In a wonderful bit of news, Joe Haldeman has been named by the SFWA as a Grand Master.

Joe Haldeman will be honored as the next Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master for 2010 by Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. The Grand Master represents SFWA’s highest accolade and recognizes excellence for a lifetime of contributions to the genres of science fiction and fantasy.

This is a well-deserved award, as Joe Haldeman has written a number of excellent novels and short stories. Lots of people are going to take this opportunity to recommend Joe Haldeman’s The Forever War, which I would recommend as well. However, you’d be better served by reading his thematic follow-up (not a sequel), Forever Peace, which is a much more interesting (and depressingly realistic) look at a post-scarcity society than some post-Singularity wankery. It also contains a note of hope in the idea that humans might be able to use technology to make themselves less inclined to butcher their fellow men. Naturally, the heroes who attempt to do this find themselves targets.

At any rate, Haldeman writes good stuff, and you should read it. That is all.