Medusa: A Tiger by the Tail

Author Bio: Jack L. Chalker

Jack L. Chalker (1944–2005) was born in Baltimore. While still in high school, he began writing for the amateur science fiction press, and in 1960 he launched the Hugo-nominated amateur magazine Mirage. A year later he founded Mirage Press, which grew into a major specialty publisher of nonfiction and reference books on science fiction and fantasy. His first novel, A Jungle of Stars, was published in 1976, and he became a full-time novelist two years later with the popular success of Midnight at the Well of Souls. Chalker was also a noted speaker on science fiction and fantasy at numerous colleges and universities and at the Smithsonian Institution. His awards include the Skylark Award, the Daedalus Award, the Hamilton-Brackett Memorial Award, and the Gold Medal of the West Coast Review of Books. He was twice nominated for both the John W. Campbell Award and the Hugo Award. In 2005 he was posthumously presented the Phoenix Award of the Southern Fandom Confederation.