| Born: 12/17/44, Baltimore, MD (although all bios and even Who's Who say Norfolk so who am I to argue with Who's Who?). It's a self-perpetuating error that has grown too large to be worth correcting. I really don't mind since I have roots and tons of family in Norfolk, anyway.
Education: Baltimore City public schools, B.S. Towson State College [now Towson University], graduate degrees from Johns Hopkins University. Although I have a strong science background, my degrees are in history and English. My graduate specialty is the "History of Ideas," which is to say I'm a certified expert on isms and ologies. I have taught history on the high school and college levels, and am or have been a lecturer at the Smithsonian, The National Institutes of Health, and numerous colleges and universities, mostly on science fiction and technology subjects.
Occupations: Aside from the usual kid occupations, I've been a professional typesetter, a sound engineer for outdoor rock concerts, an audio and computer reviewer, free-lance editor, a publisher (founder and now sole owner of The Mirage Press, Ltd.), a book packager, an Air National Guard Information Director, new and used book dealer, and teacher as mentioned above. I was a special forces Air Commando during the Vietnam war period but never served west of Amarillo (note, however, that no Viet Cong penetrated east of Albuquerque while I was there). I was, however, in the war-my TDY duty tour in Vietnam lasted a bit over 4 hours, but I got the ribbon and combat pay. Since 1978 I have made my living solely by writing, although Mirage Press continues in business and produced The Harlan Ellison Hornbook/Harlan Ellison's Movie in 1990 and The Science-Fantasy Publishers in 1991 and its continuing supplements and new CD ROM reference work, with possibly more as time and market permits.
Family: Married Eva C. Whitley on the ferryboat Roaring Bull in the middle of the Susquehanna River in 1978; 2 sons, David Whitley Chalker, b.1981; Steven Lloyd Chalker, b.1991. To see Dave's self-designed and very elaborate (and pretty weird) web page, click HERE. Also inhabiting the house is Mavra Chang, the Valley Girl of Pekingese. Stonewall J. Pussycat used to be here but died of cancer at 16 in mid-2000. We plan on getting another if we can find one the dog will accept.
Memberships: Sierra Club (life member), National Parks & Monuments Association, Amnesty International, The Natural Resources Defense Council, The National Trust for Historic Preservation, The National Aquarium, Maryland Academy of Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Smithsonian, Maryland Historical Society, Washington Science Fiction Association, American Film Institute, American Legion, many others, with varying degrees of activism. I have long been active in and supportive of conservation and historical preservation causes. I'm also a past 3-term treasurer of the Science Fiction Writers of America. I am a registered Democrat and two-time unsuccessful candidate for office. I am also a Kentucky Colonel and an Honorary Mayor of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, among other things. This information is given not as advocacy to my readers but basically to show you where the "real" Jack L. Chalker is coming from, which, I know, is not the political image I tend to have from people who read and don't quite understand my works.
Awards include the Dedalus Award (1983), The Gold Medal of the West Coast Review of Books (1984), Skylark Award (1985), Hamilton-Brackett Memorial Award (1979), others of varying importance. 2 time John W. Campbell Award nominee, no wins. Hugo nominee 4 times, 0 wins (but, hey, Spielberg finally got an Oscar and Hitchcock never did so who knows?).
Continuing Interests and Avocations: Ferryboats, travel, national arks and monuments, consumer electronics, politics, history, space program, printing and publishing, boo collecting, auctioneering, old time radio and classic TV, computers. This one is a Chalker-built P2/450 BX system running, yes, Windows 98 if you care, and also around is a Toshiba 405CS notebook computer that I take with me when I travel. My wife uses a home built AMD k6/300 and my oldest son uses his HP Pavilion with an Evergreen upgrade. Lately I've been weirdly writing my books in Adobe FrameMaker, a high end dtp package but it's comfortable, being EMACS based like my old DOS wp, Borland's Sprint. Yes, I know how to program but consider it in the same thrilling vein as being asked to inventory sand grains in Libya. I am frequently on Compuserve in the Corelapp and Adobe sections (not in the SF section there--too huge), but if you have a specific question for me the best way (if you have a computer and modem) is to ask it on Delphi's SF SiG, where I still go occasionally. Many SF writers hang out Wednesday nights around 10 PM Eastern in Delphi's SF conference, occasionally including me. You can email me: jchalker@miragepress.com.
For those wondering, that is me in Faces of Science Fiction, and my satellite dish, and my oldest son (who's 16 now), and my dog, but it's not my house. The photo was taken with my old house at the photographer's back. She wanted the dish more than the house in the picture; it seems I'm the only US SF author she photographed who owned one. Now you'll never see that house; I moved to a much larger one further into the mountains. I still have a dish, though, whose input I can watch from the indoor Jacuzzi. Decadence is wonderful. Incidentally, not only is that not my house, but my son's now far older and my beloved little puppy dog in the photo, Hoy, died Nolacon weekend (1988). He could not be replaced, but his successor is Mavra Chang, a sable Pekinese who is giving a good imitation of a canine airheaded valley girl, and is David's dog in the same way Hoy was mine. Steve has tried to appropriate her, but really demands a dog of his own. I tell him that this will happen sooner or later, but Not That Soon…
Content © 1984-2000 by Jack L. Chalker. All rights reserved including electronic. Permission is granted to distribute this in electronic or print form so long as there is no charge to the receiving party for it and that nothing is added or subtrac ted from the entire text including this copyright notice. All other rights and all exceptions are reserved under the Universal, Pan American, and Berne copyright conventions and all other applicable conventions. The Mirage symbol, created by David Prosser, is © 1962, renewed 1990 by Jack L. Chalker.
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