John M. Ford (1957–2006)

Ford, John M. Growing Up Weightless. Spectra, 1993.
On my first reading, I underrated Growing Up Weightless. I mistakenly assumed John Ford aimed for a young adult story in the manner of Robert Heinlein but missed the mark. The setting is a near future Lunar colony divided politically and facing several existential crises. It is a territory familiar in Heinlein. Heinlein’s young heroes and heroines overcome difficulties and face the future optimistically. Ford’s hero, Matt, is not so show more lucky. Matt and his friends look down on the clumsy “slammers” from Earth. Matt finds hating Earth easy. He also resents the strictures of Lunar life and wants to join the crew of an interstellar colony ship. In the meantime, he and his friends entertain themselves with role-playing games and an unsupervised and unauthorized train trip to a base on the far side of the Moon. In the end, Matt discovers that making his dreams come true causes pain for himself, his family, friends, and potential lovers. Ford’s style is subtler and more difficult than one generally finds in young adult fiction. There are no large infodumps of exposition. Readers are like slammer tourists who must learn as slowly what the world is like. 4 stars. show less

A soldier, a wizard, a doctor and a vampire go into a bar ... sounds like a joke, but it isn't. In Ford's alternative history, the Byzantine empire remains a going concern long after Mehmet the Conqueror's time and Richard III defeats Henry Tudor. The four protagonists are fictional, but many historical characters appear in the story. Ford follows history, until he doesn't; a list of historical characters and an afterword help sort out where he follows and where he deviates. Sometimes it show more should be true even when it isn't. It is entirely plausible that John Morton, Henry VII's taxman, was a bloodsucking vampire. The protagonists are engaging or intriguing, according to their natures.

I read this when it was first published and I was a graduate student in the cornfields of Illinois. The book vanished during the Wanderjahre; now available again after several decades. I find it is indeed as good as I remembered. Read it. show less

Wow. This is one of the most intricate, complex, multilayered, meticulously researched alternative history/fantasy books I've ever read. (If not THE most?)
- It helps if you know your English history, your Shakespeare, something about early Renaissance and Florence, something about ancient Rome and Byzantium :)))) It heightens your enjoyment of the book, as you go through the literary/historical allusions and Easter eggs scattered throughout.
- It was interesting to see John M. Ford imagine a show more world without Christianity as one of the dominant religions - a world which is more humanistic, more advanced, and is a (somewhat) better place for women than 15th century Europe of "our" world.
- Nothing is spelled out and the plot unfolds slowly. As a reader, you need to PAY ATTENTION and fill in the blanks.
- The magic system is very dark. I don't think I've ever seen its like in any other fantasy book.
- The characters are wonderfully - and subtly - drawn. (I loved Cynthia!)
- This is a book you need to re-read and see what you had missed last time.
- Like many others, I highly recommend Draco Concordans as a reading companion. It is geeky and wonderful, and it's interesting to see what you have missed in chapter x. show less

Still unwell. Ugh. John M Ford, man-about-literature, wrote a spy novel, and it is a clever, elliptical tale of game-playing and historical secrets and a plot that, quite properly, reveals a contempt and hate and fear of the world that gives us spy novels. Ford can be downright obscure in his writing, but I thought it all worked to his advantage here in the murky world of secrets and betrayals and double meanings and triple agents. I do now wish he'd written a novel about Christopher show more Marlowe. The brief historical bits made me want to go reread The Dragon Waiting (or Waldrop's Heart of Whitenesse.) show less