Jeffrey Ford

For the second straight year, Jeffrey Ford is recommended as an underrated writer.  Kassia Krozser of Booksquare says:

My choice would be Jeffrey Ford, an author I wouldn't have discovered on my own. During this past year, the [Litblog Co-op] has chosen books by authors that feel like writers' writers (I'm using the LBC more as an example of general biases that I'm seeing, not limiting myself to books chosen by the LBC). The literary fiction community is, from what I see, heavily skewed toward writing and MFA-types, so, naturally, that would be the bias (I am not judging this as I am clearly guilty on this point). Books like Michael Martone and Firmin feel largely geared toward fellow writers rather than readers. So often, reading literary fiction feels like an exercise in self-indulgence -- which I can appreciate, but it's really hard to recommend books that have such limited appeal -- because it's about the writing, not the storytelling.

Since reading Ford, I find myself "hand-selling" his work to friends and family, and I think it's because he puts effort into storytelling. He is an incredibly skilled writer -- and, more importantly, an incredibly skilled storyteller. I do not think the two necessarily go hand in hand. Sometimes we are blinded by sheer talent for the sake of talent...to the point that we forget about story. I think the more I know about writing, the more I appreciate someone who can tell a good story.

Ford strikes me as underrated because he's largely working in a small community -- I'm not seeing how those who aren't in the know can discover his work. I'm doing my part by pushing his books on friends...

More about Jeffrey Ford

+  The Litblog Co-op's discussion of Ford's The Girl in the Glass
+  More links can be found at last year's post about Jeffrey Ford

Comments

[Ellen Datlow]

A lot of Ford's short fiction is still available at the SCIFICTION archives:
http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/archive.html

Also, he won the Edgar Award in 2006 for his mystery novel THE GIRL IN THE GLASS. He's a brilliant writer and is published in many venues --his work is not difficult to find. You just have to look for it :-)