Editing Jack L. Chalker (section)

==Science fiction==
Chalker joined the [[Washington Science Fiction Association]] in 1958, and  n1963 ,he and two friends founded the [[Baltimore Science Fiction Society]]. Chalker attended every [[Worldcon|World Science Fiction Convention]], except one, from 1965 until 2004. He published an amateur SF journal, ''Mirage'', from 1960 to 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.

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}}]]-->