Balshazzar's Serpent

Jack L. Chalker (1944 - 2005)
Jack Laurence Chalker was born in Baltimore, in 1944. He received an MLA from Johns Hopkins University and taught history and geography for over a decade before becoming a professional writer in 1978. He was active in the fan community from his teens and though he published work as an editor and critic, it is for his fiction that he is best known. He was a prolific author, writing across genres successfully, and was nominated for the Hugo and John W. Campbell New Writer awards, among others. His major work is The Well of Souls sequence, comprising ten books across two series, and featuring the 'godgame' narrative device that was his signature. He died in February, 2005.