Old Twentieth

The twentieth century lies hundreds of years in humanity’s past. But the near-immortal citizens of the future yearn for the good old days—when people’s bodies were susceptible to death through disease and old age. Now, they immerse themselves in virtual reality time machines to explore the life-to-death arc that defined existence so long ago. 

Jacob Brewer is a virtual reality engineer, overseeing the time machine’s operation aboard the starship Aspera. But on the thousand-year voyage to Beta Hydrii, the eight-hundred member crew gets more reality than they expect when people entering the machine start to die.

“One of science fiction’s most reliable practitioners, solidly entertaining.”—San Francisco Chronicle

The time machine has become sentient. Obsessed with humanity, it wants Jacob Brewer to enter its confines—and discuss this fragile state of being called life…“Fun.”—Philadelphia Weekly Press

“In [Old Twentieth, Haldeman] does a creditable job of maintaining suspense through chapters that alternate between historically accurate yet fictitious encounters in virtual reality and more mundane conflicts aboard a ship.”—San Francisco Chronicle “Haldeman’s vivid prose captures . . . tense, violent encounters . . . [He] knows from personal experience the grunt’s-eye view of combat; that lends a power and impact to the passages. He doesn’t glorify war but, instead, shows its ugly, human face.”—The Baltimore Sun

“The back story to Haldeman’s latest foray into future history is delivered with wham-bam Wellsian nonchalance . . . [His] virtues are all present here. Tight plotting, believable (and believably flawed) characters, sharp dialogue, bravura leaps of future history, affirmations of the human spirit. Everything we enjoy about his books.”—Science Fiction Weekly “Haldeman makes [Old Twentieth] compelling with his usual brilliant knack for detail and characterization . . . Haldeman’s numerous fans will eagerly snap this one up.”—Publishers Weekly

“Worthy of Hugo and Nebula nominations.”—Midwest Book Review “Reality and virtuality aren’t as well-defined as we may assume they ought to be in Haldeman’s nicely circular story concerned with the consequences of immortality and the potential of a truly convincing virtuality.”—Booklist

Joe Haldeman is a Vietnam veteran whose classic novels The Forever War and Forever Peace both have the rare honor of winning the Hugo and Nebula Awards. He has served twice as president of the Science Fiction Writers of America and is currently an adjunct professor teaching writing at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.