[5] His family traveled and he lived in Puerto Rico, New Orleans, Washington, D.C., Bethesda (Maryland) and Anchorage (Alaska) as a child.

In 1975, he received a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop.

[15] His most famous novel is his second, The Forever War (St. Martin's Press, 1974), which was inspired by his Vietnam experiences and originated as his MFA thesis for the Iowa Writers' Workshop.

In 1975, two Attar novels were published as Pocket Books paperback originals under the pen name Robert Graham.

[1] Haldeman also wrote two of the earliest original novels based on the 1960s Star Trek television series universe, Planet of Judgment (August 1977) and World Without End (February 1979).

"Out of Phase" was published in the September 1969 Galaxy magazine, and "the other worked its way down to a penny-a-word market, Amazing Stories, and netted me all of $15 – but then years later it was adapted for The Twilight Zone, for fifty times as much.

... "[18] The Science Fiction Writers of America officers and past presidents selected Haldeman as the 27th SFWA Grand Master in 2009, and he received the corresponding Damon Knight Memorial Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement as a writer during Nebula Awards weekend in 2010.

[2] He is a lifetime member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), and past president.

[citation needed][19] His filk song "The Ballad of Stan Long (a sexist epic)" received a Pegasus Award in 2005.