Page Created: 09/18/10. Last Updated: 10/25/10. Last Google Group Page Update: 06/08/08.
JEFFREY FORD
Novels:
The Beyond
Memoranda
The Physiognomy
The Portrait of Mrs Charbuque
Vanitas
The author's website is: http://users.rcn.com/delicate/.
MEETING SUMMARY:
Meeting Date: September 12, 1998.
Meeting Site: Saddle River Valley Cultural Center, Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.
Official Attendance: 41.
Meeting Program: Talk by Science Fiction Writer.
Notes:
Meeting Memories:
Newsletter Account:
The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 1998 Philip J De Parto:
The Association came home to the Saddle River Valley Cultural Center on Saturday, September 12, 1998. The meeting was everything you could want it to be. Attendance was good, the speaker interesting, the booksale productive and there were several special treats on hand.
Despite the competition from the booksale, the pre meeting activities went well. GENE RODDENBERRY'S EARTH: FINAL CONFLICT was pre empted by the Yankee game, but STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE 9 was unaffected. The anime selections were well-attended and well-received.
The 50 or so boxes of club books were supplemented by donations from David Douglass, Thomas Purdy, and Keith Randall. Club members eagerly swooped down on new offerings or selections not previously noted. There were two items of special not available. A STAR TREK teleporter toy donated by Charlene and Ernie Haug and a 12 cassette boxed set dramatization of Tolkien's THE LORD OF THE RINGS donated by Melinda Taylor. They were purchased by Gerard Sullivan and Anthony Pawlak respectively.
Our guest speaker was Jeffrey Ford, author of the novels VANITAS (out of print), THE PHYSIOGNOMY (Avon Eos paperback) and its sequel, MEMORANDA (forthcoming) and a number of short pieces of literary and science fiction.
Mr Ford does not fit the profile of a typical science fiction writer. He discovered science fiction relatively late in his reading and is not particularly well-read in the genre. He was always interested in storytelling, spinning yarns at a young age. While attending the University of Binghamton, he attracted the attention of his writing professor, author John Gardner. Mr Gardner took the student under his wing, publishing his first story in a Literary Magazine. Mr Ford described how Mr Gardner would tear a story apart and go over it with him literally word by word.
After graduating, he sold a smattering of stories to literary magazines and some of the secondary science fiction markets like SPACE AND TIME and ABERRATIONS. One story attracted the notice of a literary agent who contacted him and asked him if he had a novel. Mr Ford had written four chapters of what became THE PHYSIOGNOMY. He figured, what the heck, and sent them. The agent called back a week or so later saying he had the book sold and to please send the rest of it.
He asked for a month's time to finish the rest of the novel and finished it to the day. He maintains that the section he wrote under the pressure of a deadline is actually better than the early chapters. He didn't have the luxury of thinking about what he was doing, he simply did it.
The book was released from a literary publisher and vanished without a trace. The only review of it was a basting in THE PHILADELPHIA ENQUIRER. THE NEW YORK TIMES gave it a favorable review and later rated it as one of a hundred Notable Books of the year. Avon Eos then released it in its current mass market edition.
High points of his talk included his observation that when people who have met him read his books, they can't believe he wrote them. He is a lot smarter when he writes. He doesn't have to battle his dumpy looks and the Long Island delivery. He revealed that his outlines include sketches of the layout of certain scenes to help him keep track of where everyone is and what they're doing. He enjoys having become identified as a science fiction author because it means that someone is reading his book. The downside is that his advances were cut in half.
He recommended to keep trying to sell your stuff, even if you wind up in the lowest paying markets. Big time people trawl through the good quality small magazines in the hopes of finding new talent. He praised SLIMY GREEN IGUANA on the internet as a very comprehensive guide to literary markets.
Mr Ford was an outstanding speaker who had something to say and was fun in the saying of it. Our thanks to him and to everyone in the club who helped with the set up, clean up, and operation of the night's activities.