the return of John M. Ford!!!!

[cahn]

Google knows too much about me. Way too much. I joke with people that I could easily be replaced by a google-bot and no one would ever know (I guess I'm pretty predictable, at that).

Anyway, this morning I woke up to Chrome helpfully proffering me an article about John M. Ford.

Me: John M. Ford?
Chrome: Yes! We here at google think you'll like it, given your extensive googling on John M. Ford and his books in the last several months.
Me: That's because I was doing this reread... never mind. Um, but he died more than a decade ago and his books are out of print, so this must be an old article?
Chrome, holding out article patiently: No, it's from 4 hours ago. From Slate.
Me: So, like, a retrospective. Why is Slate printing something like that?
Chrome: Just click on it, OK?

Guys. GUYS. This person, Isaac Butler, went down the rabbit hole, reconnected Ford's estranged family and his editors, and although (as he says) we'll never know the whole story it appears there was at least some miscommunication, and
1. His books are coming back in print, starting in 2020!!
2. A new book of stories/poems/Christmas cards/uncollected material will be published!!!!
3. Aspects, Ford's never-published epic, is getting published in 2021!!!!!!!

This is just about the best early Christmas present the world (and Isaac Butler, and Tor, and Ford's family, and of course John M. Ford himself) could have given me <33333333

(OK, and thanks Google. You win again.)

Comments

[cahn]

It's... I have no idea whether you would like his books! I think of them as a bit of an odd taste, and you have to be OK with probably not understanding what the heck is going on the first time you read it. I hit him at exactly the right time; if I'd tried reading him five years ago for the first time I am pretty sure I wouldn't have liked him; in another five years I think if I found him for the first time I think I might like him. I sort of feel like in general the kinds of books you like I like too, so that's the strongest argument to me that you might like Ford, but then again just because I like the books you like doesn't necessarily mean you like all the books I like :)

[sophia_sol]

We do seem to have similar taste in books, and I know that I have more patience than many people for not being able to follow what's going on in a narrative I'm reading (c.f. all those times I dive into reading fanfic when I know literally nothing about the canon and have to figure out what's going on through careful interpretation) so I feel hopeful!

[cahn]

ahhhh, if you have patience for that kind of thing, it could work! I feel like that kind of thing used to be my jam, which is part of why I love Ford, but I have less patience for it than I used to. Though I think a lot of it is just having a lot more demands on my time :)

[sophia_sol]

I mean, I definitely have to be in the right headspace for it. I need to have the mental/emotional energy, which isn't always the case for me these days. I think perhaps (once the books come out) I'll save trying Ford for sometime when I'm on vacation and have more space in my brain.