murder or two headline the mysteries, but there is also the horror of seeing things that aren't there and the odd, sometimes criminal, behavior it elicits. Then, of course, there are the things that are there....
The science fiction portion of the collection sometimes blends into fantasy or horror as experiments don't go as smoothly as anticipated, and what can we say about space? It isn't exactly a user-friendly environment....
The science fiction portion of the collection sometimes blends into fantasy or horror as experiments don't go as smoothly as anticipated, and what can we say about space? It isn't exactly a user-friendly environment....
The Golden Key (Angus the Mage Book 3)
Jan 12, 2015
$2.99
The Banner of the Wounded Hand is in disarray. Giorge has succumbed to the curse and his body has disappeared. Angus and Typhus were carried away by Sardach and are missing. Hobart and Ortis are running low on supplies. Will they find Angus before they have to return to civilization? Or will they have to leave him behind?
Note: This book relies heavily upon the reader being familiar with the content of the first two books in the series.
Note: This book relies heavily upon the reader being familiar with the content of the first two books in the series.
Other Formats:
Paperback
Angst (Angus the Mage Book 4)
Jun 3, 2015
$2.99
Angus is frustrated. King Tyr has confined him to Hellsbreath and he doesn’t know why. Embril went with the patrol to the Angst temple to safeguard The Tiger’s Eye, but she has failed—or worse, she has betrayed him. Either way, the nexus has been disturbed and Hellsbreath is in danger—and it’s his fault. Commander Garret won’t let him go after her, so all he can do is wait for Hobart and Ortis to return. But when they do…
Angst draws upon several elements from the first three books as it ties things together and brings the series to a close. As such, readers will have a richer experience if they begin with first book (The Tiger’s Eye, which is currently free) and progress through the rest of the series in order.
Note: The story continues with the Aftermath series, the first three books of which are essentially Book 5-A, 5-B, and 5-C of the Angus the Mage series.
Angst draws upon several elements from the first three books as it ties things together and brings the series to a close. As such, readers will have a richer experience if they begin with first book (The Tiger’s Eye, which is currently free) and progress through the rest of the series in order.
Note: The story continues with the Aftermath series, the first three books of which are essentially Book 5-A, 5-B, and 5-C of the Angus the Mage series.
Other Formats:
Paperback
The Viper's Fangs (Angus the Mage Book 2)
Sep 1, 2014
$2.99
Wintering in Hellsbreath's Wizard's School has been good for Angus. He has mastered some new spells, come to accept his situation, and even made a friend. But spring is approaching and Hobart has planned a brief excursion for the Banner of the Wounded Hand, one that ends up being much longer than he anticipated....
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A Bard Out of Time
Jan 8, 2014
$0.99
“A Bard Out of Time” is a long poem that centers on a bard singing songs and traveling from one village to another in a fantasy world. Spells, magical creatures, kings and queens, werewolves, and the like all make an appearance in this poem as he regales his audiences with the ballads he sings. The other poems in this collection are also fantasy-oriented, but they did not fit in with the plot / structure of “A Bard Out of Time” (most are not ballads) or were not reflective of the setting of that poem. Some of these poems cross over into the dark fantasy/horror genre (particularly the ones with demons in them), but others are playful or risqué.
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The Snodgrass Incident
Jan 6, 2014
$2.99
It is 2136, and Earth has survived an environmental catastrophe and is colonizing the solar system. Mars and Luna have growing populations. Ceres is a long-standing outpost. It is time to go further, and The Snodgrass is the ship that will make that possible. It has a new engine design, and its mission is to test that engine by going to Enceladus to investigate the formation of a new Tiger Stripe. But in space, anything can happen. A new invention sidetracks the mission even before it begins, and once they're underway, they have to face the hazards of alien environments, company bureaucracy, and political intrigue. Then they have to get back. . . .
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Installments
Aug 23, 2016
$2.99
Installments is a complex, multi-tiered literary narrative. The frame (outermost level) is about Harry, a mystery writer struggling with a new story, and his interactions with the writers’ group helping him through those struggles. The story-within-the-story (innermost level) is a mystery about Detective Jonathan Starks, who is undergoing art therapy to help him deal with the repressed emotions associated with a serial killer investigation. The dynamic interplay between these two levels sheds light upon the story-writing process, particularly those aspects of it that the reader seldom sees in the final draft of a story.
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Please Don't Eat the Penguins
Aug 14, 2016
$2.99
The earth has experienced a catastrophic environmental disaster that has left much of the world uninhabitable. Antarctica, Greenland, and Siberia are temperate climates, and the polar ice caps are no more. In response, humanity has begun to colonize the solar system, and offworld postings are at a premium. This year, Moon Base has two openings—and six candidates. The testing of these candidates is usually routine, but not this time. This time, Meg Arnold is involved….
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Aftermath
Aug 14, 2016
$2.99
The Aftermath series is essentially Book 5 of my Angus the Mage series and assumes readers are familiar with the events and characters from that series. The first book in particular, Aftermath, is heavily reliant upon such knowledge and takes place between the last section of Angst (“An End of Things”) and the epilogue of that book. It centers on what happens in and around Hellsbreath and continues the story of Hobart, Embril, Giorge, and Taro. The events of the second book, I Will Be King, are concurrent with those of Aftermath and will center on the events taking place in Tyrag as King Tyr attempts to reclaim his throne. The third book, The Dwarf Wars, will begin at the same point as the first two and follow Voltari’s efforts to get back home; however, it will also be a prequel about King Urm’s rise to power and the subsequent expansion of his kingdom. The fourth book, Symptata’s Curse, will be a sequel to The Dwarf Wars and a prequel about how Symptata’s curse actually came about.
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Exploitation and Other Stories
Mar 13, 2016
$2.99
Exploitation and Other Stories is about 60% science fiction (SF) and 40% other genres (fantasy, mystery, and flash fiction). The title piece, "Exploitation," is a novella about space exploration, while most of the other SF stories involve alien encounters of one sort or another. The speculative flash fiction pieces serve to form a bridge between the last few SF stories and the first of the fantasy stories, all of which have religious connotations of one sort or another. After a few more fantasy stories, the collection concludes with several mysteries (stories of crime or the investigations following a crime), the last of which is a cross-genre science fiction mystery.
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2015: A Year of Poetry
Jan 6, 2016
$2.99
This collection of poetry contains about 500 poems that were written during 2015, many of which are short poems inspired by the poetry of David Malone and Adriana Dascalu, or the activities promoted by Karen O'Leary for her online poetry magazine, Whispers.... The poems range from the humorous to the morbid and reflect topics as diverse as nature, love, philosophical speculation, crime, and social commentary. The majority are free verse or haiku, but the sonnet, rondeau, and other poetic forms are also represented.
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