'Going back to some basic theme'

 

“I think any writer keeps going back to some basic theme. Sometimes it's autobiographical. I guess it usually is” – Joe Haldeman

 

Born in Oklahoma City on this date in 1943, Sci-Fi writer Haldeman is best known for his novels The Forever War, The Hemingway Hoax and Forever Peace.  In 2009 he was selected for the Science Fiction Writers of America Grand Master Award, followed in 2010 by the Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award for Lifetime Achievement.  He was inducted into The Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2012.

 

Many of Haldeman's works, including his debut novel War Year and The Forever War (his second book), were inspired by his experiences in the Vietnam War, where he was wounded, and by adjusting to civilian life after returning home.   

 

“I think I would have been a writer, anyhow, in the sense of having written a story every now and then, or writing poetry,” Haldeman said.   “But it was the war experience and the two novels I wrote about Vietnam that really got me started as a professional writer.”   Now the author of 29 novels, half-dozen   works of short fiction, and a poetry collection, he also has edited several Sci-Fi anthologies.                  

 

Haldeman is noted for writing all his works by hand, using a notepad and fountain pen. “I like the physical action of writing down by hand,” he said. “And I don't just use it for writing my fiction.”