I read to my daughter every night. She's not really a Trek fan yet, but this book is going to be RIGHT up her alley. You can't go wrong with a pie fight. The only problem is I don't know enough about music to be able to sing the songs with the right tune. Was there ever a good list compiled of the tunes the book's songs are sung to?
I need some help with Ford's "How Much For Just the Planet"
- Thread starter samtravis
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Nothing I know for sure, but maybe this page is a start:
http://therinofandor.blogspot.com/p/how-much-for-just-planet-search-for.html
Maybe @Therin of Andor can help...?
Anyway, hope that is helpful.
http://therinofandor.blogspot.com/p/how-much-for-just-planet-search-for.html
Maybe @Therin of Andor can help...?
Anyway, hope that is helpful.
With the author no longer able to comment, the next best thing would be for somebody (or several somebodies) with an encylopedic knowledge of musical theatre, popular songs of every age and genre, jazz, and so forth, to read the book.
I see that I'm credited for something. And of course, the disembodied head singing "I ain't got no body" is an echo (and perhaps an intentional allusion) to Marty Feldman's Igor pretending to be a severed head in Young Frankenstein.
I see that I'm credited for something. And of course, the disembodied head singing "I ain't got no body" is an echo (and perhaps an intentional allusion) to Marty Feldman's Igor pretending to be a severed head in Young Frankenstein.
That's the blog post I set up after the last big thread we had for the novel. Sadly, that group of friends mentioned are not close any more, so my plan to sit them down again and write down what they sang with Mike got quashed.
. . . which I have on one of my Preservation Hall Jazz Band CDs.
Interesting article about a Ford here: https://slate.com/culture/2019/11/john-ford-science-fiction-fantasy-books.html
That's a great article, thanks for posting that. It's encouraging that there is finally momentum, and a plan to bring Ford's work back into publication. I remember coming across a paperback copy of Dragon Waiting at a used bookstore for a normal, reasonable, used bookstore price, and considering it because of how good The Final Reflection was, but ultimately not picking it up. Only to find out how much it is being price online today...I'm kicking myself. On the other hand, if all goes well, it will be back in print!
I like the article's analysis of the structure of a John Ford novel, it's The Final Reflection to a T, and makes me curious to read his other works.
I was just coming here to post that!
Here is the delicious coincidence. Last night I was actually standing outside the motor hotel in Cremorne, Sydney, where we met John M Ford at that Syncon. I didn't even make that connection again until after noticing the Ford news item on my Facebook feed this morning! Cremorne is an area of Sydney I rarely go to, but the theatre opposite was playing a retro screening of "Galaxy Quest" last night, and - at my request - will be showing "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" on December 8.
The shopping arcade below the hotel is infamous as the outdoor location of a failed Aussie TV soap opera, "Arcade", in the 80s, and I was taking some nostalgic pics of the building for some TV friends.
Mike Ford was grinning at us yesterday. I have no doubt.
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After reading the article I thought how awesome it would be if Gallery reprinted The Final Reflection and How Much for Just the Planet? in editions that at least outwardly match in cover design and size the Tor editions of Ford's other work. They won't, but that would be so damn cool to have a unified edition of his work.
That would be cool! Maybe the non Trek books will sell well enough to justify something like that.
I just thought I would bump this topic, which became focused beyond the scope of the OP. I'm thinking specifically about the article that came into the discussion, and the prospect of John Ford's novels being republished. While I was perusing the kindle discounts, which includes Ford's old ST novel How Much For Just the Planet?, that book led me to the reprint of The Dragon waiting, which is about a month away now. So I thought I would bring this thread back, with that just around the corner.
I really loved this book. It's the Doctor Strangelove of the Star Trek universe, except with a happier ending.
I still can't believe that I witnessed Mike Ford singing tunes from the book. He was so thrilled to chat about his work. It was a serious SF convention, but we were his Trek groupies after his main spiel.
