John M. Ford was, in his lifetime, a favorite author of many writers better known than he was, including Neil Gaiman and Robert Jordan. He won World Fantasy Awards for both his novel The Dragon Waiting and his poem "Winter Solstice, Camelot Station," and he won the Philip K. Dick Award for his novel, Growing Up Weightless. His Star Trek(TM) novel, The Final Reflection, essentially created the nuanced Klingon culture seen later in the feature films, and his other novel in that universe, How Much For The Planet?, was a Star Trek(TM) tale told as a Gilbert & Sullivan musical, complete with songs. He was a genius. He died in 2006.
