I discovered Chalker’s unique style by reading my way through the Well of Souls books. Even now I must admit I’m not quite done there yet, there are still two more left to go in a series that has spanned several decades. I think I’ve held off in the hopes that he would write a third making yet another trilogy. Why did the universe of Nathan Brazil enthrall me? Chalker’s Well series showed an amazing imagination spanning many alien races, dealt with the personal aspects of becoming an alien after translation through the Well and dealt with one of my favorite questions, posed to no other than Nathan Brazil, can you justify destroying the universe to save it?                                  

            From there I found the Four Lords of the Diamond, The Soul Riders, The Rings of the Masters, The Dancing Gods, Changewinds, G.O.D. Inc., The Wonderland Gambit and The Quintara Marathon to name a few. Know what was the best out of this? Those are all names of series, in other words, the character’s stories were seldom over, they had more adventures just waiting to be tracked down at the local library or used bookstore. Now there are a few moments that when other folks asked me about some of the books that I'd read, I'd point out, well there's always an omniscient computer, the women seemed to take quite a beating and there's always some man that gets changed into a woman or vice versa.  I'd follow that up with, you should still read them anyway.  If I'd commented about how hard Chalker was on his women characters, it's only fair to point out how many strong women characters are in his stories.  Mavra Chang is a wonderful example. 

           Going on from those series, there are a number of stand alone books as well that give you even more Chalker to read.  Even now there are at least 7 or more books left for me to read from Jack. What truly saddens me, is that there won’t be any more. Somewhere in the back of my little head there was the crazy idea that one day I might be able to get him to visit our little scifi group.  After all Maryland wasn't too far away, but it was as far away in time as it was in terms of dreams.  The society of authors and their readers will miss him dearly.

         jeff