Jack L. Chalker – författare

Asmodeus Mogart was not a bad fellow, as demons go. Having gotten in trouble back in the home office, he had been assigned to duty on Earth. There he toiled, doing the kinds of things demons do and turning into something of a drunk.Then a rogue asteroid threatened to crash into Earth and destroy all life on the planet - demons included! There had to be a better way.Mac Walters and Jill McCullough, holding a private wake for their world in a Reno bar, were more than startled when a strange-looking little drunk told them they could save the world. All they had to do was enter five alternate universes and steal a demon-guarded jewel in each. Clearly, the man was crazy.But they had nothing better to do than go along with the gag. Then they each found themselves, naked and alone, on a hostile alien world!

She was haunted by Thunder and Plagued by Dreams... strange, dark dreams of a world beyond time and space, a land of magic and mystery. But Charley know it was more than a dream - for her friend Sam shared her visions. Suddenly, the dreams become a reality...as a raging storm sweeps Charley and Sam to the fantastic land of Akahlar, where unicorns and griffins run free, an enchantress commands a den of unearthly pleasures, and a wizard warns of a terrifying, inescapable event: The changewinds are coming...savage, purple - tinged storms that alter the shapes of man and beast alike. Soon, all creatures must look to the skies - and beware...

Behold the horned demon of the snows... Who calls himself Klittichorn and schemes o destroy all Akahlar. With the power of the changewinds he can control the mighty storms that alter man and creature alike. Beware his evil minions... Who seek the beautiful Storm Princess in the Kudaan Wastes - lands that teem with frightful monsters and Storm Riders from the Inner Hells. Run like the wind... Or stand to fight with magic. For the fate not just of this but of all worlds is in the balance.

The magic of the Changewinds...They could alter the shape of every man and beast in Akahlar and now the threat of their coming is about to be made manifest.The evil of the Inner Hells...That can snatch away all control over the winds from the Storm Princess and deliver it into the all-destroying hands of the horned demon Klittichorn.The savagery of final war...May be the only hope of the latter days before the Changewinds blow not just the world Akahlar but all the worlds scattered through all the dimensions of time and space into the chaos of oblivion.

BEYOND THE SEA OF DREAMS Life had not been kind to Joe and Marge. Now, according to the strangers who met them on a road that wasn''t there, they were due to die in nineteen minutes, eighteen seconds. But the ferryboat that waited to take them across the Sea of Dreams could bring them to a new and perhaps better life. There lay a world where fairies still danced by moonlight and sorcery became real. Joe could become a mighty-thewed barbarian warrior. Marge could be beautiful and find her magical self. But there was much more than they realised to this strange land. This was a world where Hell still strove to win its ancient war and demon princes sent men into battles of dark magic. It was a world where Joe and Marge must somehow prevent the coming of Armageddon.

In Husaquahr, the world of magic beyond the Sea of Dreams, the battle had been won. All seemed peaceful. But Throckmorton P. Ruddygore, master sorcerer, knew better. Far to the south, on the River of Dancing Gods, the Dark Baron plotted with a Demon Prince to wage the final war that would bring about Armageddon. Someone had to make the dangerous trip into the unknown to spy on the conspirators. And so Ruddygore called again on the services of his erstwhile human helpers- Joe, who had become a superbarbarian hero with an enchanted sword, and Marge, now changed to a flying fairy woman. But could two fragile people from the Earth Prime - even with some magic ingredients- survive in this new, bitter struggle to good versus evil?

Throckmorton P. Ruddygore, master wizard, had troubles again - but this time, they were partly of his own making. He''d finally beaten the Dark Baron, stripped him of all magical power, and exiled him from Husaquahr to Earth. But he hadn''t counted on the Baron''s using a computer there to create even more effective spells. Of course, the Baron couldn''t use those spells. But the forces of Hell soon sent him a second-rank wizard who could - and a demon in the cellar to amplify the spells'' power. And now the Baron was developing a scheme which would surely result in Armageddon before its time! So once again Marge the fairy and Joe the barbarian were called on to do the dirty work. They had to return to their home world and somehow stop the Baron - if they could...

Back in Husaquahr, the other world, after a brief sojourn on Earth, Joe expected to pick up his life and go on, pretty much the same. He should have known better.To begin with, the evil Dark Baron had managed to escape and had teamed up in the far North with the Master of the Dead. Alone, either was a disaster; together, they were potential catastrophe.There were also some changes for which Joe wasn''t prepared. He''d accepted the fact that his beloved Tiana now had the body of an exotic dancer. But then he discovered that she was a slave with a growing slave mindset - and would always be a slave.Worst of all, Joe discovered that there had been some highly unwelcome changes in him. In all literal truth, he could no longer call his soul his own - because it wasn''t!

In this final volume of the Dancing Gods series, Ruddygore and his heroes must face an ancient evil seeping forth from the Sea of Dreams. Long dormant evil is rising to challenge reality as we know it and it will destroy Earth and the magical world of Husaguahr if left to its own devices. The Rules require the Great McGuffin to challenge and stop the evil forces, but McGuffini is lost in Hell and Ruddygore must, once again, depend on the skills Marge and Joe (and Joe''s estranged son, Irving).

I''m Sam Horowitz. My wife Brandy and I are private eyes - and belly-up broke. This is why we agreed to trace Martin Whitlock, a hotshot banker who''d skipped town over $2,000,000 in laundered drug money. Not our usual sort of case, but even filthy mob lucre pays bills. The trail led from a posh mansion to a hick burg called McInerney, Oregon - and to G.O.D. Inc: the geeks who hawk overpriced garbage on late night TV. That''s where we found our man...too often. There were three Mary Whitlocks, same prints. But one was female. One was dead. We got busted. That wasn''t the worst. The mob rip-off was only one move in a caper to take over crime - not the Mafia but something bigger. A hell of lot bigger. Because McInerney, Oregon wasn''t just off the map...It was off the edge of the Earth. And Brandy and I were being taken for a ride - into The Labyrinth of Dreams.

It was the ultimate case: to stop the ultimate drug... I''m Horowitz. Brandy Horowitz. My husband Sam and I are private eyes who take cases for G.O.D., Inc. - the outfit that runs the Labyrinth to infinite alternate earths filled with crime, danger...and murder. Power-mad fanatics are running a narcotic V.D. that spreads like a bug, works like a drug, and one touch hooks you for good. You don''t become a junkie...you become a zombie. ''Cause this monkey''s not just on your back, but in your brain - it''s got a mind, and if you kick it, it kicks back with madness and death. So this beautiful black PI and wonderful Jewish sleuth have to smash the source before the drug-bug reaches our client''s Home World. But the opposition''s got fake Sams and Brandys set up in headquarters on the two worlds that hold any possible leads: one that never heard of civil rights... And one ruled by the Nazis.

I''m Horowitz. Private eye. I work of G.O.D., Inc. - the company that rules the Labyrinth between infinite alternate Earths. Only now I''ve got new clients - vengeful rebels out to wreck the Labyrinth. But their Big Plan''s on hold: one of the inner circle''s dead, leaving eight conspirator/ prime suspends on eight private worlds. And finding the killer''s the least of my problems. The rebels play for high stakes - and I know too much to live. If I succeed, they''ll kill me. If I stall, they''ll blow up a planet - ours. If I escape, the Company will kill me. If I stop the rebel scheme, my wife and child will be turned into mindless drug-sex slaves. But if I don''t stop them, they''ll unleash a force that might well cremate Earths. All Earths. In all universes. Throughout all creation...

Entered by a thousand unsuspected gateways - built by a race lost in the clouds of time - Well World transforms creatures of any sort into different forms. So, spacefarer Nathan Brazil is not surprised to find himself accompanied by a batman, an amorous female centaur and a mermaid as he sets out on his strange mission. Yet Nathan Brazil''s own metamorphosis is more terrifying than any of the others - and with the gradual return of his memory comes the secret of the Well World.

THE PHENOMENAL, SPELLBINDING WELL-WORLD SAGA ''I was a beggar who became queen of beggars, a whore when I had to buy the stars I craved...'' Volume two finds Mavra Chang, who alone is able to protect the Universe from the archvillain Antor Trelig, exiled on the Well World. There she and Trelig face countless bizarre ecologies, locked in a desperate struggle for control of the Universe.

Marooned! The pulsating Well World Saga continues...As Volume Three opens, Mavra Chang has been a prisoner on the Well World for eleven years. Her once human friends are now grotesquely mutated, and her own body is monstrously changed.Mavra is abandoned. Her only hope, the planetoid circling above her, containing Obie, the supercomputer that could restore her body. But Obie can only be reached by entering the northern hemisphere, where no creature of blood and flesh can exist. yet Mavra''s eyes were shining. After all these years the great game was on again, the game she was born to play...

While attempting to repel an intergalactic invasion, mankind resorts to a weapon of such awesome destructive power that it undermines the Well World computer''s control of time and space - and threatens the very existence of the Universe. It is up to Mavra Chang - victim and veteran of the Wars of the Well - and Obie, her sophisticated computer companion, to find the only being capable of travelling to the desolate Well World to repair the damage at source. The infamous and near-mythical Nathan Brazil does not want to be found. But Mavra and Obie have never been ones to take no for an answer...

The rift in the fabric of space was fast approaching the Well World, and time was running out. Troops all over the planet were gathering for the final battle. Nathan Brazil and Mavra Chang somehow had to reach the Well of Souls in time to save the universe and before any of the hostile natives managed to kill them. At best, a difficult mission. At worst, impossible - especially since there was a price on Brazil''s head and many would be claimants! For Brazil, the difficult was but the work of a moment - the impossible would take a little longer!

After three passengers - Ming, Ari, and Angel - embark on an elite starship journey into the Realm, they unwittingly become ensnared in one man''s bloodthirsty vendetta that will alter their very beings. That man is Jeremiah Wong Kincaid. He vows to destroy Josich Conqueror Hadun, the evil genius who has wreaked unspeakable havoc throughout the universe. It is an obsession that will take to lands of demons and strange races - and into a deadly new cyberworld where humans are mere pawns of the godlike computers they have created. But it is only after Kincaid and his unwitting fellow travellers enter Well World and discover the water hexes that he confronts the mad tyrant- and learns their universe is threatened by something far, far worse...

On the mysterious Well World, the evil tyrant Josich and his dark agents search desperately for the eight scattered pieces of the fabled Straight Gate. Whoever possesses the Gate will wield enormous power, travelling between universes at the speed of light and wreaking havoc across galaxies.Opposing Josich is a small band of travellers new to the Well World. There is Core, once a machine, now flesh and blood; Ming and Ari, two minds sharing a single body; Jaysu, an angel; and Ghengis O''Leary, a lizard being. Unbeknownst to them, they have an unlikely ally: a vengeful entity who is able to clone any person or object with a single touch - and mete out death just as swift...

THE CALL OF THE WELLFor uncounted eons, the Well World had regulated and given order to the universe, and throughout the eternity, Nathan Brazil had been the guardian of the Well of Souls, where the universe''s master control lay. Forever wandering and alone, returning to the Well in times of Danger, Brazil had destroyed and re-created the cosmos several times over. But even he wearied of his endless watch, and had enlisted the aid of space pilot and high-tech thief Mavra Chang the last time the universal order required resetting.But now the universe faced a threat more grave than mere destruction. An unnamed and utterly alien entity had somehow been released from its ancient prison and was bent on the corruption of the Well World itself. If successful, it would cause chaos beyond mortal understanding. The Well World needed Brazil and Chang. But when it found them, would they once again answer the call? And though Brazil was immortal, could he even fight the force threatening the Well? For the force was not of this universe - and it had plans for Nathan Brazil...

Immortal, unchanging, the external survivor, Nathan Brazil had tired of his long duty as the guardian of the Well World and had enlisted Mavra Chang, space pilot and adventurer, as his companion and equal, sharing with her some of the godlike power to control the universe''s destiny. But over the millennia, Brazil and Chang had become estranged. When they were once again summoned to the Well World, they came as bitter rivals, each racing to be the first to reach the Well of Souls. What they found, however, was a Well World changed in ways it should not have been. Evolution on the Well World seemed to have diverged from its preset course- and that was impossible. Brail sensed that some force beyond local animosity was at work, and he was determined to find out just what that force was and how it could have changed the elaborate programming of the Well of Souls. But the changes that had so affected the Well World were beginning to change the unchangeable Nathan Brazil - and if the watchman himself could altered, the universe might be left without any guardian at all . . .

In its hour of need, the Well World''s guardians had been neutralized. Nathan Brazil was shipwrecked on a desert island with a seemingly harmless girl but his contact with her had allowed his mind to be invaded, his will sapped, and his mission forgotten. Mavra Chang had been abducted by a vicious gang of inter-hex drug smugglers, and was now held prisoner by a revenge-mad creature who had surgically and genetically altered her into a bizarre form and made her a slave to powerful narcotics. But the Well could allow nothing to stop the guardian''s journey for long. For the Well of Souls was only a machine; it needed the Watchers to handle events and circumstances beyond its sophisticated programming. And so it set plans in motion to jolt its champions back into the game. The only other help Brazil and Chang could expect was from the companions who had been swept along to the Well World by accident or design. But the newcomers had been caught in a web of intrigue and deceit spun by the ruling council, a group desperate to stop both Brazil and Chang. What none of them could know was that all of them, even the great Well computer, were being manipulated by the Kraang, an entity more ancient than the universe itself, a being that would use the guardians to give it powers far beyond even those of the Well of Souls- a being that would become a living god...

Cassie did not feel the Soul Rider enter her body... ...but suddenly she knew that Anchor was corrupt. Knew that the Flux beyond Anchor was no formless void, from which could issue only mutant changelings and evil wizards... ...Flux was the source of Anchor''s existence! The price of her knowledge is exile - the first confrontation with the Seven Who Wait for the redemption of World...This is book one in the Soul Rider series.

Mervyn, wizard and Fluxlord, leader of the Nine Who Guard, faces the ultimate threat of the opposing Seven Who Wait: the opening of the Hellgates to World. Closed more than two thousand years ago, they are portals to unknowable danger and, perhaps, great power. Mervyn must gather the shattered forces of guardianship, dispersed and reeling after the battle with Coydt: Cassie, once the powerful saint and crusader, now the brainwashed slave of an oppressive male dictatorship. Spirit, her daughter, controlled by her mysterious Soul Raider. Jeff, Spirit''s son Matson: he will lead the entire force of the Stringers Guild to war, if need be. But all of them are doomed to death unless they can become Masters of Flux and Anchor.