Jack L. Chalker

Jack Lawrence Chalker (December 17, 1944 - February 11, 2005) was an American science fiction author.

Chalker and SF

The writers he liked to read included Eric Frank Russell, James White, some Philip José Farmer, the early work of Raymond F. Jones and Robert A. Heinlein, Jack Vance, and others too numerous to mention. From January 1965 to November 2004, he missed only one World Science Fiction Convention.

Related Topics:
Eric Frank Russell - James White - Philip José Farmer - Raymond F. Jones - Robert A. Heinlein - Jack Vance - World Science Fiction Convention

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Chalker's awards included the Daedalus Award (1983), The Gold Medal of the West Coast Review of Books (1984), Skylark Award (1985), Hamilton-Brackett Memorial Award (1979), as well as others of varying prestige. He was a nominee for the John W. Campbell Award twice and for the Hugo award twice. He was posthumously awarded the Phoenix Award by the Southern Fandom Confederation on April 9, 2005. In 1967 Chalker founded the Baltimore Science Fiction Society and he was a 3-term treasurer of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. Chalker was also the co-author (with Mark Owings) of The Science Fantasy Publishers (1991, updated annually), published by Mirage Press, Ltd, which was a Hugo Award nominee in 1992.

Related Topics:
Daedalus Award - 1983 - 1984 - Skylark Award - 1985 - Hamilton-Brackett Memorial Award - 1979 - John W. Campbell Award - Hugo award - Phoenix Award - Southern Fandom Confederation - Baltimore Science Fiction Society - Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America

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He is perhaps best known for his Well World series of novels, but he also wrote many other novels (most, but not all, part of series), and at least nine short stories. Many of his works involve some physical transformation of the main characters. For instance, in the Well World novels, immigrants to the Well World are transformed from their original form to become a member of one of the thousands of sentient species that inhabit that artificial planet. Another exampele would be that the Wonderland Gambit series resembles traditional Buddhist jataka-type reincarnation stories set in an SF environment. There are rumors that Wonderland Gambit might become a movie in a few years, because of an announcement made by Steven Chalker about a script being made. At the time of his death, Chalker left behind one unfinished novel, Chameleon.

Related Topics:
Well World - Transformation - Jataka - Reincarnation

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