Thanks to an article about why science fiction great John M Ford's books are out of print, they're coming back

John M Ford -- AKA Mike Ford -- (previously) was a spectacular and varied science fiction writer who performed brilliantly across a wide range of genres and formats, from RPGs (GURPS, Paranoia) to licensed Star Trek fiction (his "How Much for Just the Planet" effectively created Klingon fandom) to fantasy novels like The Dragon Waiting, which grip and delight the reader in ways to rival George RR Martin or Ursula K LeGuin.

Mike died in 2006 and his work has largely disappeared from print since, with battered copies of cheap paperbacks commanding hundreds of dollars in the used book market. I heard many stories about why his books were no longer available, and the prevailing narrative was that his religious, estranged parents were suppressing it, out of disapproval for Mike's polyamorous relationship with Elise Matheson (herself a brilliant writer and wonderful person), whose lack of legal standing meant that Elise was not given any legal right to control his literary estate.

This ghastly situation has been widely known in science fiction, and was behind a movement, spearheaded by Neil Gaiman (a dear friend of Mike's) to get writers to make out wills dictating the future of their literary estates (John Scalzi is my literary executor for this reason!).

Slate's Isaac Butler discovered Mike's books three years ago and set out to find out why they were no longer in print. In the course of researching the story, Butler discovered that the truth was more complex than the received wisdom about religious intolerance suppressing the works of a beloved author. Read the rest