Forever Free

EDITORIAL REVIEW: The brilliant sequel to The Forever War, winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards. From Joe Haldeman, the all-time master of military science fiction, comes the new novel set in the universe of his Hugo and Nebula Award-winning classic The Forever War. An epic story about war, peace, and the price of freedom, Forever Free reintroduces readers to William Mandella--who has been living peacefully on the planet called Middle Finger, a refuge for humans who refuse to become part of the group mind known as Man. But after decades of this peace, Mandella and others are tired of living like zoo animals. So they steal a starship--and embark upon a voyage that will forever change their understanding of the universe...and themselves. From back cover Ace paperback November 2000: A veteran of The Forever War, William Mandella lives on the snow-covered planet set aside for his kind, supporting his family by ice-fishing and teaching physics. But now Mandella's life has become obsolete. The denizens of Earth have evolved into a group consciousness and taken control of his new home -- keeping its independent human inhabitants alive for the sake of their diverse gene pool. But that's not how Mandella and his fellow soldiers want to exist. So, in desperation, he rallies the humans to hijack a spaceship and take to the stars, to begin humanity anew... Then something goes wrong. The crew is forced to abandon ship -- and return home in suspended animation twenty-five years later. But the planet has aged centuries during their voyage -- and the crew wonders what new world awaits their arrival... Space travellers return to their planet after a long absence and find everyone gone. The intriguing aspect is the amount of clothing lying everywhere, as if people undressed before vanishing. The travellers head for Earth and find the same happened there After living as part of a group consciousness on the planet Middle Finger for decades, Mandella and other well-heeled humans grow tired of their safe existence, steal a starship, and head for Earth in search of adventure.