tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post8333562200923610775..comments2024-03-27T23:55:17.673-07:00Comments on Flogging Babel: Remembering Mike FordMichael Swanwickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18389836784776252022noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post-20114208329263355522012-04-03T22:07:15.647-07:002012-04-03T22:07:15.647-07:00I never met Mike, but I know people who were frien...I never met Mike, but I know people who were friends of his, and I've been reading everything of his I can find. My guess is that he didn't like repeating himself; if he'd done something and got it right, he didn't want to do it the same way next time. And as intelligent as he was, and as good a writer and poet, he usually got things right the first time.<br /><br />For some reason I thought of him the other day, and searched for all his comments on Making Light. Damn, the man had something interesting to say on about any subject you care to name.<br /><br />One thing that really astounded me was that I found the timestamps on the post he made when he wrote <i>De Vermis</i>, the sonnet that ends "Say what you mean; bear witness, iterate." It was posted 8 hours after the post that suggested the themes, so it had to have been written in less time than that. That's a truly excellent sonnet, made to order. We'll not see one like him soon again.SpeakerToManagershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17543351493493167488noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post-61075469847173963692012-04-03T21:46:52.525-07:002012-04-03T21:46:52.525-07:00I remember him from the early Asimov magazine days...I remember him from the early Asimov magazine days.<br /><br />Talented, smart, I was never sure I understood all of what he was saying at times. <br /><br />Sorry to hear we've lost another voice and mind.Meg Phillipshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12877470484295133022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post-263791299422972842012-04-03T21:21:29.867-07:002012-04-03T21:21:29.867-07:00Yes! That was Mike -- being brilliant in places w...Yes! That was Mike -- being brilliant in places where it would do him no damn good at all. Just because they were there.<br /><br />Mike's work was a delight to people who happened upon him, but if they didn't . . . well, he was working on something else and so he really didn't want to know.<br /><br />I think the great Paleolithic artists were very much like John M. Ford.Michael Swanwickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18389836784776252022noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1484180326012950400.post-56737607437257262192012-04-03T19:11:20.496-07:002012-04-03T19:11:20.496-07:00For a long time I was only aware of him as "t...For a long time I was only aware of him as "the clever commenter on Making Light" - the one who made reading it worthwhile.<br /><br />There was the Damon Runyan does Shakespeare: http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/005235.html<br /><br />There was the 9/11 poem: http://nielsenhayden.com/110.html<br /><br />but also just the day to day wit, the clever and supple drive-by one liners.<br /><br />Then I read _The Last Hot Time_. It was as if I'd discovered the primal text from which all inferior pulp adventures and elfy storys were derived. This was the Golden Age from which our civilisation had fallen.<br /><br />I have a low tolerance for elves in the modern high tech world (The Last Hot Time and Iron Dragon/Dragons of Babel might be the only exceptions) but this was a delight. I guess I wouldn't have minded if he'd hammered that particular nail a bit more.<br /><br />Shame about your trip to China btw - hope it can happen soon.HANNAH'S DADhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05877455489975811860noreply@blogger.com