Joe Haldeman
Background Information:



Wikipedia Bio



Reader's Thoughts:

The Forever War - Damn cool book, that. It worked for me on several levels; its harder-than-normal science, its grittiness, and its ever-changing cultural backdrop.

He did a sequel to it, which I wasn't too keen on - the plot resolved itself via deus ex machina, which is more than a little sucky. Maintained his relatively hard science approach though (large portions based on a planet with an orbit of relatively high eccentricity, combined with a seasonal tilt cycle 3 times a solar year, leading to a complex seasonal system). I quite liked that aspect of it.

There is another book pertinant to the topic of humanoid mechas; Forever Peace. Remote controlled (via human brain interface) mechs, but on a relatively small scale (2.5 meters high at most). The treatment they were given was quite cool. Especially given that they're designed for anti-personnel warfare. The plot revolves largely around what happens when you link a number of humans together with brain taps. Very cool.


Trond Nilsen



Forever War was written as a rebuff to Heinlein's Starship Troopers. (If you are interested in why JH wrote it, read his semi-autobiographical 1969) - James Targett


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