"The Berserkers have been with me for about forty years, and we're not done yet"
About this Quote
The subtext is also commercial and cultural, in the best genre-fiction sense: this is a promise to readers who’ve invested decades in a universe that keeps expanding. Long-form sci-fi thrives on the idea that the future is never finished, and Saberhagen’s “we’re not done yet” lands like a rallying cry against the quiet expectations of closure. It refuses the neat, prestige-novel ending; it embraces the pulp engine that keeps generating new conflicts, new angles, new reinventions.
Context matters: the Berserker stories, built around relentless killing machines, are basically an allegory for runaway violence and automated war. Saying they’re still “with” him hints at a darker resonance: the theme hasn’t aged out because the world hasn’t. What reads as authorial confidence doubles as an uneasy truth about the persistence of the very forces his fiction warns about.
Quote Details
| Topic | Writing |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Saberhagen, Fred. (2026, January 15). The Berserkers have been with me for about forty years, and we're not done yet. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-berserkers-have-been-with-me-for-about-forty-143857/
Chicago Style
Saberhagen, Fred. "The Berserkers have been with me for about forty years, and we're not done yet." FixQuotes. January 15, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-berserkers-have-been-with-me-for-about-forty-143857/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The Berserkers have been with me for about forty years, and we're not done yet." FixQuotes, 15 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-berserkers-have-been-with-me-for-about-forty-143857/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.





