Joe Haldeman - A Separate War and Other Stories

Introduction: The Secret to Writing, copyright 2005 by Joe Haldeman.

A Separate "War appeared in Far Horizons, copyright 1999 by Joe Haldeman.

Diminished Chord appeared in Renaissance Faire, copyright 2005 by Joe Haldeman.

Giza appeared in the March 2003 Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, copyright 2003 by Joe Haldeman.

Foreclosure appeared in the Oct/Nov 2005 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, copyright 2005 by Joe Haldeman.

Four Short Novels first appeared in English in the Oct/Nov 2003 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, copyright 2003 by Joe Haldeman. It was first published in French as Quatre courts roman in Destination 3001, in 2000.

For White Hill appeared in Far Futures, copyright 1995 by Joe Haldeman.

Finding My Shadow appeared in Stars, copyright 2003 by Joe Haldeman.

Civil Disobedience appeared in Future Washington, copyright 2005 by Joe Haldeman.

Memento Mori appeared in Amazing, copyright 2004 by Joe Haldeman.

Faces appeared in the June 2004 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, copyright 2004 by Joe Haldeman.

Heartwired appeared in the 24 March 2005 issue of Nature, copyright 2005 by Joe Haldeman.

Brochure appeared in the May 2000 issue of Nature, copyright 2000 by Joe Haldeman.

Out of Phase appeared in the September 1969 issue of Galaxy, copyright 1969 by Joe Haldeman.

Power Complex appeared in the September 1972 issue of Galaxy, copyright 1972 by Joe Haldeman.

Fantasy for Six Electrodes and One Adrenaline Drip, copyright 2005 by Joe Haldeman.

Notes on the Stories, copyright 2005 by Joe Haldeman.

Ace Books by Joe Haldeman

FOREVER PEACE
FOREVER FREE
THE COMING
GUARDIAN
CAMOUFLAGE
OLD TWENTIETH
A SEPARATE WAR AND OTHER STORIES

THE BERKLEY PUBLISHING GROUP
Published by the Penguin Group
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Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

Copyright 2006 by Joe Haldeman
For a complete listing of individual copyrights, please see page 270.

All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the authors rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
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First edition: August 2006

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Haldeman, Joe W.

A separate war and other stories / Joe Haldeman.1st ed.

p. cm.

ISBN 0-441-01407-0 (hardcover)

1. Science fiction, American. 1. Title.

PS3558.AA353S47 2006

813' .54dc22

2006006120

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

For my students, MIT and Clarion;
may their ideas be just crazy enough.

Contents

The first time I ever met Joe Haldeman

Thats how youre supposed to begin these things, isnt it? With an anecdote about how you first met? But, as is the case with many of my favorite authors, the first time I ever met Joe Haldeman was in the aisles of the public library, where I found his wonderful novel, The Forever War.

I read science fiction avidly all through my teenage years, beginning with Robert A. Heinlein, so Id already read Time for the Stars and Starship Troopers and lots and lots of science fiction about faster-than-light travel and futuristic soldiers and intergalactic war.

But I had never read anything like this. The Forever War was a riveting adventure story about a threatening and exciting future, the very stuff of science fiction, but it was much more than that. It actually tried to deal with all the complexities, horrors, and paradoxes of war. (Some critics see the book as a rebuttal to Starship Troopers, and I definitely think it is, but thats only one aspect of the book.) It was filled with ironybecause of the time jumps involved, a soldier could find himself obsolete during the course of a single war, or a single battle, and eternally separated from the things he was ostensibly fighting forand compassion for the human condition without an ounce of sentimentality.

But it was still unmistakably a science-fiction novel, which used a standard SF devicethe relativistic effects of faster-than-light space travelas a metaphor for the displacement and alienation of soldiers returning to a society with which they can no longer connect. And it was an adult novel, in the best sense of the word, which didnt flinch at harsh realities or harsher conclusions about who and what we are as a species and what sort of universe it is we inhabit.

In short, it was an amazing book, and an unforgettable one. In the years since I first read it, Ive thought of it often, most recently when I read about the lack of armor for the soldiers in Iraq. (In The Forever War, the collapsar time jumps the soldiers make can render their weapons and armor fatally outdated.) More than anything else Ive ever read or seen, it gave me insight into the Vietnam War and the experience of the soldiers who were there (Joe was wounded in the war, where he served as a combat engineer). And all wars before and since.

The war novel it most reminded (and reminds) me of is Erich Maria Remarques All Quiet on the Western Front, and thats the highest compliment I can pay it. I fell completely in love with it, immediately read all the Joe Haldeman I could find, and hoped someday Id be lucky enough to meet him in person.

A few years later I did, and fell in love all over again. This is not always the case. Meeting authors you admire is often disillusioning and sometimes disastrous. But Joe Haldeman was everything his stories had led me to believe he would beintelligent, thoughtful, charming, and funny.

And gracious. Hes nice to everyone, fans and students (he teaches writing at MIT) and fellow writers alike, and theres not an ounce of nasty competitiveness in him. He was wonderful to me the first time I met him (I was awestruck and awkward and, as I recall, gushed something eloquent like, Oh, gosh, Mr. Haldeman, I love your books!), and every time since, and I consider myself lucky to be a friend of his. And extraordinarily lucky to have been allowed to present him a richly deserved Nebula Award.