War – Page 2 – Robert Raymond’s Blogtorium

February 2, 2025

The Forever War (Review)

‘d read this so many years ago (pretty much when it came out) that I finally remembered it about half-way through this pass. The “soap bubble” air defenses – I remembered that. The Forever War was written by Joe Haldeman, a Vietnam vet, just after that pointless war ended. And it has a lot of the national angst that rocked us when it finally did shut down. Other than recent politics (and like the War in Forever, is comprised of half-truths and misconceptions), never had the nation been so divided. Haldeman captures that (hell, he was living it) in this […]

April 6, 2025

The War of the Wenuses (Review)

o one would have believed in the first years of the twentieth century that men and modistes* on this planet were being watched by intelligences greater than women’s and yet as ambitious as her own. With infinite complacency maids and matrons went to and fro over London, serene in the assurance of their empire over man. It is possible that the mysticetus** does the same. Not one of them gave a thought of it only to dismiss the idea of active rivalry upon it as impossible or improbable. * = a man who designs women’s clothing. ** = a sub-species […]

August 31, 2025

The Last World War (Review)

ince I now have $500 in store credit at a used bookstore, I decided I had to start spending, so yes, I got a new (used) book. The Last World War was published in 2003 by Dayton Ward. In it, aliens engaged in a civil war find a portal technology that allows them access to Earth (no messy spaceships or giant Martian guns to muck around with). Just walk on through like a door frame (more on this in a bit). One of the portals pops open in a Marine training base in the midwest, where reservists are engaged in […]

September 7, 2025

Embers of War (Review)

kay, it’s the reader’s osculation, I suppose, for lack of a better phrase. You read a bad book and limp to the conclusion, then follow it with a good book, which becomes a delight (perhaps, in no small part, by comparison). But after limping through a mediocre book, I hit on Gareth L. Powell’s Embers of War and suddenly I have a book I found myself making time for. This story is told from various points of view and begins when five battle cruisers (the Trouble Dog among them – they form a pack of human/canine stem-celled AI to control their ships) […]