Alas...

... John M. Ford is dead. He was a well-known and very well-liked writer of SF across a broad spectrum. I knew him best for his unique Star Trek book "The Final Reflection", which crystallized my view of the Klingon culture (alas that they didn't use all of that for the later Trek franchises). His later return to the ST universe, "How Much For Just the Planet?" was liked by many; I considered it terrible; couldn't get very far into it, even. I have a very very very narrow threshold of tolerance for parody; it must be done very carefully to work for me at all.

In any case, he was a skilled, professional, and much-loved writer in the fan community, and he will be missed.