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R.I.P. John M. Ford

John M. Ford, Mike, to his friends died recently.

No, not the director, the author. I've only read two of his books, but I've read them a lot. The books were both Trek books, "The Final Reflection" and "How Much for Just The Planet?".

(Diane Duane has a magnificent tribute to him in her blog. If I ever get to Ireland, I owe her and Peter a really nice dinner.)

The first book is an atypical Trek book about Klingons, and the relationship between the Federation long before Kirk and the rest show up. Spock makes a brief appearance as a seven year old boy, and McCoy is only mentioned by his grandfather as being in need of a diaper change. The book challenges quite a few things, mainly the idea of Klingons as being brutish thugs, bent on mayhem, and that the Federation is pure shining light of good. It deals with the Federation and the machinations that happen within that organization as it lurches along in a mature, adult fashion. He was one of the first Trek authors to really treat the Federation not like some magic force for good, but a government body, trying to do the right thing for its people, but not always successfully, and not really in as coherent a fashion as we think.

He showed politics, racism, power plays, greed, and all the rest of the human condition in a realistic way. It wasn't always pretty, but it felt real. He didn't make it out to be worse than it was either, but just...real. Ford's Federation has a weight, a gravitas often missing from too many Trek books.

Ford also showed Klingons as what they are: People. Not rapacious evil beings, but just people. People with a very different background than humans have, and a different code of honor and way of life, but one that was just as valid as anyone else's, and with just as much to admire and despise as any other race. I still think of "his" Klingons when I imagine them.

Then, in a complete 180, he came out with "How Much for Just The Planet?". Gilbert & Sullivan and the Three Stooges meet Trek. Golf Courses cum battlefields, musical slave lords, a Klingon quoting movie lines, trapped in a bad reenactment of various Hitchcock movies with Uhura, Kirk and a Klingon in a homage to the Marx brothers, and a pie fight.

That's right.

A pie fight.

Kirk, Klingons, Uhura and the rest. All throwing pies.

Not Spock of course, but everyone else.

If nothing I say here makes a difference, then the mental image of James T. Kirk getting a cocoanut cream pie in the kisser..well, my god, who DOESN'T think that is glorious.

Minds that can create that...they don't come along often, and when one does, you never want them to go. We need more writers and people like John M. Ford, and even though I can't call myself a true fan, I can say that the universe has lost a bright light.

Thank you sir, for what you were able to share with us.

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Posted by John C. Welch at 19:57 | Permalink

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John M. Ford, Mike, to his friends died recently.\n\nNo, not the director, the author. I've only read two of his books, but I've read them a lot. The books were both Trek books, \"The Final Reflection\" and \"How Much for Just The Planet?\". \n\n(Diane Duane has a magnificent tribute to him in her blog. If I ever get to Ireland, I owe her and Peter a really nice dinner.)\n\nThe first book is an atypical Trek book about Klingons, and the relationship between the Federation long before Kirk and the rest show up. Spock makes a brief appearance as a seven year old boy, and McCoy is only mentioned by his grandfather as being in need of a diaper change. The book challenges quite a few things, mainly the idea of Klingons as being brutish thugs, bent on mayhem, and that the Federation is pure shining light of good. It deals with the Federation and the machinations that happen within that organization as it lurches along in a mature, adult fashion. He was one of the first Trek authors to really treat the Federation not like some magic force for good, but a government body, trying to do the right thing for its people, but not always successfully, and not really in as coherent a fashion as we think. \n\nHe showed politics, racism, power plays, greed, and all the rest of the human condition in a realistic way. It wasn't always pretty, but it felt real. He didn't make it out to be worse than it was either, but just...real. Ford's Federation has a weight, a gravitas often missing from too many Trek books. \n\nFord also showed Klingons as what they are: People. Not rapacious evil beings, but just people. People with a very different background than humans have, and a different code of honor and way of life, but one that was just as valid as anyone else's, and with just as much to admire and despise as any other race. I still think of \"his\" Klingons when I imagine them.\n\nThen, in a complete 180, he came out with \"How Much for Just The Planet?\". Gilbert & Sullivan and the Three Stooges meet Trek. Golf Courses cum battlefields, musical slave lords, a Klingon quoting movie lines, trapped in a bad reenactment of various Hitchcock movies with Uhura, Kirk and a Klingon in a homage to the Marx brothers, and a pie fight.\n\nThat's right.\n\nA pie fight.\n\nKirk, Klingons, Uhura and the rest. All throwing pies. \n\nNot Spock of course, but everyone else. \n\nIf nothing I say here makes a difference, then the mental image of James T. Kirk getting a cocoanut cream pie in the kisser..well, my god, who DOESN'T think that is glorious.\n\nMinds that can create that...they don't come along often, and when one does, you never want them to go. We need more writers and people like John M. Ford, and even though I can't call myself a true fan, I can say that the universe has lost a bright light. \n\nThank you sir, for what you were able to share with us.\n

Technorati Tags: Death, John M. Ford