Because of these several impediments, as well as other technical difficulties, you will find typos and occasional replication of text. In our humble opinion, typos show that the logs are of *live* chats, not canned interviews, and minimal editing of these logs has taken place.

[John] Welcome Mr. Haldeman!
[Haldeman] se my lousy typinghello hello -- excud
[Ken_of_the_White_Crane] Hello, sir.
[Lexx_Rules] hi
[Cybling] BTW, folks...our guests are working on a small laptop...so excuse typos.
[Cybling] If you have questions for our guest, please just ask. But please, let the guest answer one question before you ask another.
[Cybling] Joe, you've won both Hugos and Nebulas. How many of each, may I ask?
[Haldeman] five hugos & four nebs
[Cybling] Wow!
[Ryan] Zoiks!
[Haldeman] onr of each is all anyoner needs ;...
[Cybling] Now the Hugos are awarded by the fans at WorldCons, and Nebulas are given by the SFWA?
[Haldeman] that's right ... mosdt of us value the hugos higher because of that
[Cybling] Ah. The SFWA, btw, is the professional association for Science Fiction Writers.
[Cybling] Joe...you have a new book coming out Forever Free. It's a follow-up novel?
[Haldeman] Yes, a sequel to TFW.
[Cybling] And btw, folks, Joe usually writes with a fountain pen.
[John] Messy
[Haldeman] simple, though.
[I_love_Lexx] how do i ask a question
[Cybling] The Forever War featured folks who worked as tactical units in robotic suits.
[Ken_of_the_White_Crane] ((you just did.
*smiles))
[John] Do you enjoy meeting fans online as well as in person?
[Cybling] Lexx...just type your question into the chat screen.
[I_love_Lexx] oh
[I_love_Lexx] heh
[Haldeman] sure ... don't have to dress up online
[Cybling] LOL!
[John] Now, there is an image!
[I_love_Lexx] Haldeman, what do you think of Lexx the series?
[Haldeman] Afraid I don't know what you mean.
[John] How long have you been writing?
[Haldeman] 30 years
[I_love_Lexx] aah ok
[John] WOW
[Haldeman] 30 years
[John] Do you have a fovorite novel?
[Haldeman] Its like askimg if you hsve a fsvorite child
[I_love_Lexx] what kind of things do you teach Joe?
[Haldeman] Various novels for various reasons
[Haldeman] I teachy science fiction writing and genre writing.
[Haldeman] teach, that is.
[Cybling] Joe, you also have combat experience... have you drawn heavily on that for your novels?
[I_love_Lexx] oh neat
[Haldeman] Yes for four of them.
[Haldeman] War Year, the Forever War, 1968 and ...
[Haldeman] Forever Peach.
[Haldeman] Peace, lol. Sorry.
[Cybling] If you have questions for our guest, please just ask. But please, let the guest answer one question before you ask another.
[Cybling] Sorry folks...playing musical chairs here.
[Cybling] Joe, you're on a panel yesterday...
[Cybling] Teaching the Writing of SF
[Cybling] Was that primarily to teachers at the convention?
[Haldeman] There were only about 8 teachers when we called for hands.
[Cybling] Don't Ever Let Me Catch You Doing This
[Cybling] Is another panel that you're on. What shouldn't we be caught doing?
[Cybling] LOL
[Haldeman] Nobody has ever told me what the panel was about.
[Cybling] And this is really surprising...
[Haldeman] It happens often.
[Cybling] Joe, I see that you're scheduled for a Filk Concert? you do filk?
[Haldeman] Yes, I filk!
[Cybling] Which instrument do you play?
[John] COOL! What instrument?
[Haldeman] Mostly guitars.
[Cybling] LOL, tmta John.
[Cybling] Do you write the songs, and does Gay your sigoth assist?
[John] AH, how do you do the bar chords??? I threw my guitar out the window in frustration!!!
[Cybling] LOLOLOLOL!
[Haldeman] Yes, I write the songs and Gay is my music stand. She holds the words.
[Haldeman] John, I learned barre chords almost 40 years ago so they are very natural to me.
[John] Tell that to my fingers!
[Cybling] If you have questions for our guest, please just ask. But please, let the guest answer one question before you ask another.
[Cybling] Joe I wanted to ask you a little about The Forever War books. ...
[Cybling] I was under the impression (don't know where I got it)..;.
[Ryan] The more guests I see the more I hear about filking... It must be an addiction of a virus, it just keeps spreading taking over the souls of more and more people.
[Cybling] that there were not going to be any sequels.
[Ryan] s/of/or;
[Haldeman] I never thought I would write a sequel to the FOREVER WAR, but Robert Silverberg talked me into it.
[John] Does Silverberg Filk???
[Haldeman] No way in hell!
[Cybling] Follow up on Ryan and John, what got you into filking?
[Haldeman] That would be undignified.
[Haldeman] When I got into fandom, everybody sang.
[Cybling] so it was something that everyone had to learn how to do?
[Haldeman] Fandom is different now - people sang whether they were any good or not and there was no sense of performing. It was everybody having a good time.
[Cybling] Well I know that I enjoyed Forever Peace and Forever War. In those novels folks were horribly dislocated from their society and became attached to their combat group like a very intense family group. Do you find that's true in real life...
[Cybling] or would it really take a cyberlinnk to achieve that?
[Haldeman] Warfare is different now. With the Powell Doctrine in force, we're unlikely to fight any protacted wars.
[Cybling] Hmm...interesting.
[Cybling] May I ask which war/action you were involved in?
[Haldeman] I was inVietnam.
[Cybling] Okay. Tough one, that one. Thanks.
[Cybling] Massachusetts Institute of Technology is where you teach writing. Just SF writing?
[Haldeman] SF writing, genre writing and SF literature.
[Cybling] Excellent...so you cover fantasy and horror as well?
[Haldeman] I cover fantasy other than heroic fantasy, and a lot of horror.
[Cybling] Do you feel that there is truly a had line between what we call Science Fiction and Fantasy?
[Cybling] Hard not had
[Haldeman] I think technically science fiction is a sub-genre of fantasy. So, the line is blurred.
[Cybling] Joe, do you prefer writing novels or shorter works?
[Haldeman] I prefer writing short works but there is really not much money in it. It would almost be impossible to make a living on short stories.
[Cybling] So in order to make money these days, an author really has to concentrate on novels ...
[Cybling] would it be a better idea for new writers...
[Cybling] to avoid the short-story to novel route?
[Haldeman] That's true, but short stories is still a good place to start for beginning writers.
[Cybling] So the old maxim still applies...
* Ken_of_the_White_Crane sits back, sips a coke and listens intently
[Cybling] submit to the magazines first, get a name then an agent, then sell the novel.
[Haldeman] Actually, Cybling, you shouldn't get an agent until you sold a novel on your own.
[Cybling] Okay...thanks. One less thing for a young author to worry about.
[Haldeman] Any agent who will take a client who has not sold a novel is not a very good agent.
[Cybling] that's an important thing to know.
[Haldeman] Sometimes you can be lucky, though, and find an agent who has just started out, and will become a good agent eventually.
[Cybling] Joe, I don't think I've asked this yet...when did Forever Free come out?
[Haldeman] FOREVER FREE came out last December.
[Cybling] So it's still available in hard back...is a paperback scheduled for release?
[Cybling] If you have questions for our guest, please just ask. But please, let the guest answer one question before you ask another.
[Haldeman] Yes, the paper back will be out soon.
[Cybling] No date?
[Cybling] Oh excellent.
[Haldeman] I think December.
[Cybling] Joe, have you written any
*how-to
* books for aspiring genre writers?
[Haldeman] No books, but articles every now and then. I have more or less a regular column on Galaxy Online.
[Cybling] that's great GalaxyOnline is the new web based magazine from Ben Bova right?
[Haldeman] That's right, Ben Bova is the editor.
[Cybling] Wonderful...how do you feel about publishing on the web?
[Haldeman] That's a lot of fun having your work appear a day after you've finished it.
[Cybling] http://www.galaxyonline.com/ is the url of that magazine, btw folks.
[Haldeman] Most web publishing doesn't pay enough to be serious. GalaxyOnline is an exception.
[Cybling] I've heard folks say, that after they've submitted their work to all the paying markets, and the semi-pro magazines... that it might then be wise to publish themselves online.
[Cybling] Do you think that there's a valid growing webzine market though?
[Haldeman] That sounds sensible to me.
[Haldeman] I don't know very much about the web publishing market.
[Cybling] Okay...
[Cybling] your column on GalaxyOnline is specifically about writing SF?
[Haldeman] No, it
[Haldeman] ... it's about anything I want to write about. Two of them have been about writing.
[Cybling] Excellent...so it's a pretty open forum for you.
[Haldeman] Yes, it's a wonderful opportunity. I can write literally about anything that I want.
[Cybling] Joe, I have to apologize for not following your career more closely...have you ever edited anthologies?
[Haldeman] I have edited about 5 anthologies, maybe six.
[Cybling] I have to ask...do you prefer writing or editing?
[Haldeman] I hate editing.
[Cybling] I've heard that it's particularly difficult rejecting a friend's work.
[Haldeman] That's a big part of it; you have to be pretty hard-nosed.
[Cybling] So even if they're a very very good friend, you still have to reject if it's not good enough.
[Haldeman] Fortunately, that's never happened to me. My anthologies haven't been "open" ones -- that is, people don't send stories that I have to evaluate.
[Cybling] Joe, do you have any advice for folks who are considering collaborating with another author ... writing wise, not as an editor to a writer.
[Haldeman] It's a matter of personality. I find that I don't collaborate well. But some people, like my brother Jack, prefer writing with other people.
[Cybling] Interesting....so it's a very isolated type of job for you.
[Haldeman] Yes, I like working alone. It's one of the real attractions of writing.
[Cybling] Since you hold down teaching position...when do you find time to write with all the grading, editing, etc required in a writing course?
[Haldeman] I write very little while I am teaching; it's kind of a vacation for me. It's only 3 1/2 months out of the year.
[Cybling] So you write mostly during summer break...you must write awfully fast with that fountain pen.
[Haldeman] No, I only teach in the fall semester. After I had taught for 10 years, I realized that I wrote as many books as I had in he previous 10 years. So, I just kept teaching.
[Haldeman] he = the
[Cybling] Joe, when you first began writing there were quite a few pulp magazines available to submit work to. Do you find the shrinking number of genre magazines makes it harder for new authors to "break in"?
[Haldeman] Yes, but there is a compensating increase in the market for first novels. When I started out, there were only about 200 first novels published that year; now it's more like a thousand.
[Cybling] Yikes!
[Haldeman] 998 of them were bad.
[Cybling] That follows Sturgeons law, yes?
[Haldeman] Yep, Sturgeons Law squared.
[Cybling] For those of you who have never heard of Sturgeon's law...
[Cybling] 98% of SF is crap, but 98% of EVERYTHING is crap.
[Cybling] Or is that 99%?
[Forte] Hi! Greetings from southern IN. Been a long time since I've gotten to a Worldcon, 1979, this is almost as good. Was at MidAmerican, where a book called "Forever War" was a big hit. Can you tell us about upcoming projects?
[Haldeman] There is actually a logical fallacy in Sturgeons Law. If 90% of everything is crap, then of the 10% that's left over, 90% of that is crap too, and so on down the line.
[Haldeman] The novel I'm working on now is called LISTEN TO THE RAVEN. But I have another novel coming out this December which is called THE COMING. I just saw the cover painting for it, and it looks pretty good.
[Cybling] Oh Excellent!
[Cybling] folks...we've run 16 minutes over here.
[Haldeman] Thanks for listening/reading/chatting.
[Cybling] Folks....let's thank Joe Haldeman for joining us online!
* Cybling applauds!!!
* Ryan claps... Thanks for coming...
[Cybling] thanks so much Joe!
[Cybling] this was quite a thrill!!
[Ryan] Hehe.
[Ken_of_the_White_Crane] Yes, very entertaining guests.