I think I will miss Mike Ford's presence online as much as I still miss Hal Clement at conventions -- neither is quite the same without them.

Posted September 27, 2006 3:45 PM by Suzanne

Wow.

Posted September 27, 2006 4:30 PM by Jon Meltzer

I don't see it here -- probably in Part 2 -- but he did a parody of the last speech in Dr. Faustus for the Death of Dumbledore contest (and didn't win, IMO, because the judges didn't get the reference). Anyway, it struck me that part (and only part) of the actual speech applies, sadly, to Ford himself:

Cut is the branch that might have grown full straight,
And burned is Apollo's laurel bough,
That sometime grew within this learned man...

I suppose I only remember this post because it was one of the few references I did get.

Posted September 27, 2006 5:03 PM by Lisa Goldstein

I'm photocopying that right now! Then I'm going to note it on my LJ so if anyone misses it, it won't be my fault.

Posted September 27, 2006 5:27 PM by Lois Fundis

thank you, jim.

Posted September 27, 2006 5:59 PM by miriam beetle

thank you, jim.

and thank you, mike.

Posted September 27, 2006 6:12 PM by kid bitzer

Hmm. In a sense, I once provided him with a straight line.

My existence has been justified.

Posted September 27, 2006 6:15 PM by Kip W

O thank you! I needed that.

Not that I could risk doing more than skim without drawing fire from fellow cafe patrons. All my snickering and chortling was probably putting them off their lattes. BUT STILL...

Pages like this are what Firefox's SCRAPBOOK add-on are for. That, and a printer.

What a funny, funny man. What a lovely soul. We are blessed that he spent so much time here.

Posted September 27, 2006 8:03 PM by Nicole J. LeBoeuf-Little

Beyond all doubt, this man had sense and wit
To look behind the mask and see the skull,
But still he laughed, and laughed, and laughed at it.

With hardly pause, he made a direct hit
On target after target of the dull,
Beyond all doubt, this man had sense and wit.

In a single line all of our sides he split,
All joyful, with his powers at the full,
But still he laughed, and laughed, and laughed at it.

With all the power and wisdom to commit
To make us joy and see straight through the bull,
Beyond all doubt, this man had sense and wit.

Around the world the waves his words transmit
In ones and zeroes, yet still always more than null,
But still he laughed, and laughed, and laughed at it.

Reading these words, the laughter I emit
Echoes as if the room were a vast hull;
Beyond all doubt, this man had sense and wit,
But still he laughed, and laughed, and laughed at it.

Posted September 27, 2006 8:04 PM by Fragano Ledgister

My favorite Mike Ford quote, from a place I no longer recollect - probably GEnie, in response to a posting of mine.

"We're all living on borrowed time. The trick is to come up with works of sufficient interest to pay off the debt."

I've passed that on to many writers under my tutelage as an editor and game designer and publisher.

Posted September 27, 2006 8:31 PM by Ken Burnside

Good grief. I count one written in french, and one written in what I believe is german. I can't remember a stitch of French, but his made me laugh anyway. I can't make humor in English, let alone a non-native language. What a mind that man had. I stand in awe of it. If I could have but a pinkey finger's worth of his humor, I could make a comfortable living doing standup for the rest of my life.

Posted September 27, 2006 9:53 PM by Greg London

Thank you, Fragano. Thank you, Jim.

Posted September 27, 2006 10:13 PM by Teresa Nielsen Hayden

Oo0- Fragano, gorgeous!

Posted September 27, 2006 10:32 PM by Nancy C

Thank you, Jim!

What a mind....

Posted September 28, 2006 1:11 AM by dan

(Thinking along the same lines as Fragano here…)

Truth told, I did not know the man at all
My loss, his numerous texts can illustrate.
The worm turns. Time cannot be kept in thrall,
It moves on, and in hiding, dragons wait.

I would have liked to lunch with him. (Some lox?
With bagels, sure) to puzzle out his fun:
Collection points to downfall, then, of Fox?*
In background, tales 110 sing 9-1-1

Through electronic posts, his aspects shine;
As writer, one hopes by him to be led.
His stories dancing, line by line by line…
The king wants sandwich, and he shall be fed.

Head to the clearing/glade/beyond/the fjord--
John Ford is dead. Long live John M (Mike) Ford.

*(think studio.)

Posted September 28, 2006 3:17 AM by Greg

Thank you for collecting those, Jim. I look forward to Part Two.

Posted September 28, 2006 8:02 AM by Dan Guy

TNH: I'm just glad to have encountered Mike Ford here.

Posted September 28, 2006 9:50 AM by Fragano Ledgister

Wow. Thanks for compiling these. Long may the server preserve 'em.

Posted September 28, 2006 11:21 AM by Laramie

"RUMSFELD JUMPS SHARK
Shark Denied Counsel"

I literally laughed out loud over that one. It's simultaneously dark, insightful, and funny as hell. Just brilliant.

How I miss him.

Posted September 28, 2006 12:14 PM by Joe J

What a gift. What a gift.

Posted September 28, 2006 5:25 PM by little light

Thank you, thank you, and again, thank you.

Posted September 28, 2006 10:04 PM by Stephen G