John DeChancie is the author of over two dozen books, fiction and nonfiction, and has written for magazines, newspapers, and fiction anthologies. His novels in the science fiction and fantasy genres have been attracting a wide readership for more than twenty years, and over a million copies of his books have seen print. Thirteen of his titles are in print in Russian translation alone. John studied philosophy at the University of Pittsburgh, and went on to work in public television, at times acting as a technical consultant to PBS network shows such as Mister Roger’s Neighborhood. After five years in TV, John produced and directed education films. Many of his short films have been used as teaching adjuncts around the country. His distributor was the famed Pyramid Films. John made and took part in the making of innumerable short educational and industrial productions. Some titles: THE LIGHTNING-ROD MAN, BIRDHOUSE, and THE COMMERCIAL ARTIST. Switching careers again, John began to write fiction and achieved success very quickly, supporting his family on his writing alone. When his children grew up, he moved to southern California, where he has been ever since.
John’s first work was Starrigger (Berkley/Ace ,1984), followed by Red Limit Freeway (1985) and Paradox Alley (1987), completing the Skyway Trilogy, one of the most imaginative, mind-expanding series in science fiction. Beloved of SF readers around the world, the trilogy has become a cult classic. Log onto Amazon.com and read the four-star Reader’s Reviews. It is no exaggeration to say that the trilogy has found a place in the hearts of readers along with the works of Heinlein, Asimov, and Clarke. Jerry Pournelle, co-author with Larry Niven of the classics The Mote in God’s Eye and Lucifer’s Hammer, has compared the series to the best of A. E. van Vogt, and better written. The convoluted plot takes the reader on a mind-bending journey to the end of the universe and back.
Paradox Alley is the thrilling and long-awaited finale of John DeChancie’s Starrigger series.
If you’re not familiar with the trilogy, it starts with Starrigger when independent space trucker Jake McGraw, accompanied by his father Sam, who inhabits the body of the truck itself, his “star rig,” picks up a beautiful hitchhiker, Darla, and a trailer-load of trouble. One of the best of the indies, Jake knows a few tricks about following the Skyway, which connects dozens, or maybe hundreds, of planets. Nobody knows how many and nobody really knows the full extent of the Skyway and much of it remains unexplored. But, somehow, a rumor gets started that Jake has a map for the whole thing and suddenly everybody wants a piece of him.
In the sequel, Red Limit Freeway, Jake stumbles on what seems to be the fabled roadmap to the stars, then must outrun the most detestable vermin and roadbugs in the galaxy. The only thing separating him from them is his tattered starrig. In the lawless region of space Jake must keep his rig running if he knows what’s good for him. He has something that everyone wants and they will stop at nothing to get it. But how long can he keep going on the road where there is no relief for light years?
In the concluding novel Paradox Alley, Jake and his crew are plucked off the Skyway by a creature of unknown power. Now on an alien planet where most of the rules of the regular universe don’t seem to apply, Jake confronts the builders of the Skyway once and for all. Will he and his crew make it out alive?
When you finish the trilogy you’ll want to plunge into DeChancie’s Castle series, which you can find on his author page.
His humorous fantasy series, beginning with Castle Perilous, became a best seller for Berkley/Ace. William Morrow published MagicNet, which Booklist said was “a welcome sigh of comic relief … shamelessly droll, literate, and thoroughly entertaining. Magicnet is the fantasy genre’s whimsical answer to Neuromancer.” He has also written in the horror genre. His short fiction has appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and in numerous original anthologies, the latest of which is Spell Fantastic. His story collection, Other States of Being, was published by Pulpless.com, Inc., an online and print-on-demand publisher. Another story collection, The Little Gray Book of Alien Stories, was recently published by Borderlands Press (Baltimore).
