nemesis_draco | Recent Entries

damascene.livejournal.com

but yesterday, Chip and I were: at the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex (which is in reality an hour-plus drive out of Canberra on twisty little roads through some of the most "interesting" driving country outside the Scottish Highlands, so the Complex can sit in a sheep-grazing vale sheltered by hills from all the nearby electromagnetic noise).

You can easily see it from the car park: DSS-46, relocated to Canberra when the Honeysuckle Creek station was shut down. The Dish that transmitted the first images of Neil Armstrong walking on the Moon.

Wow, did we both miss having Mike on that excursion.

It wasn't until we were through the Complex and back out to the car park, a couple of hours later, that we realized what the date was.

Damn.

www.flickr.com/photos/35264582@N05/5021035243/

www.flickr.com/photos/35264582@N05/5021035255/

tool-of-satan.livejournal.com

I've put some John M. Ford designed and inspired gaming material up for auction on

debsliverlovers, a charity auction which is raising money to get Deb Mensinger a liver transplant.

The items (which are being offered in various combinatiosn) are:

Two copies of the Star Trek III boardgame set, which JMF co-designed (and which contains bits of uncollected JMF fiction).

The Klingons boxed set for the FASA Star Trek RPG, which JMF worked on while writing The Final Reflection>.

Struggle for the Throne, a FASA boardgame not designed by JMF but featuring his style of Klingons.

The Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues, his classic adventure for Paranoia.

Scared Stiffs, an adventure he co-wrote for the Ghostbusters RPG, set at a convention.

Two copies of Superhero '44/2044, the first superhero RPG, inspired by the games he ran an Indiana University.

You can see all four of my auctions here. There are plenty of other interesting things being offered by others, of course.

charlie-ego.livejournal.com

I never knew JMF personally (I don't feel I can call him Mike because of that), but I wish I had, and I love love love his writing. I think I own every book he ever wrote, and I am trying to get all the short stories as well. I fell in love with his complex and erudite way of telling a story... however, sometimes this means I don't always understand what he's getting at.

For a while I've been wanting to do a reread of all his books in this community, and I kept putting it off. However, the recent post on Heat of Fusion and Other Stories made me think, hey, an easy way to start this, anyway, would be reading his short stories! Does anyone else want to discuss his books/short stories, and maybe help me to figure out what is going on? :)

Because of

apostle_of_eris's post I thought I'd start with some of the stories in that book (not coincidentally, the ones that started to be discussed in that post). Here's what I think is going on; anyone want to append or correct me?

( Spoilers, of course; for Preflash, Chromatic Aberration, and Heat of Fusion. )

What other books/stories would people like to discuss the most?

apostle-of-eris.livejournal.com

A title I hadn't known, from a source I hadn't known . . .

gypsy1969.livejournal.com

I've been thinking about him all day.

Happy Birthday Mike, where ever you are.

elisem.livejournal.com

Check out the two auctions here.

tool-of-satan.livejournal.com

If anyone is interested, I am auctioning two magazines contained uncollected John M. Ford stories as part of

care_faith_hope, a charity auction to pay for urgent medical expenses (for someone else, I should clarify). The auction is here. Of course there are many other things of interest in the auction, which ends Saturday October 10th at 11:59:59 PM Pacific time (I should have posted this earlier, I know).

In the interest of full disclosure, I should note that neither of the two stories is what I would call a major piece - they're fairly light - and one is available for free online. However, even minor Ford is well worth reading, and I at least still like having paper copies of things.

jbru.livejournal.com

I'm cleaning out my basement to make room for a new gaming group when I ran across two copies of Heat of Fusion. Other books that I have duplicates of see the extra copy going to a used book store.

But Mike is special.

As much as some random person in a used book store might stumble upon it and come to love Mike's work, I don't want to take that chance. I'd rather it go to someone that already loves Mike. Someone that's missing him today the way that I am.

So if you'd like a copy of this book let me know. It was nominated for the World Fantasy Award as a collection and includes "Winter Solstice, Camelot Station" for which he won the World Fantasy and Rhysling Award. It also includes "Erase/Record/Play," nominated for Nebula and Theodore Sturgeon Awards.

mjlayman.livejournal.com

I'm reading Diane Duane's Wizards at War and on page 73, one of the characters is watching intergalactic/alien TV. When Kit asks "Anything good on today?" the TV/DVD replies, "...On insponder 2186043, the Gratuitous Transaction Channel presents the sixth-rerun thirteeth episode of How Much For Just The Planet? In this episode...

tool-of-satan.livejournal.com

I don't remember the details, but someone must have started the usual Tolkien-in-other-authors'-styles game.

From speceng@visi.com Tue Feb 5 14:30:08 2002
Path: pyramid.sjgames.com!not-for-mail
From: speceng@visi.com (John M. Ford)
Newsgroups: sjgames.chatter.books
Subject: Re: LotR in several ever-handy alternate worlds...
Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 18:44:04 +0000 (UTC)
Organization: Steve Jackson Games Pyranews
Lines: 49
Message-ID: <a3mkpk$7oq$1@pyramid.sjgames.com>
References: <a3jopv$m8o$1@pyramid.sjgames.com> <a3k1ak$r2g$1@pyramid.sjgames.com> <a3m55f$afq$1@pyra> <a3mdqh$8j1$1@pyramid.sjgames.com>
NNTP-Posting-Host: pyramid.sjgames.com
X-Trace: pyramid.sjgames.com 1012848244 7962 206.224.72.66 (4 Feb 2002 18:44:04 GMT)
X-Complaints-To: webmaster@sjgames.com
NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 18:44:04 +0000 (UTC)
Xref: pyramid.sjgames.com sjgames.chatter.books:10233

Okay, too much fun not to play.

NUMENOR NINE by Tom Clancy

At Elrond's Moria West Op Center, technicians were bent over their
glowing palantiri.
"So where are they?" the half-elf asked tensely.
"On the beach, sir," replied the monitoring officer. "We have one main
body of orcs moving toward them from the south=southeast. Not that I've ever
seen more than one main body of orcs."
There was a laugh, breaking the tension in the room. The Dwarven
Military Attache said, "Ein gruppe of individual bodies, now dot's different,"
and the room rang with laughs until Elrond said coolly, "Execute Shire Mist."
Leagues away, Elven stealth helicopters sliced through the gathering dark
with no more sound than a Black Rider on Robitussin. Ahead of them, the orcs
showed up reflected in moonlight and starlight. Belly pods opened on each
chopper and released softly hissing clouds of Pipeweed-R5.
On the beachfront, Aragorn was readying Merry and Pippin for Operation
Short Cut. In their night goggles and CW masks, the halflings looked a bit
like Orcs themselves. They were mounted up on Dwarvischen Motor Werke bikes,
Heckler & Kochs slung ready.
"Take care and stay lucky, you chowhounds," the Ranger said. The hobbits
flashed thumbs up and rolled out on electric flywheels. The bikes were black,
but anything but stealthy. When the 2000cc motors kicked in, they would draw
every orc in the neighborhood. That was the whole idea.
A whiff of pipeweed drifted across the staging area. In the distance,
the sound of drugged Orcs hitting the peat could be heard. Gimli muttered to
Legolas, "You ever use that stuff?"
"I didn't inhale," the Elf joked back.
"Smoke on the water, out," Aragorn said into his throat mike, then broke
the uplink and told the others,, "Frodo and Sam are in the Zodiacs and moving
out. Let's --"
"I got signature," Boromir shouted, and grabbed a flare from his belt.
He cracked it and lit up the forest just as a missile tore through the trees.
The team hit the dirt as the heatseeker swerved to home on the flare. . . .

And then of course there's . . .
BUT THE EYE IS FAMILIAR by Terry Brooks

Ditto. Ditto, likewise. What he said. That too. Same here. Couldn't have
said it better myself.

John M. Ford
Div. of Inappropriate Technology
Evil Geniuses for a Better Tomorrow
Creators of TOLKEIN RING NETWORKS:
Finally, Us Geeks Can Tell This Joke to Mundanes and Get A Laugh, Sorta

pameladean

Well, technically, in a dusty stack of papers that somehow got shoved on top of a filing cabinet and then buried in other stuff.

For former Fidonet aficionados, I reproduce the message format as near as may be.

To: Pamela C. Dean Message #: 6844 6837 Thread

From: John M. Ford Submitted: 30 Jun 93 00:17:00

Subject: Whitling Down the Masses Status: Public

"Good morning, Mr. Baggins. The man you're looking at is Sauron, Dark Lord of Mordor. Sauron has placed his power in these rings, which transform his subordinates into creatures hostile to the ideals of Western democracy. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to destroy the One Ring and liberate Middle Earth. As always, should you or any of your Company be caught or killed, the Elf-Kings will disavow any knowledge of your actions. This inscription will self-destruct in five heartbeats. Good luck, Frodo."

---

* Origin: The Terraboard, Mpls MN: Home of the SF Echo (1:282/341)

=-=-=-=-

Pamela

papersky.livejournal.com

It went very well. We had quite a big room that was absolutely packed, standing room only, and people were standing. Teresa talked about editing Mike, and moderated and kept everything moving splendidly. Guest of Honour David Hartwell talked about Mike's early career and how he was to work with -- I'd never heard that he lost a finger making a deadline, or that he and S.P. Somtow worked at Asimov's at the same time. He also talked about The Dragon Waiting and what a splendid tour de force it is. Neil Gaiman, also a Guest of Honor, talked about Mike as a friend and a colleague, how Mike could make him laugh until he cried and how he used to send his work to Mike who could always see what was wrong with it. (If the room was packed with people who had come to see Neil, I think they got to see him at his best, and I'm sure they went away filled with an urge to read John M. Ford.) Patrick also talked about editing Mike and read some lovely bits from Making Light -- the Casablanca Seuss parody ("So hit the ivories, Sam-I-Am") and the Against Entropy sonnet. Harriet talked about how important Mike was to her and to her late husband Jim (Robert Jordan), and about how she edited Scholars of Night and inspired the story "Scrabble With God". I talked about how I asked Mike if I could use the word "skazlorls" from that in a novel I was writing at the time, and how he said it was using a twenty ton hammer to crack a very small walnut, but that I was welcome. I also talked a little about his importance to the gaming world, about his work for Paranoia and GURPS and Traveller. A Klingon from the audience gave a moving tribute. Beth Meacham, another of Mike's editors, stole the show by reading two of the unpublished "Aspects" sonnets.

I'd taken my copies of all his books, and we put them on the table as a display and waved them around at the appropriate points. David mentioned how innovative Web of Angels and Princes of the Air were, Neil read his song from How Much For Just the Planet -- I think all the books and poetry collections were mentioned. We also talked a little about Elise, and how she kept Mike alive for years longer than he would otherwise have managed. (Get well soon, Elise, we missed you at the panel!)

At the end, Jon Singer asked from the audience if anyone could tell Mike's bar joke. Nobody on the panel felt confident that they could, so my husband Emmet came up from the audience and told it into the microphone.

Heisenberg, Goedel and Chomsky walk into a bar. Heisenberg says "This is very odd and improbably, and I wonder if we might be in a joke, but I can't be certain." Goedel says "Well, if we were outside the joke we would know, but since we're inside the joke, there's no way of determining whether or not we're in a joke." And Chomsky says "Of course this is a joke, but you're telling it wrong!"

The audience erupted in delighted laughter. I remember Mike telling us that joke in a Minicon some years ago, and it's been one of Emmet's favourite jokes ever since. It's so characteristic of Mike -- it assumes background knowledge from more than one field to really get it, but for those who do get it the payoff is delicious.

I think the panel went about as well as it could have.

grahamsleight.livejournal.com

A panel at the forthcoming Worldcon, Anticipation, being held in Montreal August 6-10:

When: Thu [6th August] 17:00
Location: P-511D
Title: The Life and Work of John M Ford
Session ID: 524
All Participants: Neil Gaiman, David Hartwell, Jo Walton, Teresa
Nielsen Hayden, Patrick Nielsen Hayden
Moderator: Teresa Nielsen Hayden
Description: John M Ford, who died in 2006, is acknowledged as one of
the semi-secret masters of the field, an incredibly versatile
novelist, story writer and poet whose work has influenced Neil Gaiman
among others. Here, some of those who knew him and his work gather to
celebrate his achievements.
Duration: 1:30 hrs:min
Language: English

elisem.livejournal.com

That was the first line of a poem Mike wrote to me.

Because it's a Mike poem, though, it turns around before the end. Of course.

It was unfinished. The missing lines are in the middle. Also of course. He knew the shape of it, and put in the one line of the middle where he knew it would go. Even with the missing middle, though, it works. Oh, it works.

( Herewith the text. )

Current Mood: love, longing, gratitude

acroamatica.livejournal.com

Google washed me up on this shore - if anyone knows the answer to this, I bet it's one of you folk.

Ten or fifteen years ago, when Google was not what it is now, I acquired "How Much For Just The Planet", and fell passionately in love. I have never met a set of good lyrics that I didn't immediately try to set, and the results were in most cases satisfactory, but the only one I was ever able to track down the real original tune to was the one the robot sings. Fast forward to now; found the book again, remembered all my old tunes, but I'm still not having any luck finding them. This leaves me with a threefold question:
- Does anyone know what the rest of the songs were based on, if they were based on anything at all?
- If they're totally original lyrics and not parodies, has anyone else ever written tunes for them?
- I would love to give credit, and royalties, where they are due should I ever take it into my head to bring my version of "Monochrome" to the piano bar. Who would I contact?

Thanks in advance for any light you can shed on it.

elisem.livejournal.com

I was sorting through some old LJ entries today, looking for a link to a photo, and ran across this post about a dream I'd had about Mike. (I'll link rather than copy, because the comments on the original post contains a link to a dream somebody else had about Mike.)

Did he show up in your dreams? A number of people told me they dreamed about him being at conventions, chatting.

elisem.livejournal.com

(These were all taken by DDB.)

Mike with friends out at Neil's bonfire

I know this one's been posted before, but it's a favorite of mine: Mike in my lion's head rocking chair. This was an author photo for I-forget-which-book. (Backstory: I am just out of frame in front of him, flirting madly with him, which accounts for the twinkle that shows he was working to keep a straight face. Look again, and see if you can spot the smile about to break through. Oh, and if you look up on the left corner, you can see part of the Juanian cow coffee cup collection reflected in the mirror.)

This one's been posted before too, but it makes me giggle: Dr. Mike with the spherical cow of uniform density that Irene Raun made.

Another Dr. Mike photo: Question, please?

marydell.livejournal.com

I just ran across this comment of Mike's from an old Making Light thread about the Roomba and its then-new stablemate, the Scooba.

nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/007292.html#115843

---------------
#40 ::: John M. Ford ::: (view all by) ::: March 05, 2006, 01:20 PM:

Roomba -- vacuums floors
Scooba -- washes floors
Loomba -- reweaves carpeting
Doomba -- eats dropped rings and other jewelry
Voomba -- cleans everything really fast, but requires a Cat in a Hat
Looba -- cleans bathrooms
Grooba -- creates mass havoc among other furniture
Mooba -- milks cows
Rooba -- carries a small version itself in a pouch
Pooba -- cleans up after Fido
Poo-Bah -- sings Gilbert & Sullivan while trying to intimidate the rug
Doobieba -- hides your stash

------------------

papersky.livejournal.com

By Shweta Narayan.

elisem.livejournal.com

If anybody's got some, and can put them up on Flickr (or tag them if they're already there), that would be a great goodness. Here's what's there so far. Thanks.