Baby wombat in a box? Yeah, we’ve got that.

Recently, I’ve been reading Forever Peace, by Joe Haldeman. This is sort of interesting, because I read that book 11 years ago, and now I can look at it with a slightly more mature perspective. Haldeman’s not the world’s greatest author—not all the characters are convincing, and some details of the sci-fi are too convenient—but the book still works. Every time the main characters’ human suffering and normal day-to-day trials are in the picture, the story rings true. When the shadowy bad guys and the details of the technological MacGuffins show up, the story starts to fray. Haldeman served in Vietnam, so he gets the confusion, nastiness, and camaraderie of combat right. Julian and Amelia’s relationship works too. It’s the rest of the plot that seems sketchy.

It’d be really interesting to see a studio and a director buy the rights to Forever Peace and turn it into a movie (or a cable miniseries) without changing much of the plot. I think this would be possible, though it might be financially infeasible. Or politically infeasible. . . Amelia is white, Julian is black, Julian’s ten years younger than Amelia, and that might irritate certain people. Anyway. I also wonder what the book would’ve been like if someone like Frederik Pohl had written it.

Ordered a new phone via the Net. It should arrive here early next week. I’ll have to use my old phone until then. . . how will I ever manage to survive?