Jack Chalker

Jack Chalker at the Mimosa Live event at Chattacon XIII in 1984. Photo by Rich Lynch.

(December 17, 1944 – February 11, 2005)

Jack Laurence Chalker, a long-time Baltimore area fan, fanzine publisher, and later pro, discovered fandom in 1957. In his early fannish life, he was a member of the N3F and the SFG.

He was active in local fandom, a member of WSFA and one of the founders of BSFS (of which he was many times an officer) He co-chaired Disclave 26 with his wife, Eva Whitley, and Balticon 2, Balticon 3, and Balticon 4. He was Vice-Chair of Discon II and chaired the Baltimore in '67 bid. He was part of the Philadelphia in 1977 Worldcon bid. He chaired Lunacon 18.

He was twice nominated for the Hugo: the 1963 Best Fanzine Hugo for Mirage (at age 18) and the 1992 Best Non-Fiction Book Hugo (with Mark Owings) for The Science-Fantasy Publishers: A Critical & Bibliographic History (they also received the 1992 Readercon Award for it). With Owings, he wrote The Revised H. P. Lovecraft Bibliography (1973).

He was a member of SAPS and of FAPA (Viewpoint was his FAPAzine). He published the fanzines Mirage (which was also called Centaur and Kaleidoscope early in its run), Qasar, and Interjection. He also published Ibex, and Everyfan's Guide to the Auctions. His fanzine Barad-Dur was a postal Diplomacy zine.

He had a 30-year career as a popular sf writer, writing over 50 books, and was nominated for the 1977 Campbell Award and the 1978 Campbell Award. He was treasurer of SFWA for three terms.

He may have been first to use the initialism SMOF and might have been the youngest person ever nominated for a Hugo Award.

• Entry in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.

Fanzines and Apazines:

• Centaur [1960]
• Barad-Dur [1965-67]
• Everyfan's Guide to the Auctions
• Ibex
• Interjection [1968-87] (for FAPA)
• Kaleidoscope [1961]
• Mirage [1960-71]
• Oh Yeah [1975] (for FAPA and SAPS)
• Qasar [early 70s]
• Viewpoint [1973-] (for FAPA)
• Interjection [?-1986] (for FAPA)

Awards, Honors and GoHships:

• 1963 -- 1963 Best Fanzine Hugo nominee for Mirage
• 1977 -- 1977 Campbell Award nominee
• 1978 -- Paracon I, 1978 Campbell Award nominee
• 1979 -- Paracon II, Formerly Artkane, Chattacon 4 Hamilton Memorial Award
• 1980 -- Darkover Grand Council 1980, Disclave 24, Othercon IV, Skylark Award
• 1981 -- Chattacon VI
• 1982 -- Brandycon
• 1983 -- Balticon 17
• 1984 -- Con-Juration
• 1985 -- Halcon 8, ConTact 3
• 1986 -- Xanadu III, Vikingcon 6
• 1987 -- Lunacon 30, Tropicon VI
• 1988 -- MileHiCon 20, Chattacon XIII
• 1989 -- Rivercon XIV, Rustycon 6
• 1990 -- Confluence 3
• 1991 -- Arisia '91
• 1992 -- Readercon Award, 1992 Best Non-Fiction Book Hugo nominee for The Science-Fantasy Publishers -- A Critical & Bibliographic History
• 1993 -- Constellation
• 1994 -- Astronomicon 3, Archon 18
• 1997 -- Con*Stellation XVI, Baycon '97
• 1999 -- Norwescon XXII, StellarCon 23
• 2001 -- Odyssey Con 1, Madicon X, Concoction:01, MosCon XXIII
• 2005 -- Phoenix Award by the Southern Fandom Confederation (posthumously)
• 2019 -- Ghost of Honor at Balticon 53

Mirage Press

In 1961, Chalker founded and operated Mirage Press, a small press named after his fanzine. After Chalker's writing career became successful, Mirage Press went dormant other than publishing a number of supplements to The Science-Fantasy Publishers.

Author	Book	Year
Jack Chalker	The New H. P. Lovecraft Bibliography	1961
David H. Keller	"A Figment of a Dream"	1962
W. Paul Cook	H. P. Lovecraft, a Portrait	1969
L. Sprague de Camp	The Conan Reader (collection of articles from Amra)	1968
Robert Bloch	Dragons and Nightmares	1969
L. Sprague de Camp & George Scithers eds.	The Conan Swordbook (collection of articles from Amra)	1969
Seabury Quinn	Is the Devil a Gentleman?	1970
Robert Foster	A Guide to Middle Earth	1971
L. Sprague de Camp & George Scithers eds.	The Conan Grimoire (collection of articles from Amra)	1972
Neil Goble	Asimov Analyzed	1972
L. Sprague de Camp	Phantoms & Fancies	1972
Clark Ashton Smith	Planets and Dimensions	1973
Mark Owings & Jack L. Chalker	The Revised H. P. Lovecraft Bibliography	1973
Jack Williamson	H. G. Wells: Critic of Progress	1973
J. B. Post	An Atlas of Fantasy	1973
Dennis Rickard	The Fantastic Art of Clark Ashton Smith	1973
Ruth S. Noel	The Languages of Middle-Earth	1974
Jack L. Chalker	An Informal Biography of Scrooge McDuck	1974
Grendel Briarton	The Compleat Feghoot: The Many Lives and Greatest Exploits of History's Punniest Space-Time Traveller	1975
Irving Binkin & Mark Owings	A Catalog of Lovecraftiana: The Grill/Binkin Collection	1975
Richard A. Lupoff	Barsoom: Edgar Rice Burroughs and the Martian Vision	1976
Grendel Briarton	The (Even More) Compleat Feghoot	1990
Harlan Ellison	The Harlan Ellison Hornbook	1990
Harlan Ellison	Harlan Ellison's Movie	1990
Jack Chalker & Mark Owings	The Science-Fantasy Publishers	1991

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Person

1944—2005

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