# Jack L. Chalker's Last Transformation **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 12, 2005, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-l-chalkers-last-transformation/289809 "2005-02-12T23:53:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-l-chalkers-last-transformation/289809/1 "2005-02-12T23:53:11Z")
I don’t have a cite other than [his own website](http://www.jackchalker.com/news.htm) (which isn’t where I learned the news; I got it from an sf mailing list I subscribe to), but it seems Jack L. Chalker has died. He wasn’t a great writer, but his books were always very imaginative and I enjoyed many of them. The cause of death seems to be congestive heart failure. ---
**Author:** ![pinkfreud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pinkfreud/32/17603_2.png) [@pinkfreud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pinkfreud)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-l-chalkers-last-transformation/289809/2 "2005-02-13T00:33:42Z")
I enjoyed his books, too. I’ll miss him. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-l-chalkers-last-transformation/289809/3 "2005-02-13T00:47:33Z")
> [@Fiver](#): > > He wasn’t a great writer, but his books were always very imaginative and I enjoyed many of them. Ditto that. He was indeed overly preoccupied with physical transformations ( often involving some sort of weird sexual context ) and after awhile his stuff became a bit repetitive. But I was thoroughly entertained by his _Well World_ and _Warden Diamond_ series and liked parts of the _Dancing Gods_ and _Quintara Marathon_ series. Also _…And the Devil Will Drag You Under._ among his singletons. A sad loss. - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![IrreverentTone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@IrreverentTone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IrreverentTone)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-l-chalkers-last-transformation/289809/4 "2005-02-13T05:14:13Z")
May you have a peaceful journey across the Sea of Dreams, Jack. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-l-chalkers-last-transformation/289809/5 "2005-02-13T19:36:50Z")
Damn. I kept hoping he’d do another River Of The Dancing Gods sequel. ☹ I’ll miss him. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-l-chalkers-last-transformation/289809/6 "2005-02-13T23:15:55Z")
The original **Well of Souls** saga is one of my favorite series. RIP. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-l-chalkers-last-transformation/289809/7 "2005-02-14T00:10:40Z")
Chalker dead? Wow. I have every book of his that I know about, including **The Devil’s Voyage** and **An Informal Biography of Scrooge McDuck**. Not \*all[/i of his books are about transformations, and he was getting much better lately (I’m finishing up **Kaspar’s Box** right now, which just came out in paperback last August). He’s definitely matured as a writer. He was at his best when he got away from SF and Fantasy in the middle of an SF or Fantasy book, oddly enough, and veered into history – he could throw in an odd tidbit of history that I’d never come acros, and which would be worth looking into. I saw him at two NoreasCons – in 1989, where he read from some of his stuff, and just last September. He looked a _lot_ heavier, and he had to get around on one of those motorized scooters – I don’t know what was wrong with him, but I never saw him walk. He was there at the panel honoring Jack Williamson, and he looked worse than some of the writers there – many of whom were older. ---
**Author:** ![Rillian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rillian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rillian)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-l-chalkers-last-transformation/289809/8 "2005-02-14T00:20:50Z")
I too loved **Well of Souls** when I read it in high school. I moved on other authors and didn’t too much else of Chalker’s, but still enjoy that series. I was surprised to see "Click here to donate to the Chalker Family Emergency Fund " on the Chalker web site. I don’t know much about Sci-Fi publishing and know that not everyone can be Arthur C. Clarke or Isaac Asimov, but would have thought that someone with 63 novels to his name would be reasonably well off. Can you not get wealthy writing sci-fi/fantasy or does the publisher take it all? ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-l-chalkers-last-transformation/289809/9 "2005-02-14T15:00:09Z")
Much of Chalker’s output was OOP, **Rillian**. He was financially very successful during the '80’s, when all his stuff was on shelves and selling, but that time had passed. Of course, he’d been sick for a while – I think he started getting ill last summer and I believe he went into the hospital in October. Of course, during this period his wife’s ability to work was sporadic as well, so it’s not unsurprising that his family ran out of money. (48% of personal bankruptcies are a result of health crises.) I rediscovered Chalker at Christmas of 2003. I was visiting my parents and stumbled on the **Four Lords of the Diamond** series I’d read as a kid. I’ve read about ~20 of his books in the last year or so, and I think they’re well worth the time. It’s true that Chalker was not always the most engaging writer, but the worlds he created were engrossing and he always thought seriously of the political and philosophical ramifications of whatever fanstastic environment he established. R.I.P. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2005, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-l-chalkers-last-transformation/289809/10 "2005-02-14T17:07:25Z")
Can you get wealthy writing science fiction? Come on, Jack Chalker was never more than a solid mid-list author. That’s not a comment on his writing ability, but on his ability to sell books. I’ll take your word that he’s written 63 books over the past 29 years. Let’s say that he made an average of $20,000 on each of them, counting both the advance and the royalties. $20,000 each would be $1,260,000 total. That may sound like a lot, but over 29 years that’s less than $44,000 per year. Not a great income for someone with a wife and two kids to support. Chalker has been in bad health for a while. I recall hearing his wife Eva Whitley Chalker talking in a conversation at a local con about a year and a half ago. She pretty much said that she didn’t expect Jack to live much longer. ---
**Author:** ![Rillian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bcef8e/32.png) [@Rillian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rillian)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-l-chalkers-last-transformation/289809/11 "2005-02-16T03:18:13Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > I’ll take your word that he’s written 63 books over the past 29 years. Don’t have to take my word. See his [bibliography](http://www.jackchalker.com/jlc-bib.htm). _Midnight at the Well of Souls_ was in print for 23 years. I agree that “wealthy” probably wasn’t possible, I still would have thought that a man who wrote 60 books would not need donations from his fans to pay for medical care. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2005, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jack-l-chalkers-last-transformation/289809/12 "2005-02-16T03:50:40Z")
I bought some books from him at the last WorldCon in SoCal. He was a gentleman, and we are less for his passing. May the Well of Souls treat you kindly, Jack.