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John M. Ford (born 1957) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer, game designer, and poet.Ford's works are characterised by an aversion to doing things that have been done before.
This attitude is perhaps most notable in his two Star Trek novels, The Final Reflection and How Much for Just the Planet?: The Final Reflection is the story of a small group of Klingons who save the Federation from destruction (the regular heroes of the series are all relegated to cameo appearances), and How Much for Just the Planet? is a musical comedy. (And both novels hint that the Federation is not quite the shining utopia of goodwill and interspecies fellowship depicted in the television series.)
Ford avoids repetition not only of the work of others, but also of his own work: whereas many writers make a name for themselves by developing a known style that repeats in many works, Ford always surprises with his ability to use a variety of styles that best suit the world, characters, and situations he has chosen to write about. In some ways this might have limited his readership, as many people prefer to repeat a known experience when they purchase works by the same author.
Bibliography
- Web of Angels (1980), an early exploration of some topics that would later be described as cyberpunk
- The Princes of the Air (1982), a space opera
- The Dragon Waiting (1983), which won the 1984 World Fantasy Award; an historical fantasy, it combines vampires, the Medicis, and the convoluted English politics surrounding Edward IV and Richard III
- The Final Reflection (1984), a Star Trek tie-in novel
- How Much for Just the Planet? (1987), a Star Trek tie-in novel
- The Scholars of Night (1988), a thriller
- Casting Fortune (collection) (1989), stories set in a shared world
- Growing Up Weightless (1993), a BildungsromanA Bildungsroman is a novel which traces the spiritual, moral, psychological, or social development and growth of the main character from (usually) childhood to maturity. The term, originally from German, translates to "novel of education" or "novel of for set on a human-colonized MoonFor other moons in the solar system see natural satellite. For other uses see Moon (disambiguation). The Moon is the only natural satellite of Earth. It has no formal name other than "The Moon" although it is occasionally called Luna ( Latin for moon to d
- The Last Hot Time (2000), urban fantasy set in a magical Chicago
- From the End of the Twentieth Century (collection) (1997)
He has also published a variety of short fiction starting in 1975, from very short storiesThe short story is a form of narrative prose writing that is characterised by the number of words contained therein. Determining the actual length of a short story is problematic. A classic definition of a short story's length is that it must be able to b that are essentially fantastic jokes, to novellaA novella is a short prose fiction, derived from the Italian word for new''. In English, a novella consists of stories mid-way—in terms of length and complexity—between a short story and a novel, focusing on a single chain of events with a surprising turns revealing a deep understanding of human frailties and emotions.
In addition to his fiction work, he has written a number of RPG books, including GURPS supplements, Klingon manuals for the Star Trek RPG, and the adventure module The Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues for Paranoia.
Under a pseudonym that he has not made public, he has published some children's literature.
Ford, John M.
Ford, John M.
Ford, John M.
