Science fiction focused on military operations, warfare, and the lives of soldiers in futuristic or speculative settings.
Military science fiction centers war and the military experience in a speculative context. It follows soldiers, commanders, and strategists through future conflicts, exploring how advanced technology changes warfare while examining the timeless human experiences of combat: camaraderie, trauma, duty, sacrifice, and the moral weight of killing. The genre ranges from action-focused space battles to introspective examinations of what war does to people.
Military SF teaches you to write group dynamics under pressure, tactical problem-solving, and the physical and emotional reality of conflict. Even if you're not writing military fiction, these skills transfer to any story involving teams, danger, or high-stakes cooperation. It's also a commercially strong category with a dedicated readership.
The genre's foundational text, exploring citizenship, duty, and the military experience through powered-armor infantry.
A Vietnam veteran's response to Starship Troopers, using time dilation to show how war alienates soldiers from the society they fight for.
Elderly recruits given young bodies to fight an interstellar war, mixing military action with philosophical questions about identity.
Write a scene from the perspective of a soldier facing a tactical problem that their training didn't prepare them for. The technology should matter (it creates or constrains their options), but the scene should ultimately be about the human decision under pressure.