For years after the death of John M. Ford in 2006, fans believed as doctrinal truth the assertion that, in the wake of his having died without formal plans for the continuance of his estate, his mean-spirited surviving family members, who all hated his career and even the existence of science fiction, were conspiring to keep his works out of print, and render his legacy nonexistent. The actuality of the situation proved considerably more complicated, however, as revealed in an essay from 2019 by Isaac Butler, “The Disappearance of John M. Ford”. The whole experience should be a salutary a...