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{{redirect|Jack Chalker|the English artist|Jack Bridger Chalker}}
{{Short description|American science fiction and fantasy author (1944–2005)}}
{{Infobox person
| name           = Jack Laurence Chalker
| image          = Jack L Chalker.jpg
| image_size     = 
| caption        = Chalker in 2003
| birth_date     = {{Birth date|1944|12|17|mf=y}}
| birth_place    = [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]], United States
| death_date     = {{death date and age|2005|2|11|1944|12|17|mf=y}}
| death_place    = [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]], United States
| education      = [[Towson University]]<br>[[Johns Hopkins University]]
| occupation     = Science fiction author, writer
| spouse         = Eva C. Whitley
| parents        =
| children       = 2
}}

'''Jack Laurence Chalker''' (December 17, 1944 – February 11, 2005) was an American [[science fiction]] author. Chalker was also a [[BCPSS|Baltimore City Schools]] history teacher in [[Maryland]] for 12 years, retiring during 1978 to write full-time.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jack L. Chalker {{!}} Author {{!}} LibraryThing |url=https://www.librarything.com/author/chalkerjackl |access-date=2025-03-26 |website=LibraryThing.com |language=en}}</ref> He also was a member of the [[Washington Science Fiction Association]] and was involved in the founding of the [[Baltimore Science Fiction Society]].

==Career and family life==
{{Unreferenced section|date=February 2021}}
Chalker was born and raised in [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]]. Some of his books said that he was born in [[Norfolk, Virginia|Norfolk]], [[Virginia]] although he later claimed that was a mistake; he attended high school at the [[Baltimore City College]]. Chalker earned a BA degree in English from [[Towson University]] in [[Towson, Maryland]], where he was a theater critic for the school newspaper, ''[[The Towerlight]]''. During 2003, Towson University named Chalker their Liberal Arts Alumnus of the Year. He received a [[Master of Arts in Liberal Studies]] from [[Johns Hopkins University]] in Baltimore.

Chalker intended to become a lawyer, but financial problems caused him to become a teacher instead. He taught history and geography in the [[Baltimore City Public Schools]] from 1966 to 1978, most notably at [[Baltimore City College]] and the now defunct [[Southwestern Senior High School (Maryland)|Southwestern Senior High School]]. Chalker lectured on [[science fiction]] and technology at the [[Smithsonian Institution]] in [[Washington, D.C.]], the [[National Institutes of Health]] in [[Bethesda, Maryland]], and numerous universities.

Chalker was a member of the [[Maryland Air National Guard]]'s 135th Special Operations Group, where he was a member of the group information office. He was deployed into Baltimore during the [[Baltimore riot of 1968]].<ref>Chalker, Jack L. "Viva Mark?" Sunday American, Dec. 21, 1969</ref>

Chalker was married in 1978 and had two children, David, a game designer, and Samantha, a computer security consultant.

Chalker's hobbies included esoteric audio, travel, and working on science-fiction convention committees. He also had a great interest in [[Ferry|ferryboats]]; at his fiancée's suggestion, their marriage was performed on the Roaring Bull boat, part of the [[Millersburg Ferry]], in the middle of the [[Susquehanna River]] in [[Pennsylvania]].
<!--[[Image:JackChalkerauctioning.jpg|thumb|left|Jack Chalker auctioneering when he was younger. {{Deletable image-caption|Saturday, 4 September 2010|date=May 2012}}]]-->

==Science fiction==
Chalker joined the [[Washington Science Fiction Association]] in 1958, and in 1963, he and two friends founded the [[Baltimore Science Fiction Society]]. Chalker attended every [[Worldcon|World Science Fiction Convention]], except one, from 1965 until 2004. 

Chalker contributed a chapter to ''The New H. P. Lovecraft Bibliography'' in 1962; he published his first novel, ''A Jungle of Stars'', in 1976.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/chalker_jack_l  |title= Chalker, Jack L. |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |publisher= |access-date= May 27, 2025 |quote=}}</ref> 

He founded an amateur SF journal, ''Mirage'', in 1960.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/mirage_press  |title= Mirage Press |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction |publisher= |access-date= May 27, 2025 |quote=}}</ref> He ran the fanzine until 1971 (a finalist nominee for the 1963 [[Hugo Award for Best Fanzine]]),<ref>[http://www.thehugoawards.org/?page_id=56 Best Fanzine:Mirage ed. by Jack L. Chalker] 1963 Hugo Awards - The Hugo Awards</ref> producing ten issues. Another journal, ''Interjection'', was published 1968–1987 in association with the [[Fantasy Amateur Press Association]]. Chalker also initiated a publishing house, Mirage Press, Ltd., for releasing nonfiction and bibliographic works concerning science fiction and fantasy.

Chalker's awards included the Daedalus Award (1983), The Gold Medal of the West Coast Review of Books (1984), [[Skylark Award]] (1980), and the Hamilton-Brackett Memorial Award (1979).  He was twice a nominee for the [[Astounding Award for Best New Writer|John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer]] and for the [[Hugo Award]] twice. Chalker was posthumously awarded the [[Phoenix Award (science fiction)|Phoenix Award]] by the [[Southern Fandom Confederation]] on April 9, 2005.

Chalker was a three-term treasurer of the [[Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America]]. Chalker was also the co-author (with Mark Owings<ref>Of the family for whom [[Owings Mills, Maryland]], is named.</ref>) of ''[[The Science Fantasy Publishers]]'' (third edition during 1991, updated annually), published by Mirage Press, Ltd,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.miragepress.com |title=The Mirage Press Ltd. |access-date=2006-03-05 |year=2004 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050404230445/http://www.miragepress.com/ |archive-date=4 April 2005 }}</ref> a bibliographic guide to genre small press publishers which was a Hugo Award nominee during 1992. The Maryland Young Writers Contest, sponsored by the [[Baltimore Science Fiction Society]], was renamed "'The Jack L. Chalker Young Writers Contest" effective April 8, 2006.

===Novels===
Chalker is best known for his ''[[Well World]]'' series of novels, but he also wrote many other novels (most, but not all, part of a series, or large novels which were split into 'series' by the publishers), and at least nine short stories.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.goodreads.com/series/list/127191.Jack_L_Chalker.html  |title= Jack L. Chalker |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= Good Reads |publisher= |access-date= May 27, 2025 |quote=}}</ref> 

Many of Chalker's works involve some physical [[Shapeshifting|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 1,560 [[Sentience|sentient]] species that inhabit that artificial planet.  Another example would be that the ''Wonderland Gambit'' series resembles traditional [[Buddhist]] [[jataka]]-type [[reincarnation]] stories set in a science fiction environment. Samantha Chalker announced that ''Wonderland Gambit'' might be made into a movie, but supposedly its close resemblance to ''[[The Matrix]]'' resulted in the project being canceled.<ref name="samantha chalker">{{cite web| url=http://www.meteorologistlife.com/| title=Meteorologist Life| access-date=2006-03-05| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050403161035/http://www.meteorologistlife.com/| archive-date=2005-04-03}}</ref>

At the time of his death, Chalker left one unfinished novel, ''Chameleon''. He was planning to write another novel, ''Ripsaw'', after ''Chameleon''.
<!--[[Image:Oct05 98.jpg|thumb|right|Chalker at a bookstore in October 1998, chatting with a couple of people before his session began. {{Deletable image-caption|Saturday, 4 September 2010|date=May 2012}}]]-->

==Illness and death==

On September 18, 2003, during [[Hurricane Isabel]], Chalker passed out and was taken to a hospital where he was diagnosed with a [[heart attack|coronary occlusion]]. He was later released, but was severely weakened. On December 6, 2004, he was again taken to hospital with breathing problems and disorientation, and was diagnosed with a skin infection. Chalker was hospitalized in critical condition, then upgraded to stable condition on December 9, although he did not regain consciousness until December 15.  After several more weeks in deteriorating condition and in a [[persistent vegetative state]], with several transfers to different hospitals, Chalker died on February 11, 2005, of [[kidney failure]] and [[sepsis]] at [[Grace Medical Center (Baltimore)|Bon Secours Hospital]] in [[Baltimore]], [[Maryland]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mitchell |first1=Josh |title=Jack L. Chalker, 60, science-fiction writer |url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2005-02-13-0502130040-story.html |work=The Baltimore Sun |date=13 February 2005 |access-date=January 15, 2023 |archive-date=2021-06-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210622193010/https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-2005-02-13-0502130040-story.html |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>

Some of Chalker's remains are interred in the family plot at [[Loudon Park Cemetery]] in Baltimore. The remainder were distributed off the ferry between [[Hainan Island]] and the Chinese mainland, a ferry in [[Vietnam]], [[White's Ferry]] on the [[Potomac River]] in [[Virginia]] on Father's Day 2007, and on author [[H. P. Lovecraft]]'s grave in [[Providence, Rhode Island]] on December 17, 2005.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Chalker |first1=Steven |title=Jack's Ashes |url=http://www.jackchalker.com/news/2005/12/27/jacks-ashes |website=Jack Chalker.com News |access-date=January 15, 2023 |archive-date=February 13, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060213034730/http://www.jackchalker.com/news/2005/12/27/jacks-ashes |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref>

== Bibliography ==
{{Main|Jack L. Chalker bibliography}}

==See also==
* [[:Category:Novels by Jack L. Chalker]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
{{commons category}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* {{isfdb name|id=272|name=Jack L. Chalker}}
* [http://www.bsfs.org/bsfsywc.htm Jack L. Chalker Young Writers' Contest]
* [http://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/chalker_jack_l Jack L. Chalker] at ''[[The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction]]''

{{Jack L. Chalker}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chalker, Jack L.}}
[[Category:1944 births]]
[[Category:2005 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American male writers]]
[[Category:20th-century American novelists]]
[[Category:20th-century American short story writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American male writers]]
[[Category:21st-century American novelists]]
[[Category:21st-century American short story writers]]
[[Category:American fantasy writers]]
[[Category:American male novelists]]
[[Category:American male short story writers]]
[[Category:American science fiction writers]]
[[Category:Baltimore City College alumni]]
[[Category:Deaths from kidney failure in Maryland]]
[[Category:Deaths from sepsis in the United States]]
[[Category:Infectious disease deaths in Maryland]]
[[Category:Novelists from Maryland]]
[[Category:Schoolteachers from Maryland]]
[[Category:Towson University alumni]]
[[Category:Writers from Baltimore]]