I read this story when I was a little kid — it blew my mind.
My cousin Barry let me borrow a whole stack of Analog magazines from 1968-72, which included this issue, and I devoured them voraciously. That stack of magazines is a big part of my origin story as a science fiction fan.
That stack of magazines is a big part of my origin story as a science fiction fan.
And Barry never expressed much interest in having the magazines back, so I hung on to them. They may be somewhere in my house right now, 50+ years and 2,500 miles from where they started.
Those magazines were how I was introduced to Joe Haldeman — they included several of his early stories, including “Hero,” which became the opening of “The Forever War.” In much later life, Joe and his delightful wife Gay became friends.
Great cover, isn’t it?