Jeffrey Ford

Jeffrey Ford (born November 8, 1955) is an American writer in the fantastic genre tradition.

Jeffrey Ford at KGB bar, 2006

Quotes

Short fiction

The Fantasy Writer's Assistant and Other Stories (2002)

Page numbers from the hardcover first edition, published by Golden Gryphon Press, ISBN 1-930846-10-X

See Jeffrey Ford's Internet Science Fiction Database page for original publication details

• What good is the illusion of fiction if it cannot show us a way to become the people we need to be?
  • The Fantasy Writer’s Assistant (p. 40)

• In their exquisite self-centeredness our ancestors believed that they were alone in the universe. At the same time, they had convinced themselves that Earth was the blue apple of God’s eye and the sole reason for all of creation. This two-headed fallacy caused humanity both delusions of grandeur and a paranoiac sense of loneliness.
  • The Far Oasis (p. 43)

• A slight grin that has nothing to do with merriment is the sure sign that she is about to set things straight. Her overall air is one of constant suspicion, and ever readiness to take offense.
  • The Woman Who Counts Her Breath (p. 59)

• He’s no physician, he’s Grandfather Mess. He couldn’t cure a pain in the ass unless he left the room.
  • At Reparata (p. 75)

• “My dear Philosopher,” said the countess. “You give sanity a bad name.”
  • At Reparata (p. 75)

• Real memories intrude now and then as do self-admonitions for a wasted life, but the smoke’s other feature is that it lets you not give a shit about anything but taking in more smoke.
  • Exo-Skeleton Town (p. 105)

• Life was never so clear-cut as to offer anything as certain as a war between Heaven and Hell. That was for stories.
  • Something by the Sea (pp. 144-145)

• He kneels and prays to heaven but nothing happens.
  • The Delicate (p. 160)

• If he’s not crazy, he’s probably playing with your mind. He seems to have a healthy measure of mischief about him. That string tie is a good indicator.
  • Malthusian’s Zombie (p. 173)

• “You gotta watch that anger. The customer’s always right,” said Merk.
  “The customer’s hardly ever right,” said Slackwell.
  • Floating in Lindrethool (p. 199)

• Between Heaven and Hell there is this place called reality. Reality might as well be Hell if you don’t have cash.
  • Floating in Lindrethool (p. 205)

• “I understand the human brain. It’s a double-edged sword. An evolutionarily development that gives you the wherewithal to know that life is basically a shit pastry one is obliged to eat slowly, and the ability to disguise that fact with beautiful delusions.”
  “Where do God and the cash come in?” asked Slackwell.
  “The cash is the pastry part. God, he just likes to watch us eat. The more we eat the more he loves us. You can’t live without love.”
  • Floating in Lindrethool (p. 205)

The Empire of Ice Cream (2006)

Page numbers from the hardcover first edition, published by Golden Gryphon Press, ISBN 1-930846-39-8

See Jeffrey Ford's Internet Science Fiction Database page for original publication details

• Parents—so essential yet sometimes like something you have stepped in and cannot get off your shoe. What else is there but to love them?
  • The Empire of Ice Cream (p. 56)

• My hero was J. S. Bach. It was from his works that I came to understand mathematics and, through a greater understanding of math, came to a greater understanding of Bach—the golden ratio, the rise of complexity through the reiteration of simple elements, the presence of the cosmic in the common.
  • The Empire of Ice Cream (pp. 58-59)

• Halloween was close, our favorite holiday because it carried none of the pain-in-the-ass holiness of Christmas and still there was free candy.
  • Botch Town (p. 160)

• “Can you think of anything, my dear Mr. Fell, more intricately complex, more perfectly compact and thoroughly functional than the human eye?”
  “No, sir,” said August.
  “I thought not,” said Larchcroft. “Consider this, though. Our eyes were created by light. Without the existence of light, we would not have eyes. Over the long course of man’s evolutionarily maturation to his modern condition, light sculpted these magical orbs, making subtle adjustments through the centuries, until now they are capable of the incredible process of sight. This most vital sense, not only a means of self-preservation but the single most important catalyst for culture, is a product of the inherent genius of light.”
  • A Man of Light (p. 190)

• Nothing is more comforting to people than to have their certainties trumpeted back to them in bold, clear typeface.
  • The Weight of Words (p. 291)

• Now I was stuck and could feel the tide of years suddenly beginning to rise around me.
  • The Trentino Kid (p. 307)

• The wind and sun, the salt water, the hard work aged a body rapidly, and when I would look at the old man who clammed, I was too young to sense the wisdom their years on the water had bestowed upon them and saw only what I did not want to become.
  • The Trentino Kid (p. 307)