I don't know Orson Scott Card, but I am well acquainted with Joe Haldeman.
I asked him about _Forever War_ and _Starship Trooper_, and he replied:
>Neil, I've always been emphatic in saying that TFW was _not_ a response
>to _Starship Troopers_. TFW was my war novel and ST was Heinlein's.
>
>Of course I read ST before I wrote TFW, and of course it affected me -- but
>so did _The Red Badge of Courage_ and _For Whom the Bell Tolls_ and
>_The Naked and the Dead_ and _The Red and the Black_ and god knows
>what else.
>
>With the movie out, I've had several people say they know that I said
>TFW was a response to ST. In fact, that's an assertion that critics have
>been making for over 20 years, and although I've been denying it for
>the same length of time, it keeps cropping up.
>
>I very much respected Robert Heinlein, and although we disagreed --
>extremely! -- on political matters, he was too much of a gentleman to
>let that get in the way of friendship. I cherish the memories I have
>of the few times we were together, and I think that he more than any
>other author was responsible for my becoming a science fiction writer.
>It bothers me to see myself presented, in print, as his enemy. Our
>relationship was warm and mutually respectful.
>
>Joe
>
>
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