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# Looking for future wars
- URL: https://www.andrewliptak.com/military-science-fiction-ficint-mark-jacobsen/
- Published: 2023-08-17T16:03:32.000Z
- Updated: 2023-08-17T16:03:32.000Z
- Description: An excellent look on the opportunities and challenges of FicInt
- Author: Andrew Liptak
- Tags: Military SF, Science Fiction

Military science fiction is a topic that I'm personally interested in. Back in 2014, I co-edited *War Stories: New Military Science Fiction* with Jaym Gates, and I've written about it extensively over the years since, particular with an eye toward how militaries and leaders have used science fiction as a way to imagine the future of warfare. 

One of the authors that we included in the anthology was [Mark Jacobsen](https://markdjacobsen.com/about-me/?ref=andrewliptak.com) (you can read his story, "The Wasp Keepers" [here](https://cimsec.org/wasp-keepers/?ref=andrewliptak.com)), who's had an exciting and ecclectic career in the military since. He recently wrote an excellent paper about the growing trend of military fiction imagining a conflict between the US and China: "The Uses and Limits of Speculative Fiction: Three Novels about a US–China War."

[The Uses and Limits of Speculative Fiction: Three Novels about a US–China WarThis book review critically examines three recent speculative fiction novels that depict a hypothetical war between the United States and China: Ghost Fleet, 2034, and White Sun![](https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/Portals/10/SiteAssets/images/Prop-Wings.ico?ver=eMdgbHgj4bSBexGXAASWAg%3d%3d)Air University (AU)JACOBSEN, MARK D Col USAF AETC AWC/DEI![](https://media.defense.gov/2023/Aug/11/2003279588/2000/2000/0/230811-F-YT915-001.JPG)](https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/JIPA/Display/Article/3490715/the-uses-and-limits-of-speculative-fiction-three-novels-about-a-uschina-war/?ref=andrewliptak.com)

Jacobsen looks at three recent books (and cites one of my pieces!): P.W. Singer and August Cole's *[Ghost Fleet](https://bookshop.org/a/6134/9780544705050?ref=andrewliptak.com)*, James Stavridis and Elliot Ackerman's *[2034](https://bookshop.org/a/6134/9781984881274?ref=andrewliptak.com)*, and Mick Ryan's *[White Sun War](https://bookshop.org/a/6134/9781636242507?ref=andrewliptak.com),* and through them, looks broadly at the opportunities and pitfalls inherent in using fiction as a tool for imagining the future of war. It's a good, critical look at each book, and he notes that "if military speculative fiction authors wish to shape tomorrow’s military leaders and influence real-world policy discussions, the quality of their ideas matters." He points out some of the issues with each book in turn: it's a good reminder that these books and thought-experiments are tools, rather than proscriptions or roadmaps for what lies ahead.

Some further reading on this topic:  
\- [How the US military uses sci-fi to imagine the future of war](https://www.andrewliptak.com/military-scifi-future-of-war-ficint-writing-warfare/)  
\- [The \[AI\]nformation battlespace](https://www.andrewliptak.com/the-ai-nformation-battlespace/)  
\- [Imagining the breakdown](https://www.andrewliptak.com/cybersecurity-ransomware-national-security-ghost-fleet-burn-in-2034/)  
\- [New ways of war](https://www.andrewliptak.com/new-model-army-adam-roberts-military-science-fiction/)