The Forever War - Patreon Questions/Discussion
Added 2024-06-23 19:48:10 +0000 UTCHello everyone! Another big video will be dropping soon on Joe Haldeman's The Forever War. I will be including a section at the end with Patreon questions and discussion! Have you read The Forever War? What are your thoughts on it? Do you have any recommendations for other works of science fiction that deal with war? Post questions below to be featured in the next video!
Thank you for all your support!
-Quinn
Comments
Hello Quinn! Love your videos! It's been many years since I read the book, but a theme that stuck with me was the utter lack of glory. Life-and-death engagements hinging upon the release of a lever, the press of a button -- or not even.
Jonathan R. Horrell
2024-07-28 23:12:35 +0000 UTCFor my part, I think it'd be worthwhile to examnie Ann Leckie. But, also, the Old Man War series.
MARC-ANDRE Desrosiers
2024-06-24 12:33:07 +0000 UTCG'day Quinn, I've not read The Forever War - But you've influenced me greatly with many of my recent purchases so I'll likely get around to this sometime in the future. If you have a penchant for Science Fiction, Warfare, and Horror included in the mix, then layout a small fortune and a great deal of time for the Warhammer series, The Horus Heresy. As for a question...Have you read anything that is purely from the perspective of the non-human? For instance, “Remembrance of Earth’s Past” trilogy has elements of this and the reasons for the conflict. But I mean an entire story dedicated to the 'conflict' from the other side's perspective? Cheers D
Donovan (DMoN) Carr
2024-06-24 08:06:35 +0000 UTCThanks for the video, very munch enjoy, The Forever War for not only a Military Science Fiction novel, but exploring how humanity has change in contrast to returning soldiers who have to adjust to changes in humanity and the struggles with the changes, very interesting how Science Fiction writers explored changes humanity, recommend old Man War John Scalzi
Joseph Nizolek
2024-06-24 02:51:25 +0000 UTCJoe Haldeman is one of my favorite writers of all time. I am so PUMPED that you've picked this one. Looking forward to it! I have so many thoughts. I'm guessing you'll spend some time in your video exploring the SF element of time dilation, both as it applies to fighting a superior enemy that may have the benefit of coming from "later" in the conflict, AND as it's used metaphorically to frame the alienation of the soldier returning home to a truly different planet than the one they left. (Not a question, exactly, but a topic to hit if you didn't already get to it.) As for other war-themed SF to look at... I actually like Forever Peace even better. Not a direct sequel, set in a different world, but playing with some of the same themes. Forever War was the book he wrote after coming back from Vietnam, and Forever Peace was written two decades later. You might also see if you can find a copy of Study War No More, a collection of short stories, edited by Haldeman, around the subject of "ending" war. Some of it's pretty dated, but there are some solid stories in there, and some interesting ideas being played with. Though he didn't deliberately (to my knowledge) set out to do this, his Forever War has long been considered a "response" to Heinlein's rah-rah Starship Troopers (Heinlein, of course, liked to pick different political philosophies and explore each one in different books, so just b/c ST is fascist, doesn't mean Heinlein necessarily is). So it might be interesting to speak to the sort of argument people saw in the two books. Lastly, Naked to the Stars (written closer in time to ST than FW) by Gordon Dickson is another SF war novel following the same thread as FW would, though in a different way. Not his best book (Alien Way is my personal fave of his that I've read so far), but its heart is in a good place.
Benjamin Herson
2024-06-23 23:09:19 +0000 UTCIt's been ages since I read "The Forever War" but I remember that I was quite intrigued by the book and its premise. Do you know other sci-fi stories which deal with the relativity of time and space travel? What is your take on the sequels "The Forever Peace" (inferior imo) and "Forever Free" (got the e-book but never got around to reading it)? Other cynical war stories would be George R.R. Martin's "Weekend in a War Zone", Frank Herbert's "Cease Fire", and of course Heinlein's "Starship Troopers"
Ten.Tacle
2024-06-23 20:25:43 +0000 UTCJohn Steakley’s “Armor” is a nice book to contrast with Haldeman.
Christopher Weuve
2024-06-23 19:50:05 +0000 UTC
