September 2021 Notable Author: Jack L. Chalker

“If you got what it takes, you'll make it. If you don't, Shakespeare couldn't help you." – Jack L. Chalker 

Jack Laurence Chalker (Dec 17, 1944 – Feb 11, 2005) was a science fiction author who was a lifelong Baltimorean.  He was born in Baltimore, graduated from Baltimore City College, earned a BA in English from Towson University, and received a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies from Johns Hopkins University. He taught history and geography in the Baltimore City Schools, was a member of the Washington Science Fiction Association (WSFA), and a member of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society (BSFS).

He was an early and avid reader, and had amassed an impressive collection of books by the time he was in junior high. Chalker was also a lifelong Sci-Fi fan.  By age 13, he had joined the WSFA and then began writing and submitting sci-fi fan fiction. Chalker first published Mirage, an amateur SF journal, at age 16 and started the BSFS at age 19. He next published Interjection, at age 24 and continued it for 19 years. He attended every World Science Fiction Convention, except one, from age 21 to just before his death at age 61.   

His writing caught one.  From a review at Library.com – “Jack Chalker’s first novel, Midnight at the Well of Souls, was an immediate hit and elevated him from a fan and hobbyist to a professional at the top of his field, a position he maintained for more than two decades, powered mainly by the Well World series. The seven book series involves a planet-sized supercomputer known as the Well of Souls that builds our reality on top of an underlying reality of greater complexity but smaller size. The computer was built by a now-extinct race, the Markovians, who developed the Well of Souls with the goal of creating a new species that would transcend their own.”

Chalker's works involve some physical transformation of the main characters. For instance, in the Well World series, immigrants to the Well World are transformed from their original form into a member of one of the 1,560 sentient species that inhabit the artificial planet.

Chalker’s work won several Sci-Fi awards beginning with the Hamilton-Brackett Memorial Award in 1979, a Skylark Award (1980), a Daedalus Award (1983), and The Gold Medal of the West Coast Review of Books (1984).

While Chalker loved Sci-Fi and devoted his life to its success, he also had a great interest in ferryboats; so much so that he was married on the Roaring Bull boat, part of the Millersburg Ferry, in the middle of the Susquehanna River and then after his death had his ashes scattered off a ferry near Hong Kong, a ferry in Vietnam, and White's Ferry on the Potomac River.

His fans follow each other at his Facebook page: www.facebook.com/JackLChalker.

Genre: Science Fiction (Sci-fi)

Science fiction (sci-fi) focuses on futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, extraterrestrial life, and parallel universes.

Sample Reading List: Well of Souls series (Midnight at the Well of Souls, Exiles at the Well of Souls, Quest for the Well of Souls, The Return of Nathan Brazil); Changewinds Books (When the Changewinds Blow, Riders of the Winds, War of the Maelstrom)

Writer's Prompt - Fun With Words

Maryland Writers’ Association (MWA) invites you to have fun writing Sci-Fi like Jack L. Chalker. With just 100 words, pick some characters, create a reason, and have them undergo a physical transformation.

Submit your Fun With Words response to: https://marylandwriters.org/Notable_Maryland_Authors by the 22nd of the month and receive an MWA Fun With Words submission certificate. Selected responses will be published with next month’s article as well as posted on the MWA website.

Submit Your FUN WITH WORDS Prompt

The MWA is a 33-year-old state-wide association (501c3) dedicated to encouraging and mentoring Maryland writers, poets, playwrights, and authors.  Go to:  www.MarylandWriters.org for more info.

Reader Responses: Last month readers were asked to imitate Marcia Talley and write a mystery piece. They were asked to use just 100 words, pick a mystery, and put a sleuth to work solving it. Here are their responses: