Well! Well! Well!

Saga of the Well and
Watchers at the Well Series
Everything but the Kitchen Sink
by Jack L. Chalker

Jack Chalker certainly can cover a great deal of ground, and the Well World books never suffer for lack of big ideas! In these ten books you will learn more about the Well than is good for you. You will cuss Nathan Brazil and cheer Mavra Chang. Here they are, listing in my suggested reading order. Warning: I do not recommend this series to anyone with hexagon floor tile in their home! Click on the image of a book to see a larger version of the cover.

Midnight at the Well of Souls - Entered by a thousand unsuspected gateways - built by a race lost in the clouds of time - the planet its dwellers called the Well World turned beings of every kind into something else. There spacefarer Nathan Brazil found himself companioned by a batman, an amorous female centaur and a mermaid - all once as human as he. Yet Nathan Brazil's metamorphosis was more terrifying than any of those...and his memory was coming back, bringing with it the secret of the Well World. For at the heart of the bizarre planet lay the goal of every being that had ever lived - and Nathan Brazil and his comrades were...lucky?...enough to find it!

Del Rey paperback, 5th printing, December 1980, 360 pages, Very good condition.

Exiles at the Well of Souls - Antor Trelig, archvillian and head of the Sponge Syndicate, had captured Obie, a supercomputer that could control all mater and all worlds. With Obie's help - willing or unwilling - Trelig would become omnipotent... and he was sure nothing could stop him now. Against him, the Council had only one weapon - Mavra Chang, the amoral female adventurer who had trained herself to be humanity's master criminal. They offered her any reward if she succeeded. For failure, there was certain, horrible death. Neither Trelig nor Mavra had counted on being drawn across space to the Well World, master planet of the ancient Markovians. There, in new - alien - bodies, they were faced with countless bizarre ecologies. And there they were caught up in a battle of intrigue where strange races fought for control of the universe!

Del Rey paperback, 2nd printing, November 1980, 335 pages, Good condition.

Quest for the Well of Souls - For eleven bitter years, Mavra Chang had been a prisoner on the Well World where hundreds of impossible races existed, each in it's own strange environment. Her once-human companions had been mutated into alien forms, and she was isolated and abandoned. Worse, her body was cruelly changed to a monstrous and useless travesty of what she had been. Above her circled the planetoid containing Obie, the supercomputer that could restore her body and her powers. But the only means of reaching him was by a spaceship that was stranded in the northern hemisphere - where no flesh-and-blood creature could exist.

Del Rey paperback, 3rd printing, November 1980, 299 pages, Good condition.

The Return of Nathan Brazil - In a desolate sector of space floats the Well World - the ancient Markovian supercomputer that first created and now maintains the Universe. While attempting to repel an insidious intergalactic invasion, Mankind resorts to a weapon of such awesome destructive power that it undermines the Well World's control of time and space and threatens the very existence of the Universe. It was up to Mavra Chang - victim and veteran of the Wars of the Well - and Obie, her colossal computer companion, to find the only being capable of going to the Well World and repairing the damage at its source. But the infamous and near-mythical Nathan Brazil - sometime freighter captain, often the Wandering Jew, perhaps even God - did not want to be found. But Mavra and Obie were never two to take no for an answer.

Del Rey paperback, 3rd printing, December 1980, 289 pages, Very good condition.

Twilight at the Well of Souls - The rift in the fabric of space was fast approaching the Well World, and time was running out. Troops all over the planet were gathering for bettle. Nathan Brazil and Mavra Chang somehow had to reach the Well of Souls and save the universe before the hostile natives kill them. At best, a difficult mission. At worst, impossible - especially since there was a price on Nathan's head and many would-be claimants! For Brazil, the difficult was but the work of the moment - the impossible would take a little longer!

Del Rey paperback, 2nd printing, October 1980, 304 pages, Very good condition.

Echoes of the Well of Souls - Nathan Brazil and high-tech thief Mavra Chang had been the guardians of the Well of Souls, where the Well World's master control lay. But now the universe faced a threat more grave than mere destruction: An unnamed and utterly alien entity had somehow been released from its ancient prison and was bent on the corruption of the Well World itself. If successful, it would cause chaos beyond mortal understanding.

Del Rey paperback, First mass market edition, February 1994, 322 pages, Very good condition.

Shadow of the Well of Souls - Nathan Brazil, immortal guardian of the Well World computer that underlies the creation and evolution of the universe, continues his investigation of the unusual planetwide deviations that prompted his summons back through the Well Gate. Evidencing one of those deviations, many of the species he meets with have evolved along lines that should be impossible; attesting to another, both he and his counterpart, Mavra Chang, have met with inexplicable obstacles in accessing the Well computer, including Chang's subjugation by a former drug dealer from Earth. Meanwhile, unknown to both, the malevolent entity known as the Kraang watches and influences events from the sidelines, setting up a finale of universe-saving proportions.

Tor paperback, First mass market edition, September 1994, 352 pages, Very good condition.

Gods of the Well of Souls - In its hour of need, the Well World's guardians had been neutralized. Nathan Brazil was shipwrecked on a desert island with a seemingly harmless girl who had caused his mind to be invaded, his will sapped, and his mission forgotten. Mavra Chang had been abducted by a vicious gang of inter-hex drug smugglers and held prisoner by a revenge-mad creature who had surgically and genetically altered her into a bizarre farm and made her a slave to powerful narcotics. But the Well of Souls, sophisticated beyond human understanding, was still a machine; it needed its guardians. And so it set plans in motion to jolt its champions back into the game. But avert if Brazil or Chang could overcome the formidable obstacles in their path, they could not know that all the players, even the great Well computer, were being manipulated by the Kraang, an entity more ancient than the universe itself. For the Kraang had a game plan that would use the guardians to give it powers far beyond those avert of the Well of Souls - making it a living god.

Del Rey trade paperback, First edition, October 1994, 356 pages, Very good condition.

The Sea is Full of Stars - After three passengers - Ming, Ari, and Angel - embark on an elite starship journey into the Realm, they unwittingly become ensnared in one man's bloodthirsty vendetta that will alter their very beings. That man is Jeremiah Wong Kincaid. He vows to destroy Josich Conqueror Hadun, the evil genius who has wreaked unspeakable havoc throughout the universe. It is an obsession that will take him to lands of demons and strange races - and into a deadly new cyberworld where humans are mere pawns of the godlike computers they have created. But it is only after Kincaid and his unwitting fellow travelers enter Well World and discover the water hexes that he confronts the mad tyrant - and learns their universe is threatened by something far, far worse.

Del Rey paperback, 2nd printing, November 1999, 342 pages, Near mint condition.

Ghost of the Well of Souls - On the mysterious Well World, the evil tyrant Josich and his dark agents search desperately for the eight scattered pieces of the fabled Straight Gate. Whoever possesses the Gate will wield enormous power, travelling between universes at the speed of light and wreaking havoc across galaxies. Opposing Josich is a small band of travelers new to the Well World. There is Core, once a machine, now flesh and blood; Ming and Ari, two minds sharing a single body; Jaysu, an angel; and Genghis O'Leary, a lizard being. Unbeknownst to them, they have an unlikely ally: a vengeful entity who is able to clone any person or object with a single touch - and mete out death just as swift.

Del Rey paperback, First edition, April 2000, 342 pages, Near mint condition.

3,301 Pages of Mind-Blowing Science Fiction!