John M. Ford: Difference between revisions

← Older edit

John M. Ford (view source)

Revision as of 15:52, 30 November 2021

147 bytes added , 2 years ago

copyedit

Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Forum administrators, Interface administrators, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators

116,442

edits

Revision as of 11:39, 30 January 2014 (view source) Gethbot (talk \| contribs) (→‎John M. Ford's works provide examples of:: clean up) ← Older edit		Latest revision as of 15:52, 30 November 2021 (view source) Looney Toons (talk \| contribs) (copyedit)
(10 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown)
Line 1: {{~~trope~~creator}} [[File:JohnMFord 2001 ddb.jpg\|thumb\|300px\|John M. Ford in 2000]] '''John M.Milo "Mike" Ford''' (1957 - 2006) was an SF writer, game designer, and poet, noted for his intelligence, wit, and originality. This last was in a sense also his greatest weakness, since a writer who never repeats himself can be very hard to market effectively, and he never achieved the fame many feel he deserved. Probably his widely-known work is in a sense his least original -- two novels in the [[Star Trek Expanded Universe]], but even here he broke new ground: ''The Final Reflection'' is a historical novel of the early years of Federation-Klingon interaction, with a Klingon as its hero, and ''How Much For Just The Planet?'' is a musical comedy. He also co-wrote the Klingons sourcebook for FASA's ''Star Trek'' ~~[[Table~~tabletop ~~Top Role Playing Game]]~~RPG, which was for a time the most complete and in-depth source on Klingon language and culture available. Much of it has been [[Jossed]] since the screen canon got serious about exploring Klingon culture, but there are still fans who think Ford's version was better, and not just in the sense that there will always be fans who think the old version was better. Even so, many feel that Ford's explorations directly influenced the evolution of the canon Klingons into their modern, honor-driven pseudo-Samurai form. Ford's other work in the realm of RPG design includes several sourcebooks for ''[[GURPS]]'', and the classic ''[[Paranoia (game)\|Paranoia]]'' supplement, ''The Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues''. Notable poems include the sonnet "[http://nielsenhayden.com/electrolite/archives/003789.html#29472 Against Entropy]" ("Regret, by definition, comes too late; / Say what you mean. Bear witness. Iterate."), the multi-award-winning narrative poem "Winter Solstice, Camelot Station", and the September 11 tribute "[http://nielsenhayden.com/110.html 110 Stories]". And we haven't even scratched the surface of his original novels, which include ''Web of Angels'', which did [[Cyberpunk]] before cyberpunk was cool; ''The Princes of the Air'', a [[Space Opera]] featuring a trio of con men; ''The Dragon Waiting'', an [[Alternate History]] political thriller that won a World Fantasy award; ''The Scholars of Night'', a [[Cold War]] thriller; ''Growing Up Weightless'', a Philip K. Dick Award winner that's been described as one of the best Heinlein juveniles [[Robert Heinlein]] never wrote; and ''The Last Hot Time'', a [[The Windy City\|Chicago]] gangster story set [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]] in which half the characters are elves. ----▼ === John M. Ford's works provide examples of: ===▼ Not to be confused with director [[John Ford]]. ▲---- ▲~~===~~ {{creatortropes\|John M. Ford's works provide examples of: ~~===~~}} * [[Actual Pacifist]]: The diplomat Emanuel Tagore in ''The Final Reflection''. This causes some confusion when Klingon security attempts to search his luggage for hidden weapons, and takes their inability to find any as a sign that he's hidden them really well. * [[Against My Religion]]: In ''How Much for Just the Planet?'' we have McCoy explaining why he, Sulu, and two Klingons won't Kneel Before Zod (the evil queen Janeka): {{quote\| '''McCoy:''' Well, it's against Mr. Sulu's religion, these two gentlemen already have a dictator, and I'm a Democrat.}} * [[Alternate History]]: ''The Dragon Waiting'' * [[Amnesiac Dissonance]]: Self-inflicted in the short story "Erase/Record/Play", in which the scientists experimenting on prisoners in a concentration camp give everyone - victims, guards, and tormentors - the same experimental memory-wiping drug, and mix themselves into the general population to avoid punishment when the liberators come. They can't be coerced or tricked into revealing their guilt, because even they don't know if they're guilty. Line 20 ⟶ 23: * [[Bizarre and Improbable Golf Game]]: ''How Much For Just The Planet?'' features one that involves land mines and artillery. * [[Body Double]]: Queen Rachel in ''The Princes of the Air'' has several, of which at least one is an android and one is a male relative who has the same build and shares the distinctive family eye colour. * [[Chained to Aa Railway]]: In "Winter Solstice, Camelot Station" * [[Con Man]]: The heroes of ''The Princes of the Air'' * [[Crowd Song]]: In ''How Much For Just The Planet?'', the Direidians break out into crowd songs around the visiting Federation and Klingon diplomatic delegations on several occasions. It turns out that {{spoiler\|it ''was'' all carefully rehearsed and planned out ahead of time, as part of the Direidian "plan C" to prevent either of the two sides from taking over their planet and disrupting their way of life}}. Line 37 ⟶ 40: * [[In Spite of a Nail]]: In ''The Dragon Waiting'' Christianity never took hold in the Roman Empire, Constantinople didn't fall to the Turks, and France was partitioned between England and Byzantium sometime in the 12th century. The Wars of the Roses still seemingly happen exactly as they do in reality up through the crowning of Edward IV, with the exception of one relatively insignificant death. * [[Light Bulb Joke]]: ''The Final Reflection'' has these in the form of "Rom Jokes", which Federation and Klingon crewmembers swap at a peace conference. The only one related to the reader is "How many Romulans does it take to change a transtator coil? Answer: 1 to change the coil, 150 to blow the ship up out of shame." * [[Magic -Powered Pseudoscience]]: In "Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues", R&D scientist Willis-G-EEP-4's inventions work well on the test bench, but fail when used in the field when he isn't around. That's because their success depends on his mutant powers of Minor Telekinesis and Luck. * [[Meaningful Rename]]: All the human characters in ''The Last Hot Time'' have one in their backstory, except the protagonist, who being the [[Naive Newcomer]] gets his during the course of the story. (Interestingly, the narration continues to refer to him by his old name for a couple more chapters, until he's settled in to his new identity.) * [[Must Have Caffeine]]: In ''How Much for Just the Planet?'' it's quickly established over breakfast that "Bones McCoy was not a morning person": {{quote\| '''McCoy:''' Plergb hfarizz ungemby, ''and coffee''.}} * [[Naive Newcomer]]: The protagonist of ''The Last Hot Time'' * [[No Waterproofing in ~~The~~the Future]]: Played for laughs in ''How Much For Just The Planet?'' ** Technically it's "no peppermint shake-proofing", but yeah. * [[Pie in ~~The~~the Face]]: Pretty much everybody during the [[Food Fight]] in ''How Much For Just The Planet?''. {{quote\| Blueberry, Kirk thought instead of ducking.~~<br />~~ ''Splat.''~~<br />~~ Blueberry it was. }} * [[Public Domain Character]]: [[King Arthur]] and co. in "Winter Solstice, Camelot Station" * [[Safe Word]]: Appears in ''The Last Hot Time'', as the hero learns about BDSM. * [[Scrabble Babble]]: The short story "Scrabble With God" uses this trope with a twist. "It isn't that He cheats, exactly." But any word He plays is a real word -- even if it wasn't a minute ago. And He's not above ''un''creating things in order to be able to challenge His opponents' words, either... * [[Sealed Badass in Aa Can]]: In ''The Final Reflection'' the {{spoiler\|Klingons}} have a super-soldier with an enhanced metabolism that makes him practically unbeatable, at the cost of a dramatically reduced lifespan. To get the most possible use out of him, his handlers keep him in cryogenic suspension between missions. * [[Smart People Play Chess]]: ''The Final Reflection'' reveals that Klingon military strategy is the province of military "thought admirals", who hone their skills in ''klin zha'' (Klingon chess). The (Klingon) protagonist's father, who is a thought admiral, also studies other races' equivalents of ''klin zha'', including the Human game "chess", to gain insight into the races that play them. * [[Starbucks Skin Scale]]: In ''The Princes of the Air'' there's a scene where the protagonist and a woman he's interested in are having coffee together, and it's noted in passing that her skin tone matches the coffee-with-cream they're drinking. Line 57 ⟶ 60: * [[Time for Plan B]]: In ''How Much for Just the Planet?'' the Diredei plan to stop the Federation and/or Klingons from exploiting their dilithium is called "Plan C". {{spoiler\|There was no Plan A or B; C stands for the keystone of the plan: "Comedy".}} * [[Treacherous Advisor]]: In ''The Dragon Waiting'': {{quote\| "Your Grace." He reached into his bag, produced the translation of Mancini's letter. "We have a great deal of trouble. I hope that these are men you can trust."~~<br />~~ "Yes, Professor, they are absolutely loyal to me," {{spoiler\|Buckingham}} said, and signaled for his men to close the door. }} * [[Tuckerization]]: ''The Final Reflection'' includes brief cameos by Klingons based on the co-authors of the Klingons sourcebook. Much of the supporting cast of ''How Much For Just The Planet?'' is based on Ford's friends and fellow authors, including [[Diane Duane]], [[Peter Morwood]], [[Neil Gaiman]], [[Pamela Dean]], and [[Janet Kagan]]. Line 67 ⟶ 70: {{reflist}} {{World Fantasy Award Novel}} [[Category:~~John M Ford~~{{PAGENAME}}]]▼ [[Category:Speculative Fiction Creator Index]] [[Category:Authors]] ▲[[Category:John M Ford]]