Joe Haldeman, The Forever War (1974)
I didn’t expect John Scalzi to write the preface. Mind you, I’ve never actually read anything by Scalzi, but he maintains a very active + entertaining internet presence, and generally has accurate statements to make about everything. When they brought out this new edition of The Forever War they decided to carpet-bomb the first few pages with ( Read more... )
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I'm not sure if it's relevant in this case, but I think with some classics, present-day it-authors who are genuine fans want to be part of the reissue just because they are big ol' fanboys at heart. I forget whom it was that Neil Gaiman was writing an intro for (Gene Wolfe, probably?), and I remember something similar happening with a Peter S. Beagle book, and so on.
I read a short story by Haldeman in an anthology that impressed me and have been toying around with picking up a novel by him. I didn't realize TheForever War had this weird... thing in it about mandated homosexuality. Huh. Need to think about whether that would interfere with my enjoyment enough that it might not be worth it...
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oh if that was the rationale i am all for it
i love it when authors fanboy shamelessly! neil gaiman is the worst. by which i mean he is the best. with the fanboying.
I read a short story by Haldeman in an anthology that impressed me and have been toying around with picking up a novel by him.
i've no doubt he's impressive. i think the similarities with the things they carried goes even deeper than both of them being about vietnam, because i think haldeman is really good at his craft, not like in a flashy my-prose-is-super-elegant-imma-win-the-booker-prize-way but just constructs a really solid, entertaining story you know?
Need to think about whether that would interfere with my enjoyment lol i feel bad because i keep doing write-ups of all these books that have these glaring problems and i can't quit talking about them and i feel like i'm ruining them for you in advance - possibly if you encountered them ( ... )
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Neil Gaiman is so adorable when he's being a fanboy! I think Steve Brust might actually have him beat for biggest pro writer fanboy, in that he is a huge Zelazny fanboy and his firstborn is named Corwin. I suspect those two facts are not unrelated :)
not like in a flashy my-prose-is-super-elegant-imma-win-the-booker-prize-way but just constructs a really solid, entertaining story you know?
Yeah, and I actually prefer the latter to the former, so that's definitely a plus for me.
And you shouldn't feel bad at all! Forewarned is forearmed, and also the fact that you really enjoyed the book despite the heterophobia thing is actually a really good datapoint.
(I must admit I have not read The Things They Carried even though an LJ friend with amazing taste had it as her best book of the year a few years back, so I probably should...)
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:D
i read the things they carried in high school and i ... didn't quite like it, but i was a HUGE genre junkie in high school and i basically never ventured out of SF/F, and i could still appreciate how good it was. it was that good. you should read it! no rush, it's been around for decades and it's not going anywhere, but if it drops into your lap one of these days ...
also this is off topic but yesterday i saw a review by a blogger whose bookish taste i put a lot of stock in, and it was about how she (1) gave up on oscar wao bc it just didn't do anything for her, and (2) tried this is how you lose her, and her reaction is "what is the big deal with this guy?? idgi." i suppose no two people's reading preferences can align perfectly. but i was kind of sad for her, a little bit, because junot diaz is so awesome.
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