The Last Hot Time

(Amy) I'm not sure why I have never gone on a tear and read every single Ford work ever written, given that of the ones I've read, I've never met one I didn't like. Ah, well, it means I get to encounter these little nuggets of excellence in dribs and drabs, which is not such a bad thing.

The cover of this edition, just above the title, says "a contemporary fantasy". I think I would have to beg to differ with that - if it's contemporary, it's alternate-history contemporary fantasy, which is distinct from the usual kind. More likely in my mind is that it is a near-future fantasy - a future in which Elfland comes back from whereever it's been these last few centuries and really quite dramatically breaks the world.

The story takes place, as show more do so many of this style, on the border between the elves' world and what's left of the human one, as our late-teenaged-human protagonist arrives there and proceeds to, well, grow up. It's a borderland story, an elves-and-humans story, a coming-of-age story, a post-apocalypse story. How could I not love it?

It's a quick read, which might actually be my only real complaint. I could really have spent more than 200 pages of time in this world, though I respect an author's right to say, This is how much story there is to be told, and no more. (Still, I also respect my own right to pout about it just a little.)

Recommended, in any case. Along with anything else the man ever wrote, pretty much.
( http://weblog.siliconcerebrate.com/zenos-library/2009/05/the_last_hot_time_john_... ) show less

A gritty fantasy set in the moody nightclubs of Chicago. After Elfland returned, it ripped a hole in the world and now part of Chicago is sectioned off as effected by the leak of magic. Technology doesn't work right on the other side and elves wander the streets. A farm boy drives into town and finds himself immediately caught up in a shoot out. Trained as an EMT, he makes himself useful and is straight away adopted by one of the most powerful crime lords in the city. Kept on as a personal physician and trauma specialist, our intrepid protagonists is exposed to a world more dangerous and opulent than he could have ever known.

But not all is free drinks and beautiful women. Something evil is on the prowl in Chicago, and somehow, this show more nobody from the sticks is involved. A very cool, one off fantasy. show less

This is a deeply satisfying book with a few odd moments, but the oddness is well in keeping with the overall feel and theme. I have a great weakness for books about competent people being competent, and that's exactly how this book starts.

The bulk of the plot is the protagonist, a young kid from the sticks, learning to navigate the dangerous and delightful streets of what was Chicago, and probably still is, but it got pulled into a strange halfway state between the world we know and the world inhabited by elves and other fantastic things. The fantastic elements often provide the motivation and the plot, but the characters are what drive this story, and none of it is anything less than good.

This is a new Bordertown story. It does stand on its own; nothing requires the reader to even suspect the existence of the other stories, much less have read them. Danny Holman, a young man with considerable experience as an emergency medical technician, flees his old life for the City, and along the way he gets hooked up with Mr. Patrise, who appears to be a somewhat senior gangster. Danny, with his EMT skills, becomes Doc Hallownight, and settles in, more or less, to his new life, providing much-needed emergency medical services after, and sometimes during, shoot-outs. He also acquires a girlfriend and other friends, elf and human, and slowly and painfully starts to learn a few things about himself. Elves are almost inescapably show more alluring to humans, but elf culture is fairly appalling, morally, when you look at it. There's more than a hint of its nature in the fact that the elves' name for themselves is Truebloods. Some of the inhabitants of Bordertown, both elf and human, have noticed this.

The book is far too short to say anything more about the plot without spoilers, but this is one of the stronger Bordertown stories. show less

I picked this book up, purely because it's by [author:John M Ford]. I read his two Star Trek novels, [book:How Much for Just the Planet], and [book:The Final Reflection], and very much wanted more of his work. [book:The Final Reflection], in particular, really impressed me.

So I didn't quite know what to expect from [book:The Last Hot Time]. I had to readjust my expectations several times, but this wasn't at all a bad thing. The book is gripping, fast-paced, powerful urban fantasy. The setting starts out real-world, and you get to follow the main character into the fantasy elements.

This is one I think I'll have to re-read, and I feel sure I'll get more from it then. There are layers I felt go by me, without being able to see them.

A truly, truly top-notch work of fiction. Every time I read it, new nuances bubble up, forcing me to reconsider the work. Honestly one of the best-crafted novels I've ever read.

How have I missed this author?

There is a great tabletop role-playing game system called Shadowrun that was originally published in 1989. In it magic returned to the world in 2011, bringing with it mythological creatures and turning some humans into orks, trolls, dwarves, and elves. In the gaming system it's initially 2050 and it's a cyberpunk urban fantasy world that prefigures a lot of the popular fiction being written now, where mega-corporations rule the world and operate sort of like organized crime syndicates - sort of William Gibson meets Tolkein. It's an awesome gaming system and I've never understood why it isn't more popular. Related to this are the Borderland Series based on a similar fictional universe and created by Terri show more Windling. There are a number of collections of short stories edited by Ms. Windling and several novels of which my favorite is Finder by Emma Bull.

The Last Hot Time is set in a similar sort of universe. Its Chicago and the elves have punched through into our universe bringing with them all kinds of magic and transitory places. This is a coming-of-age story whose main character is plopped down into the middle of things in this alternate Chicago. A paramedic by trade, training, and vocation, Danny Holmann becomes Doc and learns about life, friendship, and the possibility of love.

If you can imagine elements of high fantasy crossed with a film noir feel you'll get a sense of the flavor of this wonderful and original book. Ford writes well and tells a great story and now I want to find everything he wrote. As an aside, Mr. Ford is the person who introduced Klingonaase to the world in his Star Trek novel, The Final Reflection. How geektastic is that? show less