Science Fiction and Fantasy Authors Who Served in the Military, and How it Changed Their Work

io9 ^ | January 30, 2013 | Charlie Jane Anders

[EveningStar]

So much of science fiction's core topics intersect with war, one way or the other. Rapid social change and technological innovation both get supercharged during wartime, and some of our greatest explorers are also warriors. So it's not surprising that many of science fiction's most well-known authors served in the military at some point — especially during the era when we had a compulsory draft.

But how did serving in the military shape these writers' books? Here's a look at 15 of the authors who served in the armed forces, and how their work reflects that experience.

[katana]

You mean Isaac Azimov (don't know this Astrinov fellow)? But I did come across this picture of L. Sprague de Camp, Robert Heinlein, and Isaac Asimov at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1944 (where Azimov was a civilian worker). Heinlein was a 1920 Annapolis graduate and De Sprague was a Naval Reserve officer.

[Phlyer]

ping - and thanks

[jagusafr]

Absolutely. Movie was a travesty.

[Buckeye McFrog]

touting ElRon's great achievements as a naval officer

Inspired Tim Conway's character on McHale's Navy?

[DoodleDawg]

bump

[ArrogantBustard]

Nah, it’s the novel where only military veterans can vote because they’re the only one’s that have proven they will sacrifice themselves for their country.

And we know that works, because the author SAID SO.

Authors of fiction have immense, godlike powers ...

Must be nice.

[ArrogantBustard]

He sank a midget sub, doncha know ...

[zeugma]

Good to see David Drake and John Ringo listed. They write some of the best military SF out there. The Posleen War series is excellent. Just about anything by Drake is worth reading.

[SevenofNine]

OH really

I didn’t know about that

I hear about ROd Serling reason that he did TZ is get war demons out of his system created good TV programming too

[Borges]

Jack Vance is actually still alive. He turned 96 in August.

[Some Fat Guy in L.A.]

I have always been fond of A. Bertram Chandler’s John Grimes stories - I believe he was Aussie Navy.

[dljordan]

Thanks! I’ve read all these authors but I didn’t know about Tolkien’s experience. Hammer’s Slammers, great stuff.

[Lee N. Field]

Apparently the Navy made L. Ron Hubbard want to become a megalomaniac cult leader?

There's some interesting stuff about L. Ron and friends in Wm. Patterson's Heinlein biography. (Only the first volume is out now, covering RAH's life up to when he married Ginny after WWII.) They were all part of or associated with, for a while, Jack Parsons' little wannabe Crowley-ite cult. (Old Aliester didn't think much of them.)

Google up "Babalon working".

[Lee N. Field]

I love Heinlein’s work too, but not without some reservations. His later work seemed to be all about sexual freedom, which is a topic that interests me little.

Read Patterson's biography. RAH was a sexual libertine his whole life, just very private about it.

[Lee N. Field]

Glad to see J.R.R. Tolkien topped the list!

C. S. Lewis could be in the list too. He was a WWI vet.

[Lee N. Field]

Heinlein was a 1920 Annapolis graduate and De Sprague was a Naval Reserve officer.

Pretty awful young, given that he was born in '07. (I think he was class of '28 or '29. Spent a few years in the Navy before catching TB and being retired.)

[Oberon]

Not surprising. I’d already figured as much from his later books.

[Oztrich Boy]

I have always been fond of A. Bertram Chandler’s John Grimes stories - I believe he was Aussie Navy.

British, Australian & New Zealand Merchant Navy (The British MN would have included war service)

[Ransomed]

I know, the cool thing is he has been giving interviews in the last few years to sci-fi bloggers.

He really has some awesome stories. Like he was really good buddies with Herbert when he was coming up with Dune, but that he has never read it. He still plays kazoo and banjo, but has been blind since the early 90’s.

Jack Vance is very under rated, he is awesome. Michael Chabon and Dan Simmons are huge fans, Chabon said ‘“Jack Vance is the most painful case of all the writers I love who I feel don’t get the credit they deserve. If ‘The Last Castle’ or ‘The Dragon Masters’ had the name Italo Calvino on it, or just a foreign name, it would be received as a profound meditation, but because he’s Jack Vance and published in Amazing Whatever, there’s this insurmountable barrier.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/19/magazine/19Vance-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Here’s his fairly new website:

http://www.jackvance.com/

Freegards

[LexRex in TN]

Ringo wrote a great book “The Last Centurion” about the post apocalyptic world. Wonderful reading.