Hello everyone!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We have an opportunity to speak with the famous science fiction author Joe Haldeman, multiple time Hugo winner and best known for the novel The Forever War. The interview will be available for everyone on April 30th when our next regular issue is published, but for our Patreon Patrons we wanted to present the entire interview early for your enjoyment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Interview led by our outreach manager J.D. Harlock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
J.D. Harlock: <\/strong>Can you tell us a bit about your background, what was the catalyst that got you started as a writer?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Joe Haldeman: <\/strong>I got started writing as a young boy through cartooning \u2014 my father brought home lots of yellow legal pads from the office, and I drew endless bad cartoons and comic strips.<\/p>\n\n\n\n J.D. Harlock: <\/strong>What\u2019s the the most meaningful experience to you as a writer so far?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Joe Haldeman: <\/strong>\u201cMost meaningful experience as a writer\u201d was winning the Hugo Award for Best Novel for THE FOREVER WAR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n J.D. Harlock: <\/strong>What would your ideal utopian world look like, if it could exist?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Joe Haldeman: <\/strong>My \u201cideal utopian world\u201d would be one where people understood what other people wanted, and placed a high priority on being sensitive to those wants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n J.D. Harlock:<\/strong> <\/strong><\/em>Robot Jox found an appreciative audience in the early 2010s and is now considered a cult classic. You once compared the film to a child that sustained brain damage. Now that it\u2019s been critically reevaluated, have your feelings on it changed, and how do you feel about the similarities to Pacific Rim?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Joe Haldeman: <\/strong>I didn\u2019t bother to see Pacific Rim, so I don\u2019t have any feelings about its similarity to Robot Jox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The metaphor \u2014 that I compared it to a child [of mine] who had sustained brain damage \u2014 is still valid. That is, I have some affection for it, but it\u2019s so far from my original ambition for the story that I hardly feel any connection to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (I\u2019m more charitable toward it now than I was at the time. I was the wrong writer for it. I aimed too high and was, paradoxically, too sophisticated. And too ignorant, not a promising combination.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n J.D. Harlock:<\/strong> You were friends with some of the great sf writers like Robert Heinlein and Gordon R. Dickson. Favorite memories?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Joe Haldeman: <\/strong> \u2014 I didn\u2019t really know Heinlein well; we met a few times and enjoyed each other\u2019s company. Spent a lot of time with Gordy Dickson, though, especially considering that we lived thousands of miles apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We were both often invited to be guests of honor at sf conventions, especially in the midwest. But he often came to visit us down in Florida, escaping the brutal winters in Minnesota.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (The only fish trophy in my house actually was caught by Gordy, a good-sized sailfish. Gordy and I chartered a boat out of Ponce Inlet, down by Daytona Beach, and in the course of working our way through a case of Heineken, he caught a big sailfish. I helped him bring it in \u2014 but when we arranged to have it stuffed and mounted, it turned out that Gordy\u2019s mother didn\u2019t want the big monster in her house! So Gay and I took \u201ctemporary\u201d possession, and still have it, thirty years later.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n J.D. Harlock: <\/strong>What would your dream project look like?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Joe Haldeman: <\/strong>\u2014 A stack of paper, an endless supply of ink for my fountain pen, and a desert island \u2014 one with ample shade and a comfortable place to sit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n J.D. Harlock:<\/strong> You wrote some of the earliest original Star Trek novels . . . can you tell us a little about what brought that about?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Joe Haldeman: <\/strong>\u2014 This is really simple. James Blish was writing the Star Trek novels, and he died. I wrote the editor, who was a mutual friend, and asked \u201cNow that Jim has died, who\u2019s doing the Star Trek novels?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cYou are,\u201d was the answer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I did two, but that was it. It was too much work for too little money.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Otherwise I might still be cranking them out!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n J.D. Harlock: <\/strong>What\u2019s your next big adventure planned?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Joe Haldeman:<\/strong> Our next “big” adventure is only a few hundred miles, driving down to the Florida Keys. We have an astronomy gathering near Big Pine Key, the Winter Star Party, and after that we’re going to put our feet up in Key West for a few days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n J.D. Harlock: <\/strong>It\u2019s been years since we last heard anything about The Forever War film adaptation. Channing Tatum was attached to the project and it was being scripted by Prometheus scribe Jon Spaihts. It seems to have fallen through, however. Why is that? And is anything being discussed behind the scenes to revive it?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Joe Haldeman:<\/strong> I don\u2019t have any idea why the Jon Spaihts script was turned down. I\u2019m not in that loop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n People mumble about doing a movie of The Forever War every now and then, but it\u2019s been years since anything serious (i.e. money) came along with the talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (The anti-war aspect of it was a powerful selling point in the past. Not such a big deal in post-Trump America.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n I suppose I\u2019m unlike most fiction writers in that I don\u2019t have any big ambition to do a movie. Been there, done that, got the teeshirt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s partly \u201cthe cobbler should stick to his last.\u201d I\u2019m pretty good at writing novels. No need for me to go out and prove that I\u2019m not good at doing something else.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Writing a movie was immensely interesting. We met lots of good people doing it \u2014 and a few who were \u201cinteresting\u201d rather than good. But it\u2019s a big machine to be a little cog in. I\u2019d rather write fiction and poetry.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n (I\u2019m sure it would\u2019ve been different if I\u2019d made millions at it. But in the years I was doing movie work, I actually made more with my books.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hello everyone! We have an opportunity to speak with the famous science fiction author Joe Haldeman, multiple time Hugo winner and best known for the novel The Forever War. The interview will be available for everyone on April 30th when our next regular issue is published, but for our Patreon Patrons we wanted to present […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_eb_attr":"","_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","ph_site_tiers_settings":[[]],"_ph_post_tiers":["prod_PauACsijbyVHUH","prod_Pau92U3RPjNgeu","prod_Pau8adHdjphPGS","prod_Pau7SM2pr6doK7","prod_Pau484GX1SAETo"],"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/utopiasciencefiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/utopiasciencefiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/utopiasciencefiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/utopiasciencefiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/utopiasciencefiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/utopiasciencefiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":275,"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/utopiasciencefiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274\/revisions\/275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/utopiasciencefiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/utopiasciencefiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/on.patronhunt.com\/utopiasciencefiction\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}