(1944-2005) US writer and editor, though now very much better known for his fiction. He was active as a fan from an early age, and producer of a successful Fanzine, Mirage. As editor, he founded and edited the Mirage Press, which specialized in sf scholarship. His own work in that area began with The New H. P. Lovecraft Bibliography (1962 chap; rev vt The Revised H. P. Lovecraft Bibliography 1973 chap with Mark Owings) and In Memoriam: Clark Ashton Smith (anth 1963 chap), continuing with some studies and guides with Owings, who is sometimes listed as a pseudonym of Chalker, a confusion arising from his sole crediting for The Necronomicon: A Study (1967 chap), which was in fact collaborative. They also worked together on Mirage on Lovecraft (1965 chap) and The Index to the Science-Fantasy Publishers: (a Bibliography of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Specialty Houses) (1966 chap; rev vt Index to the SF Publishers 1979 chap). After the solo An Informal Biography of $crooge McDuck (July, November 1971 Markings; 1974 chap), Chalker moved his attention to fiction, only returning to his earlier interest twenty years later with a new edition of his 1979 Index, which though technically a revision of the earlier work was in fact ten times its length, and can pragmatically be treated as a new title: The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Critical and Bibliographic History [1991; for subsequent iterations see Checklist], still with Owings; The Science-Fantasy Publishers: Supplement One, July 1991-June 1992 (1992) with Owings and its sequels [see Checklist] continue the coverage (see also Bibliographies). In its mature form, Science-Fantasy Publishers is a central reference resource, and has been used throughout this Encyclopedia.
His first novel, an ambitious singleton Space Opera, A Jungle of Stars (1976), proved typical in that its opposing aliens (who are both ex-gods) represent in their conflict a form of populist argument about alternative utopian worldviews, and in that its plot concentrates on members of mortal races who have been recruited to do the superbeings' fighting for them in a kind of world-arena. This underlying articulacy and the plot-device of recruitment also mark his most successful single novel, Dancers in the Afterglow (1978), a complex and melancholy tale of oppression and enforced metamorphosis on a conquered colony planet, in which questions of power and morality are again asked with some ease, and the human need for freedom is answered (and at the same time deeply assaulted) by transformation tropes out of Science Fantasy and nightmare. Dancers contains in embryo almost all of the next decade or so of Chalker's prolific career, most of which has been given over to the construction of large series. On the other hand, The Devil's Voyage (1981), which is almost Chalker's only associational fiction, deals with the ship that carried the A-bomb used on Hiroshima to its rendezvous, and which was subsequently sunk and its crew eaten by sharks; but also about the security scare caused by Cleve Cartmill's "Deadline", published in March 1944 in John W Campbell Jr's Astounding.
The first of the series which would dominate the rest of Chalker's career is the Well of Souls sequence, which begins with his second fiction title, Midnight at the Well of Souls (1977), The Wars of the Well: Exiles at the Well of Souls (1978), The Wars of the Well: Quest for the Well of Souls (1978), The Return of Nathan Brazil (1980), Twilight at the Well of Souls: The Legacy of Nathan Brazil (1980), the three-part Watchers of the Well subseries comprising Echoes of the Well of Souls (1993), Shadow of the Well of Souls (1994) and Gods of the Well of Souls (1994), and concluding with The Sea is Full of Stars (1999) and Ghost of the Well of Souls (2000). In this series the dominant pattern of the Chalker multi-volume tale can be seen. Into a Science and Sorcery world which reveals itself in the shape of a game-board disguised as a Dystopia, recruited and metamorphosed mortals are introduced to find their way, usually stark-naked, to the heart of the Labyrinth, where the godlings await them, and, perhaps, as a reward for the Godgame they have successfully played, grant them the true form they have always secretly wished to assume (the 1990s volumes of the sequence replicate this pattern). It is a pattern open to facile abuse (several of Chalker's fantasy series, as listed below, exhibit a strange monotony) but which remains exhilarating and innovative in his other major sf series, The Four Lords of the Diamond (omni 1983), which assembles Lilith: A Snake in the Grass (1981), Cerberus: A Wolf in the Fold (1982), Charon: A Dragon at the Gate (1982) and Medusa: A Tiger by the Tail (1983). The Quintara Marathon sf series – Demons at Rainbow Bridge (1989), The Run to Chaos Keep (1991) and The Ninety Trillion Fausts (1991) – further rehearses this material, though The Three Kings sequence – comprising Balshazzar's Serpent (1999), Melchior's Fire (2001) and Kaspar's Box (2003) – shifts the typical Chalker arena, where the usual god-like figures continue to manipulate, overstress and ultimately guide "subject" races, into the Far Future, refreshingly.
Of Chalker's infrequent later singletons, The Identity Matrix (1982) (> Identity; Identity Exchange) and Downtiming the Night Side (1985) perhaps stand out; his short fiction, also infrequent, is represented by Dance Band on the Titanic (coll 1988). Chalker was a novelist of considerable flair, with an ear acutely attuned to the secret dreams of freedom mortals tend to dream, but was prone to sometimes gross and compulsively repetitive overproduction – though bad health slowed this down in later years. He will not be remembered for his second thoughts, which will fade into the backstory of the sf genre; his first thoughts will remain. [JC]
see also: Gods and Demons; Invasion; Paranoia; Pocket Universe; Skylark Award; Small Presses and Limited Editions; Time Travel; Virtual Reality.
Jack Laurence Chalker
born Norfolk, Virginia: 17 December 1944
died Baltimore, Maryland: 11 February 2005
works
series
The Well of Souls
- Midnight at the Well of Souls
(New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1977) [The Well of Souls: pb/H R van Dongen] - The Wars of the Well: Exiles at the Well of Souls (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1978) [The Well of Souls: The Wars of the Well: pb/Darrell K Sweet]
- The Wars of the Well: Quest for the Well of Souls (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1978) [The Well of Souls: The Wars of the Well: pb/Darrell K Sweet]
- The Return of Nathan Brazil (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1980) [The Well of Souls: pb/Peter Goodfellow]
- Twilight at the Well of Souls: The Legacy of Nathan Brazil (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1980) [The Well of Souls: pb/Darrell K Sweet]
- Echoes of the Well of Souls (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1993) [The Well of Souls: The Watchers of the Well: pb/Bob Eggleton]
- Shadow of the Well of Souls (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1994) [The Well of Souls: The Watchers of the Well: pb/Paul Youll]
- Gods of the Well of Souls (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1994) [The Well of Souls: The Watchers of the Well: pb/Paul Youll]
- The Watchers at the Well (New York: Science Fiction Book Club, 1994) [omni of the above three: The Well of Souls: The Watchers of the Well: hb/Romas Kukalis]
- The Sea is Full of Stars (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1999) [The Well of Souls: pb/uncredited]
- Ghost of the Well of Souls (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 2000) [The Well of Souls: pb/uncredited]
The Four Lords of the Diamond
Soul Rider
The Dancing Gods
The Rings of the Master
Changewinds
G.O.D. Inc
The Quintara Marathon
Wonderland Gambit
The Three Kings
individual titles
- A Jungle of Stars (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1976) [pb/H R van Dongen]
- Dancers in the Afterglow (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1978) [pb/Michael Herring]
- The Web of the Chozen (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1978) [pb/Ralph McQuarrie]
- A War of Shadows (New York: Ace Books, 1979) [pb/David Meltzer]
- And the Devil Will Drag You Under (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1979) [pb/Darrell K Sweet]
- The Devil's Voyage (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1981) [hb/]
- The Identity Matrix (New York: Timescape Books, 1982) [pb/]
- Downtiming the Night Side (New York: Tor, 1985) [pb/Norma Segrelles]
- The Messiah Choice (New York: Blue Jay Books, 1985) [hb/David B Mattingly]
- Dance Band on the Titanic (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1988) [coll: pb/Darrell K Sweet]
- The Red Tape War: A Round-Robin Science Fiction Novel (New York: Tor, 1991) with Mike Resnick and George Alec Effinger [hb/Kelly Freas]
- Priam's Lens (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 1997) [pb/]
- The Moreau Factor (New York: Ballantine Books/Del Rey, 2000) [pb/]
- Dancers in the Dark (Waterville, Maine: Five Star Books, 2002) [coll: hb/Andy Simmons]
works as editor
nonfiction
series
Science-Fantasy Publishers
- The Index to the Science-Fantasy Publishers (Baltimore, Maryland: The Anthem Series, 1966) with Mark Owings [bibliography: chap: Science-Fantasy Publishers: pb/Mark Owings]
- The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Critical and Bibliographic History: Third Edition, Revised and Enlarged (Baltimore, Maryland: Mirage Press, 1992) with Mark Owings [bibliography: effectively a new book, though described as the Third Edition of The Index to the Science-Fantasy Publishers, see above: unsignalled issues or reprints of this edition incorporate some corrections and changes: Science-Fantasy Publishers: hb/nonpictorial]
- The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Critical and Bibliographic History: Third Edition, Revised and Enlarged (Baltimore, Maryland: Mirage Press, 1992) with Mark Owings [bibliography: rev vt of the above: Science-Fantasy Publishers: hb/nonpictorial]
- The Science-Fantasy Publishers: Supplement One, July 1991-June 1992 (Baltimore, Maryland: Mirage Press, 1992) with Mark Owings [bibliography: supplement to the above: Science-Fantasy Publishers: pb/]
- The Science-Fantasy Publishers: Supplement Two, July 1993-June 1994 (Baltimore, Maryland: Mirage Press, 1994) with Mark Owings [bibliography: chap: supplement to the above: Science-Fantasy Publishers: pb/]
- The Science-Fantasy Publishers: Supplement Three, July 1994-June 1995 (Baltimore, Maryland: Mirage Press, 1995) with Mark Owings [bibliography: chap: supplement to the above: Science-Fantasy Publishers: pb/]
- The Science-Fantasy Publishers: Supplement Four, July 1995-June 1996 (Baltimore, Maryland: Mirage Press, 1996) with Mark Owings [bibliography: chap: supplement to the above: pb/]
- The Science-Fantasy Publishers: Supplement Five, July 1996-June 1997 (Baltimore, Maryland: Mirage Press, 1997) with Mark Owings [bibliography: chap: supplement to the above: pb/]
- The Science-Fantasy Publishers: Supplement Six, July 1997-June 1998 (Baltimore, Maryland: Mirage Press, 1998) with Mark Owings [bibliography: chap: supplement to the above: pb/]
- The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Bibliographic History 1923-1998 (Baltimore, Maryland: Mirage Press, 1998) with Mark Owings [bibliography: ebook: rev vt of the above: Science-Fantasy Publishers: na/]
- The Science-Fantasy Publishers: Supplement Seven, July 1998-June 1999 (Baltimore, Maryland: Mirage Press, 1999) with Mark Owings [bibliography: chap: supplement to the above: pb/]
- The Science-Fantasy Publishers: Supplement Eight, July 1999-June 2000 (Baltimore, Maryland: Mirage Press, 2000) with Mark Owings [bibliography: chap: supplement to the above: pb/]
- The Science-Fantasy Publishers: Supplement Nine, July 2000-June 2001 (Baltimore, Maryland: Mirage Press, 2001) with Mark Owings [bibliography: chap: supplement to the above: pb/]
- The Science-Fantasy Publishers: Supplement Ten, July 2001-June 2002 (Baltimore, Maryland: Mirage Press, 2002) with Mark Owings [bibliography: chap: supplement to the above: pb/]
- The Science-Fantasy Publishers: Supplement Eleven, July 2002-June 2003 (Baltimore, Maryland: Mirage Press, 2003) with Mark Owings [bibliography: chap: supplement to the above: pb/]
individual titles
links
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