John M. Ford (known as Mike Ford) was a
sci-fi (and other
genre) author. This node was originally written in response to
Marc Okrand - to which I must reply that while Okrand's
Klingons made
canon, Ford's (from the novel
The Final Reflection) were
so much cooler, more consistent, and generally asskicking. And their language sounded neat, too.
Ford has written at least two Star Trek novels (the aforementioned The Final Reflection, highly, highly recommended, and How Much for Just The Planet?) and (my favorite) a gaming module for the RPG Paranoia! entitled Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues which rules. He's also written a load more stuff, but the Final Reflection and that mod are what I associate him with.
Well, not quite true. He's written a book entitled The Princes of the Air that is some of my favorite stylized space opera, and a magic/reality crossover book entitled The Last Hot Time. The latter, although short, is of excellent quality, and to my joy, has a Triumph TR3 in it.
This is just a taste of his work. His short story style as well as poesy can be found, among other places, in the volume Heat of Fusion - which I recommend as well. Really, grab anything he's done.
Mike Ford passed away in late September 2006.