This prose poem, which won a World Fantasy Award for best short story, reimagines Camelot as a train station and explores some of the characters from the legends. Not being a big King Arthur expert myself, this story was very accessible without feeling shallow or simplified.
Furthermore, Ford has this ability to add metaphorical or symbolical elements to his stories that make you question whether you ever understood what was being said or taking place.
You get the feeling that what you are seeing is but a tiny part of the whole story, so you can never really be sure of what's happening. This aspect can make for a confusing narrative (see his novel The Dragon Waiting), so, in my opinion, it works best within the short story medium.
He's also able to write beautifully and poetically without seeming over-the-top or campy in a way not many authors can match. Personally, I find his prose to be on par with some of the best I’ve encountered like Ray Bradbury (Fahrenheit 451) or Jorge Luis Borges (El Aleph).
Overall, this was a great short story, maybe the best I've ever read, and I highly recommend it to anyone with ten minutes to spare (you can read it by clicking here or by seraching the tittle online).
If you want to learn more about John M. Ford, I highly recommend the article Isaac Butler (from The Slate) did on him, where they talk a little bit about his life and why his work became so obscure after his death, as well as what the future holds in store.
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