Joe Haldeman

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Joe Haldeman

22 Quotations from Joe Haldeman

Aldebaranian n. 1 1972 J. Haldeman Hero in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact June ii. 13/2 [O]ne day a drone did come limping back alone. Its data were analyzed, and it turned out that the colonists’ ship had been pursued by another vessel and destroyed. This happened near Aldebaran, in the constellation Taurus, but since ‘Aldebaranian’ is a little hard to handle, they named the enemy Taurans.
darkside n. 1 1974 J. Haldeman Forever War (1976) 11 The last two weeks of your training will consist of constructing exactly that kind of a base, on darkside.
Earthside adv. 1974 J. Haldeman Forever War (1976) 14 But I’d like to reinforce a couple of points, maybe add some things your instructors Earthside weren’t clear about or couldn’t know.
gafiation n. 2003 J. Haldeman Matrix As Sci-Fi in Exploring Matrix 179 To the best of my knowledge, no one has yet tried to explain the movie through the obscure mythology of science-fiction fandom, where a ‘neo’ is someone who has been touched by the magic of the thing but has yet to learn its language and tropes—the dirty pros and smofs, the power of fiawol and the dread of gafiation.
gee n. 2 1974 J. W. Haldeman Forever War (1977) 9 The whole trip took three weeks, accelerating at two gees halfway.
gee n. 2 1974 J. Haldeman Forever War (1976) 186 We launched a pre-programmed drone that would decelerate at 300 gees and take a preliminary look around.
Gernsbackian adj. 2001 J. Haldeman Foreword in G. A. Landis Impact Parameter xi The small wry ‘Ouroboros’ does take an ancient Gernsbackian concept, but makes it eerily real by applying modern but mundane computer technology to it.
group mind n. 1999 J. Haldeman Forever Free 88 But their group mind hooked up with the Tauran group mind, and the Taurans said absolutely no. It was too dangerous—not to us, but to them.
jump n. 1974 J. Haldeman Forever War (1976) 185 From Kaph-35 we jumped to Samk-78, from there to Ayin-129 and finally to Sade-138. Most of the jumps were no more than a few hundred light years, but the last one was 140,000—supposedly the longest collapsar jump ever made by a manned craft.
jump v. 1974 J. Haldeman Forever War (1976) 185 From Kaph-35 we jumped to Samk-78, from there to Ayin-129 and finally to Sade-138. Most of the jumps were no more than a few hundred light years.
light-hour n. 1974 J. Haldeman Forever War (1976) 204 They wheeled around to intercept the second cruiser, by then a few light-hours away, still being harassed by fifteen enemy drones.
off-planet adv. 1974 J. Haldeman Forever War (1976) 163 Earth’s population is stable at just under a billion. When one person dies or goes offplanet, another is quickened.
omniverse n. 1990 J. Haldeman Hemingway Hoax in Asimov’s Science Fiction Apr. 156 They die all up and down the Omniverse, every timespace.
pressor n. 1974 J. W. Haldeman in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact Nov. 143/2 A powerful pressor field kept out large predators and such insect life as was not necessary for the health of the plants inside.
pressor n. 1974 J. W. Haldeman in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact Nov. 145/2 We both began swimming for an hour or so every clear day, in the calm, pressor-guarded water off the beach.
slidewalk n. 1974 J. Haldeman Forever War (1976) 127–8 We could have taken the enclosed slidewalk but instead walked alongside it in the good cold air that smelled of fallen leaves.
spacefaring adj. 1970 J. Haldeman Time Piece in Worlds of If July–Aug. 46/1 Strange for a spacefaring, aggressive race to be so uncurious about planetary environments.
stasis field n. 1974 J. Haldeman Forever War (1976) 177 I couldn’t begin to understand the principles behind the stasis field; the gap between present-day physics and my master’s degree in the same subject was as long as the time that separated Galileo and Einstein.
torch n. 1973 J. W. Haldeman in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact Nov. 146/2 They transferred cargo to a spidery tachyon-torch shuttle, then zipped to the moon, setting down at Grimaldi base.
unsuit v. 1972 J. W. Haldeman in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact June 22/1 After a lot of shuffling around, everybody finally got plugged in and we were allowed to unsuit, ninety-seven naked chickens squirming out of bright green eggs.
viewscreen n. 1999 J. Haldeman Forever Free 99 Max stuck his hand out and I gave him the pistol. He aimed it at the viewscreen over the keyboard and fired… The result was pretty dramatic. There was more hole than viewscreen.
wormhole n. 1974 J. Haldeman Forever War (1976) 176 The human navigator only came into the picture if a miscalculation popped you into the wrong ‘wormhole,’ and you popped out in some random part of space.