(1946- ) US writer who worked in television in various capacities before beginning to publish sf with his Skyway Trilogy comprising Starrigger (1983), Red Limit Freeway (1984) and Paradox Alley (1986). Based on a truckers-in-space premise with some comic potential, the already crowded tale is complicated by Time Paradoxes, godlings and much more, all built around the search for a missing interstellar spaceways map; the ensuing epic is at points extremely funny. A second comic sf sequence, the USS Recluse stories, began with The Kruton Interface (1993) though no further instalments have appeared; and a third, the Dr. Dimension series in collaboration with David Bischoff, comprises Dr. Dimension (1993) and Dr. Dimension: Masters of Spacetime (1994), both containing Recursive SF elements. Crooked House (1987) with Thomas F Monteleone is a competent horror novel, and the Zelaznyesque Castle Perilous sequence, beginning with Castle Perilous (1988) and ending with Bride of the Castle (1994) – is fantasy, at times rollicking. Further sequences include the Castle Falkenstein series beginning with Castle Falkenstein: From Prussia with Love * (1996), based on the Role Playing Game Castle Falkenstein (1994); and Witchblade, beginning with Witchblade: Talons * (2002), based on the television series.
DeChancie's later work includes some sf like Living With Aliens (1995), which is humorous, and Innerverse (1996), in which – after twenty years of isolation – the eastern portion of the United States is found to be inhabited by Zombie-like citizens acting out the commands of Innerverse, an all-controlling nanoware (> nanotechnology) network. DeChancie has also written two biographies of figures not related to the field of the fantastic: Peron (1987) and Nasser (1987). [JC]
John DeChancie
born Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: 3 August 1946
died
works
series
Skyway Trilogy
Castle Perilous
U.S.S. Recluse
Dr. Dimension
Castle Falkenstein
Witchblade
individual titles
works as editor
links
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