(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Books So Bad They're Good: The Return of John M. Ford (fall rewind) [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-10-19 The subject of tonight’s diary was supposed to be the legendary speculative fiction author Harlan Ellison and the fifty-year saga of his final work, an anthology entitled The Last Dangerous Visions , finally making it into print. The book came out a little over two weeks ago, and so far it’s excellent (the introductory essay by Ellison’s executor, J. Michael Straczynski, is worth the purchase price by itself, ditto Dan Simmons’ “The Last Pogrom,” which is all but certain to be up for all the awards next year). The problem is that a lot of these stories are genuinely dangerous : intense, plausible, and frightening. I’ve only been able to take one or two at a sitting, and if ever there was a book that deserved a measured, thoughtful review, it’s this one. So look for my take on The Last Dangerous Visions in a future diary. I will get to it, my hand to God; Ellison was one of the finest short story writers America has ever produced, and finally learning the reason for his professional and personal decline damn near broke my heart. I simply can’t do it right now, particularly if I want to do the book justice. To whet your appetite for my eventual diary on Ellison, here is a diary on a similar subject: John M. Ford, one of the best and most unusual speculative fiction writers of his day. His work is now coming back into print after far too long a hiatus, and his last book, Aspects , is definitely on my TBR list. Enjoy! %%%%% Recently I reacquainted myself with an old friend I'd never actually met. To be accurate, I began rereading the works of an author I'd loved in the 1980's, then stopped reading during the Bad Years when my marriage was breaking up, my family was dying, and it was struggle to make enough money to buy food, let alone books. I hadn't thought of the author, or the books, in a very long time, and had actually donated a couple of paperbacks that had originally been purchased by my ex because I couldn't stand the thought of touching them. I always kept a copy of my favorite, though, and bought e-versions of two more that I'd enjoyed. The author in question was named John M. Ford. He had a brief splash of fame, won a few awards, and then shifted his attention primarily to game writing until his premature death about fifteen years ago. All but two of his books quietly went out of print, and unless you came of age during the Reagan Administration, I seriously doubt that most of you reading this diary have ever heard of him. I am about to change that. Rather, a group of determined fans and editors are about to change that, for thanks to their efforts, an article in Slate, and someone at Tor Books who finally asked the right questions, John M. Ford, the best fantasy/SF/game writer/master of ceremonies/polymath you never heard of, is finally back in print. John M. Ford was part of a gifted group of SF/fantasy writers that came along in the late 1970’s/early 1980’s and included luminaries like Diane Duane, Charles de Lint, Lois McMaster Bujold, and Guy Gavriel Kay. An immensely talented poet and even better novelist/short story writer, Ford began writing for Asimov’s before he was out of college, and by 1980 he’d published several beautifully crafted short stories, a slew of game reviews, and proto-cyberpunk novel Web of Angels. Soon came his best-known work, The Dragon Waiting, and the next two decades saw a steady stream of finely written poems, novels, gaming supplements, and contributions to the Liavek shared-world series. Not all was writing — like so many authors, Ford had to take day jobs as an editor, computer consultant, and even hospital orderly to pay the bills — but by the time Ford died unexpectedly in the mid-000’s he’d won several major awards, become a fannish celebrity thanks to his long-running “Ask Dr. Mike” routine, and acquired a reputation as “writer’s writer” who had never achieved great success despite immense talent. His place in science fiction and fantasy seemed assured, and most fans thought it was only a matter of time until a small press began reissuing his works. Except that this didn’t happen. Just why is still in dispute. The late Tor editor David Hartwell claimed that Ford, who died intestate, had been estranged from his SF-hating family who thought science fiction and fantasy were immoral and refused to let the books be reprinted on religious grounds. Ford’s life partner claimed that he’d planned to revise his will to cut his family out and appoint her as his executrix, but since the version he left was never witnessed it wasn’t legally binding, plus they had never actually married beyond a self-penned Klingon ceremony. No one knew how to contact his heirs, and if Hartwell was to be believed, Ford’s family hadn’t approved of his work, his personal relationships, or pretty much anything he’d done as an adult, so why even bother? It wasn’t until 2018, when Slate’s Isaac Butler began digging into the story, that the truth came out. Ford’s family, far from disapproving of his work, had repeatedly written to his agent inquiring about republication. They had not known that his life partner was more than a friend, nor that the agent, overwhelmed by personal problems and grief-stricken by Ford’s death, had basically withdrawn from the industry completely. They were not happy with the rumors that had circulated about them deliberately withholding Ford’s works from publication, and it took nearly a year of negotiations by Tor Books’ editor Beth Meacham for them to change their mind. That is why I’ve been rereading John M. Ford at long last. The Dragon Waiting just came back into print this week, the rest of his published works will follow, and at least two volumes of uncollected poems, essays, ephemera, and a final novel will be published over the next few years. The novel in particular sounds like a real find — it’s called Aspects, and it’s due to come out next year with an introduction by no less than Neil Gaiman — and it seemed like the perfect time to see if Ford’s work lived up to my memories. It does. Oh my goodness, it does. 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