Uploaded December 2014 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
“When I came back from Vietnam, I knew I was going to be a writer; that was it,” says Joe Haldeman, author of the seminal work of science fiction, The Forever War. Drafted in 1967, Haldeman fought in Vietnam and was awarded several medals, including a Purple Heart. He has since published over two dozen novels, short story collections, and poems, and won multiple awards, including the Nebula, Hugo, Locus, and World Fantasy Awards.
Now, Joe Haldeman shares how his experiences in combat led to his desire to write—and to write science fiction. “I wrote constantly in Vietnam,” he says. “I was practicing for the novel that I wanted to write.” Regarded as one of the greatest military science fiction novels ever written, The Forever War is as relevant today as it was in the 1970s.
Take a look at the beginning of “the war that lasted forever."
“When I came back from Vietnam, I knew I was going to be a writer; that was it,” says Joe Haldeman, author of the seminal work of science fiction, The Forever War. Drafted in 1967, Haldeman fought in Vietnam and was awarded several medals, including a Purple Heart. He has since published over two dozen novels, short story collections, and poems, and won multiple awards, including the Nebula, Hugo, Locus, and World Fantasy Awards.
Now, Joe Haldeman shares how his experiences in combat led to his desire to write—and to write science fiction. “I wrote constantly in Vietnam,” he says. “I was practicing for the novel that I wanted to write.” Regarded as one of the greatest military science fiction novels ever written, The Forever War is as relevant today as it was in the 1970s.
Take a look at the beginning of “the war that lasted forever."
