#160 Jack L. Chalker: Dance Band on the Titanic

[bellinghman]

Jack L. Chalker: Dance Band on the Titanic

Mass Market Paperback: 339 pages
Publisher: Del Rey Books,U.S. (Jul 1988)
Language English
ISBN-10: 0345348583
Category(ies): SF/Fantasy

One from a while back, this is Chalker's short fiction. As he explains in a somewhat long introduction, he didn't do much short-form fiction, being more comfortable (and better paid) as a novelist. With seven stories herein - including a trunk story not previously published - he's padded it out somewhat with that introduction, a bibliography to date (somewhat out of date since he had another decade and a half of writing to go, but actually covering most of his best), and an afterword. His political and personal opinions come across strongly here - he's not afraid to rant a bit on various subjects, including an unnamed editor and critic who rubbished his work.

As for the stories - for a novelist, he didn't do badly, but as he says, he was a novelist, and there are few writers who do well in both forms. It's more interesting, perhaps, for the insight into his character.