John DeChancie,
Where Are You?
John DeChancie has written several series of books over the past
10 or so years. I see them all the time in used bookstores, but
I think most are out of print.
Until July 21st, I had no idea what
had become of Mr. DeChancie witness the title of this
page. Then, out of the blue came an email with the following
link:
http://www.johndechancie.com/
The resulting website has a short biography
about John plus other information and even a new short story.
Check it out (and thanks to "Arizona" for providing
me with the link!)
His three main series have been the Skyway serieswhere
a future world becomes one big highway and the Star Rigger has
a delivery to makeThe Castle seriesignoring all the
laws of physics and located at the nexus of hundreds of alternate
realitiesand the Dr. Dimension books. He is also the author
of several other books, at least three of which have been made
into full-cast dramatizations (or comedizations) by Ziplow
Productions.
I would classify the Skyway series (3 books) as fairly serious
future fiction. The Castle series (7 books) is more fantasy and
a bit of sci-fiplus a fair bit of humorand his other
books are closer to serious science fiction, especially Innerverse,
a very dark story about a future where the United States has become
a divided nation, and what used to be the eastern states is now
controlled by a nano-technology called Innerverse.
The Skyway Series
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Starrigger
Jake McGraw is a trucker, driving on the never ending Skyway.
His starrigger is outfitted with all the modern conveniences,
including a computer that is like his father. Literally.
He may be stuck in a time loop, but that isn't stopping
him from experiencing everything for the first time.
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Red Line Freeway
Jake discovers what may prove the be the legendary Roadmap.
The map to the Big Bang that started it all. But he is being
chased by the insectoids, the Roadbugs.
With everybody after him, it's only a matter of time before
his badly overworked starrigger could fail, and there are
no safe truck stops out on the never-ending highway.
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Paradox Alley
Jake and his starrigger crew have been kidnapped by a creature
of unknown origin. Taken to an unknown alien planet where
past and future collide at the end of the road.
Jake discovers that it is possible to be in two places
at once, and confronts the builders of the skyway.
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The Castle Books
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Castle Perilous
Something is following Gene in the car park. It is dark
and he needs to escape. He opens a door, steps through and
enters the world of Castle Perilous, the nexus for 144,000
alternate realities presided over by Lord Incarnadine. He
quickly befriend a being more than 7 feet tall and looking
like a huge pike of shag carpeting. Gene begins to experience
the mystery of Castle Perilous.
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Castle For Rent
The King of Castle Perilous has become time-trapped in
New York. The other castle occupants have become lost throughout
thousands of bizarre and barbaric realities.
Gene and the rest must find their way back before it is
too late, and before demons invade the Castle and make return
impossible.
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Castle Kidnapped
The magic of Castle Perilous has gone haywire, dropping
its guests into strange worlds. The computer whiz, Jeremy,
gets trapped on a planet filled with golf-crazy dinosaurs.
Gene finds himself on a planet of Amazon women, the love
slave to their Queen.
Can Lord Incarnadine fix the Castle?
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Castle War
War has been declared against the Hosts of Hell. Before
Jeremy can rewrite the Castle's programs to stabilize the
cosmos, an evil mirror version of the Castle appears, complete
with a hostile army of alter egos drawn from its own 144,000
alternate worlds.
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Castle Murders
At a party in Castle Perilous, a nobleman is murdered.
It smells like foul play.
Everyone at the Castle is scrambling to find clues and
evidence ...before the next victim is discovered.
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Castle Dreams
Lord Incarnadine is dead. Very. And someone has Castle
guests battling among themselves for control of the Castle.
Gene finds himself riding shotgun for a suntanned Amazon
out on the faster than light frontier.
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Castle Spellbound
The never ending party at Castle Perlious lures some uninvited
guests, including a horde of angry Greeks bearing a gift
horse. A slight malfunction in the Castle's defense system
is about to send the party crashers crashing.
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Bride of the Castle
Gene and Linda are getting married, but the castle lives
up to its name. Now Gene faces a horde of barbarian instead
of the wedding guests. Gene fights the battle of his life
on this insane wedding day.
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The Other Books
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Dr. Dimension
Dr. Demopoulos just invented the first spaceship. Or is
it a time ship? Well, it's 1939...it could just be a spacetime
ship. Unfortunately, it has just blown his university lab
to bits.
A mysterious package arrives filled with electronic gear,
like nothing he and his assistants have ever seen. They
rebuild the ship and disappear into spacetime, complete
with two stowaways...and end up in the middle of a war between
the Prunes and the Pizons.
A very funny book, also available as a full-cast
recording from Ziplow.
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Dr. Dimension: Masters of SpaceTime
Still lost is space and time, Dr. D. and his assistants
find themselves in the middle of a planet completely covered
in trash.
A broken-down robot seems to be their only hope for rebuilding
the spacetime ship they really don't understand much about.
But what chances do they stand against the villainous mastermind,
Baron Skulkrak? They need to find the M'Guh Fon and save
the Universe.
Another hilarious outing from DeChancie.
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The Kruton Interface
Captain David Wanker thought his career had hit the very
bottom, until he found himself assigned to the Repulse.
The lowest-rated ship in the entire Space Force.
When an army of lawyers sues the entire human race, only
a hero like Wanker can save humanity from terminal litigation.
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Innerverse
The eastern third of the United States of American, now
known as the Republic of Innerverse, falls mysteriously
silent for nearly 20 years.
Frank Sutter, an agent for the Central United States must
infiltrate the Republic of Innervrse and learn the secrets
of the mind control being used on the zombie-like population.
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MagicNet
The brainchild of a renegade computer hacker and warlock,
MagicNet is a meld of technology and the supernatural.
Eric "Sky" King picks up his phone and hears
a friend being murdered by a demon somewhere across town.
But while the victim is dead, he is not out of the picture.
He is inhabiting Sky's laptop computer, assisting him in
solving the murder and saving Los Angeles from an evil end.
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Living With Aliens
Zorg and Flez come to Earth. 13 year old Drew takes them
home and hides them in his bedroom, determined to keep them.
They make Drew smarter, help him get a girlfriend, and
take him on a flight to Minneapolis, Egypt and Mars. Everything
is going greateven though mom and dad find out about
Zorg and Flezthat is, until Blog shows up.
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From Prussia With Love
The first of the Castle Falkenstein novels (no relationship
to Castle Perilous). The action takes place in an alternate
Victorian universe where giant airships are used to wage
war, using spells and magic.
In this one, the evil Chancellor Bismarck is developing
a steam powered intercontinental ballistic missile to be
used to destroy the Kingdom.
Tom Olam, a 20th century computer game programmer and part-time
secret agent must foil the Iron Chancellor's plot.
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Masterminds of Falkenstein
Tom Olam finds his skills put to the ultimate test in this
steampunk story.
A world convention of mad scientists is taking place in
San Francisco. Everything is going crazy. Steam-powered
devices clash with Indian sorcery and European wizardry.
Can he stop Ada Lovelace as she tries to destroy the Empire
of California?
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All covers are and remain
the copyright of the artist or artists who originally gave
them life. Unless, that is, some publisher paid them a few
pounds more to buy the rights away. I have not obtained
permission to replicate them, but hope that these fine individuals
and international conglomerates recognize that I am just
trying to help promote interest (and sales) in their books
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