| The Naked Stars Remember |
[Sep. 25th, 2006|09:12 am] |
John M. Ford died last night. He was one of those "writer's writer" types in the SF/F world. I own three of his novels, none of which was published in the past fifteen years or more, but despite his relatively low output on that front, he was always relevant to folks in the know. How Much For Just The Planet? is, far and away, my favorite Star Trek novel of all time.
He was also an inveterate, unapologetic gamer. He was, in many respects, the father of superhero gaming since one of his college D&D campaigns featured all manner of cross-genre madness, some of which spawned Superhero: 2044, the first superhero RPG (such as it was.) Despite being a "serious" author, he wrote a nigh-definitive Klingon sourcebook for the original Star Trek RPG. And his Paranoia adventure, "The Yellow-Clearance Black Box Blues" is nothing short of art.
He'd been quite ill the past twenty years or so. Not that you could tell from his criticism and poetry and short works and incisive internet postings. Godspeed, Mr. Ford.
And though I had slain a thousand foes less one,
The thousandth knife found my heart;
The thousandth enemy said to me,
‘Now you shall die,
Now none shall know.’
And the fool, looking down believed this,
Not seeing, above his shoulder, the naked stars,
Each one remembering
-- From The Final Reflection, by John M. Ford |
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| Comments: |
I find this shocking and deeply saddening - I was a tremendous admirer of his work in gaming and his terrific novel, The Dragon Waiting.
Another great one laid to rest. Still as with all life where one falls a hundred more shall be born.
My prayers go to his family.
I was his editor on GURPS TRAVELLER: STARPORTS....he was a great guy.
....and in a somewhat spooky coincidence, on Friday I was compelled to start re-reading The Final Reflection. | |
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