Jack L. Chalker (author) is INSANELY Underrated

[Lowgen]

I need to talk about, author, Jack L. Chalker.
I've never met a soul who's read one of his books.

I attest that his books' online reputation as being: pulpy, juvenile, and sexually repressed are wildly inaccurate. I find his novels and novel series to be rich with philosophy, esotericism, mythology, religion, and existentialism. He knows how to describe the ineffable experience of being a conscious being possessing a physical form, amidst Lovecraftian notions of the inexplicable, deep world-building, accurate science; all perceived by complicated and wildly divergent characters with hilarious Niven-style character interactions.

His books are nail-biting/chain-smoking intellectual adventures totally consistent within an infinite regress of a, possibly, and wholly connected (simulated/created?) multiverse. Very Gnostic. What with demon Creator (Old) gods seeming to be as much a common theme as being tapped inside a physical form, A.K.A. "Body swapping", deeper still inside another false/alternate reality, also not one's own.

Not to mention AI being present at all levels of known and unknown existence within his books. The Wonderland Gambit. The Well World Series. Rings of the Master. Four Lords of the Diamond. Seems very poignant, lately. Dystopic AF!

Genetic manipulation en lieu of terra-forming... The list goes on.

Though lately the demons, pentagrams, hexagons, rituals and such have really been standing out to me lately.

Does anyone love this man and his work as much as I?

 

[Raf]

I need to talk about, author, Jack L. Chalker.
I've never met a soul who's read one of his books.

I attest that his books' online reputation as being: pulpy, juvenile, and sexually repressed are wildly inaccurate. I find his novels and novel series to be rich with philosophy, esotericism, mythology, religion, and existentialism. He knows how to describe the ineffable experience of being a conscious being possessing a physical form, amidst Lovecraftian notions of the inexplicable, deep world-building, accurate science; all perceived by complicated and wildly divergent characters with hilarious Niven-style character interactions.

His books are nail-biting/chain-smoking intellectual adventures totally consistent within an infinite regress of a, possibly, and wholly connected (simulated/created?) multiverse. Very Gnostic. What with demon Creator (Old) gods seeming to be as much a common theme as being tapped inside a physical form, A.K.A. "Body swapping", deeper still inside another false/alternate reality, also not one's own.

Not to mention AI being present at all levels of known and unknown existence within his books. The Wonderland Gambit. The Well World Series. Rings of the Master. Four Lords of the Diamond. Seems very poignant, lately. Dystopic AF!

Genetic manipulation en lieu of terra-forming... The list goes on.

Though lately the demons, pentagrams, hexagons, rituals and such have really been standing out to me lately.

Does anyone love this man and his work as much as I?

I've read a ton of his stuff. Mostly in the 70's and 80's. Don't think I read a lot of his 90's stuff leading up to his passing. But who knows? I've slept since then.

 

[dannymcg]

I really liked Rings of the Masters.... I've still got the series saved as ebooks

 

[Lowgen]

I really liked Rings of the Masters.... I've still got the series saved as ebooks

I can't wait to revisit The Rings of the Master after falling in love with Chalker all over again. It's been like 20 years since reading them. Though I remember getting hooked into that series pretty quickly in Book 1. The escape from that prison, built inside an asteroid.

 

[Lowgen]

I've read a ton of his stuff. Mostly in the 70's and 80's. Don't think I read a lot of his 90's stuff leading up to his passing. But who knows? I've slept since then.

Then you may have missed The Quintara Marathon series (1991). I'm about to begin the third and final book. While I believe you and I have enjoyed many of the same books, I'm starting to think TQM just might be my favorite Chalker series.

It reads like a Star Trek episode. Three oppossed factions "Away missions" converge on the same planet, though very short distances away in time. All parties investigate the same mysteries, but through their own tech and biology. Super fun and deep. Unique means of space/interdimensional travel.

No body swapping, but telepathic powers and mind control. Very interesting.

There are always copies at used book stores, if you're bored.

 

[Stanley Steamboy]

Did he write any SF?

 

[Lowgen]

I would say the bulk of his work was sci-fi. Though sometimes his stories take place so far into the future that they almost 'feel like' Fantasy. So high-tech that such tech would appear to us modern humans as magic. Technology that can create, destroy, and manipulate reality, and entire universes.

Reality creating, bending, and destroying technologies of the 'gods', demons, or an ancient AI.

Other stories, like The Well World Series and The Rings of the Master, are hardcore sci-fi that actually read like a Tolkein or Jordan high-fantasy epic. So maybe Chalker's works could be considered, high sci-fi?

A fabulous (and short) stand-alone novel which, I think, is a linchpin to his fictional multiverse, and Chalker at his most fun, And The Devil Will Drag You Under. Otherwise, The Well World series is available on Audible, and the narration is fantastic.

 

[ArtNJ]

I need to talk about, author, Jack L. Chalker.
I've never met a soul who's read one of his books.

Be welcome. You are somewhere you fit in.

Like Raf, I read most of his early stuff but may have missed the 90s as I didn't do so much pleasure reading in college. If you have a particular recommendation among his later books, I'd be interested.

The only thing I've re-read is The Well of Souls series which is great fun and inspired my young mind to think. It held up on re-read.