Jack L. Chalker

Author profile

born

in Baltimore, Maryland, The United States

December 17, 1944

died

February 11, 2005

gender

male

website

http://www.jackchalker.com/

genre

Science Fiction & Fantasy

About this author

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Besides being a science fiction author, Jack Laurence Chalker was a Baltimore City Schools history teacher in Maryland for a time, a member of the Washington Science Fiction Association, and was involved in the founding of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society. Some of his books said that he was born in Norfolk, Virginia although he later claimed that was a mistake.

He attended all but one of the World Science Fiction Conventions from 1965 until 2004. He published an amateur SF journal, Mirage, from 1960 to 1971 (a Hugo nominee in 1963 for Best Fanzine).

Chalker was married in 1978 and had two sons.

His stated hobbies included esoteric audio, travel, and working on science-fiction convention committees. He had a great interest in ferryboats, a...more Besides being a science fiction author, Jack Laurence Chalker was a Baltimore City Schools history teacher in Maryland for a time, a member of the Washington Science Fiction Association, and was involved in the founding of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society. Some of his books said that he was born in Norfolk, Virginia although he later claimed that was a mistake.

He attended all but one of the World Science Fiction Conventions from 1965 until 2004. He published an amateur SF journal, Mirage, from 1960 to 1971 (a Hugo nominee in 1963 for Best Fanzine).

Chalker was married in 1978 and had two sons.

His stated hobbies included esoteric audio, travel, and working on science-fiction convention committees. He had a great interest in ferryboats, and, at his wife's suggestion, their marriage was performed on the Roaring Bull Ferry.

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.

On September 18, 2003, during Hurricane Isabel, Chalker passed out and was rushed to the hospital with a diagnosis of a heart attack. He was later released, but was severely weakened. On December 6, 2004, he was again rushed to hospital with breathing problems and disorientation, and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and a collapsed lung. Chalker was hospitalized in critical condition, then upgraded to stable on December 9, though he didn't regain consciousness until December 15. After several more weeks in deteriorating condition and in a persistent vegetative state, with several transfers to different hospitals, he died on February 11, 2005 of kidney failure and sepsis in Bon Secours of Baltimore, Maryland.

Chalker is perhaps best known for his Well World series of novels, the first of which is Midnight at the Well of Souls (Well World, #1). 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. (less)

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Jack L. Chalker's Books

Average rating: 3.77 · 20,452 ratings · 559 reviews · 79 distinct works · Similar authors

	Midnight at the Well of Souls (Saga of the Well World, #1) 3.94 of 5 stars 3.94 avg rating — 1,641 ratings — published 1977 — 10 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Quest for the Well of Souls (Saga of the Well World, #3) by Jack L. Chalker, Jim Baen 3.87 of 5 stars 3.87 avg rating — 1,039 ratings — published 1978 — 9 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Exiles at the Well of Souls (Saga of the Well World, #2) 3.89 of 5 stars 3.89 avg rating — 980 ratings — published 1978 — 9 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Twilight at the Well of Souls (Saga of the Well World, #5) 3.93 of 5 stars 3.93 avg rating — 966 ratings — published 1980 — 6 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Return of Nathan Brazil (Saga of the Well World, #4) 3.93 of 5 stars 3.93 avg rating — 927 ratings — published 1979 — 7 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The River of Dancing Gods (Dancing Gods #1) 3.74 of 5 stars 3.74 avg rating — 926 ratings — published 1984 — 6 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Lilith: A Snake in the Grass (The Four Lords of the Diamond, #1) 3.82 of 5 stars 3.82 avg rating — 725 ratings — published 1981 — 8 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Cerberus: A Wolf in the Fold (The Four Lords of the Diamond, #2) 3.86 of 5 stars 3.86 avg rating — 689 ratings — published 1981 — 10 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Charon: A Dragon at the Gate (The Four Lords of the Diamond, #3) 3.84 of 5 stars 3.84 avg rating — 618 ratings — published 1982 — 6 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Medusa: A Tiger by the Tail (The Four Lords of the Diamond, #4) 3.89 of 5 stars 3.89 avg rating — 590 ratings — published 1983 — 6 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Jack L. Chalker…

Series by Jack L. Chalker

Well World (12 books)
by Jack L. Chalker
3.880168776371308 of 5 stars 3.88 avg rating — 7,110 ratings

Saga of the Well World (7 books)
by Jack L. Chalker
3.903199071771921 of 5 stars 3.90 avg rating — 6,033 ratings

The Four Lords of the Diamond (5 books)
by Jack L. Chalker
3.865441176470588 of 5 stars 3.87 avg rating — 2,720 ratings

Dancing Gods (5 books)
by Jack L. Chalker
3.6863453815261042 of 5 stars 3.69 avg rating — 2,490 ratings

Rings of the Master (4 books)
by Jack L. Chalker
3.7669735327963174 of 5 stars 3.77 avg rating — 1,738 ratings

More series by Jack L. Chalker…

Quotes by Jack L. Chalker

“Just because your whole life is going to hell doesn't mean you have to walk there.”
― Jack L. Chalker, The River of Dancing Gods

5 people liked it

“...it is in the very fundamentals of evil that one always condemns it when they see it but rationalizes it when they do it.”
― Jack L. Chalker, The Ninety Trillion Fausts

tags: evil

4 people liked it

“Curse him to eternal damnation! Yes! Of course!" came the emotional reply.

"Don't curse him," I said softly. "Remember--he's only a machine, just an imperfect mirror of ourselves. We made him what he is--the disease, the cancer."

There was nothing else to say, because that left only cursing ourselves, and we were already cursed.”
― Jack L. Chalker, The Web of the Chozen

2 people liked it

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Polls

This is a great list ... it's the Nominations for the July Science Fiction Theme: Classic SF.

Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein

11 votes 35.5%

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

7 votes 22.6%

The Gods Themselves by Isaac Asimov

5 votes 16.1%

Midnight at the Well of Souls by Jack L. Chalker

5 votes 16.1%

Martian Time-Slip by Philip K. Dick

2 votes 6.5%

Rite of Passage by Alexei Panshin

1 vote 3.2%

31 total votes

4 comments

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