A Separate War and Other Stories
Forward by Connie Willis
by Joe Haldeman
I'd like to offer this book as witness for the defense next time I hear someone speak a bit superciliously of just
SF and how they never read it, as if being SF makes it somehow inherently unworthy. This is a collection of carefully
crafted, thought-provoking stories by someone who is indeed a SF writer, but for whom the writer part of that label
is clearly as important as the SF. And the SF portion is very important - Haldeman is a multiple award winner who is
considered one of the best current writers of hard SF. If you haven't read him yet, try this collection to get a
glimmering why.
The stories range from his first SF sale, "Out of Phase", to "Civil Disobedience", with underpinnings straight out
of recent headlines. "Out of Phase" may date back to 1969, but it still offers an alien viewpoint that strikes chilling
chords of relevance with too much of today's world. That's what Haldeman does - looks dispassionately at the different
sorts of problems people of any species might face (and have likely brought on themselves, at least in part), while
writing about them sympathetically enough that the reader feels invested and involved in what's happening, however
alien. Had landlord problems? Just wait until you read "Foreclosure". The result is usually pretty thought-provoking,
but not in a crude "bang you over the head with it, you WILL take notice" fashion. Instead it's a matter of
offering interesting problems and solutions and approaches to them in a manner that makes it simply impossible not
to think about them.
The writing is as smoothly readable (befitting someone who also teaches writing) as the stories themselves are
interesting. There's really only one I didn't like, in large part because I don't enjoy short stories written as
scripts. The collection is nicely rounded out with bookend glimpses into the mind of the writer, with notes about
the individual stories at the end, and a more general introduction subtitled "The Secret of Writing" at the
beginning. Highly recommended. |
The Book |
Ace |
August 1, 2006 |
Hardcover |
0-441-01407-0 |
SF (short stories) |
More
at Amazon.com |
Excerpt |
NOTE: Hugo and Nebula award winning author |
The Reviewer |
Kim Malo |
Reviewed 2006 |
NOTE: |
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