I like many military sci-fi stories. In fact, almost all of my favourite sci-fi authors have written military sci-fi stories of one stripe or another… The Forever War by Haldeman, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Heinlein, Old Man’s War by Scalzi… the list is extensive. Even some of my newer favourites (Chamber’s Long Way to a Small Angry Planet and Leckie’s Ancillary Justice) have an element of military sci-fi in them.
But at the same time, I don’t like military fiction as a general rule. The new Top Gun movie is going to be a pass for me because I see it as transparent military recruiting jingoism. I’ve read a few of Clancy’s books, and they’re fine, but they lose something by being… realistic? If that makes any sense?
It’s a weird line to walk. My current work has a protagonist that’s a starfighter pilot (and her partner, a starfighter mechanic), but it’s so divorced from the concept of the military being an absolute of any type that I don’t have issues with that. The military isn’t absolutely good, but it’s also not absolutely evil. It’s an arm of the government, and that means it’s complicated.
But I could be rightly called out for the hypocrisy of this position because, honestly, it’s subjective rather than objective. I like reading about starships exploding and laser swords and waves of droids fighting hordes of clones. I can identify the problematic elements of it, but I still enjoy it. And I don’t think there is anything intrinsically wrong with that… we should always be critical of the media we love.
Hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy!