Old Man's War

A second chance among the stars

John Perry did two things on his 75th birthday. First he visited his wife's grave. Then he joined the army. The good news is that man has reached the stars. On the other hand, there are few habitable planets - and many alien races fighting us for them. So humanity is at war. Far from Earth, brutal, bloody and unrelenting battles have raged for decades. Earth itself is safe. Most of its resources are in the hands of the Colonial Defence Force, and everyone knows that when it's time to retire, they can join in. KOS doesn't want young people, it wants people who have decades of experience and skills. Once you leave the Earth, you will never return. You will serve two years in combat, and if you survive, you can settle on one of the hard-won planets. John Perry grasps the opportunity. He thinks he knows what to expect. But a real fight, light years from home, is much harder, than he can imagine, and what he's gonna become, is even more surreal.