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The Wonderland Gambit #1
The Cybernetic Walrus
Everything You Think You Know Is Wrong...
This is the message left on Cory's e-mail—just at the moment when years of work on a revolutionary subspace computer system are about to pay off. Nothing will be the same for Cory again—thanks to his involvement in a radical virtual reality research project—whose dangers are all too actual.
This is the message left on Cory's e-mail—just at the moment when years of work on a revolutionary subspace computer system are about to pay off. Nothing will be the same for Cory again—thanks to his involvement in a radical virtual reality research project—whose dangers are all too actual.
322 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 14, 1995
4 people are currently reading
301 people want to read
About the author
Jack L. Chalker
132 books354 followersBesides being a science fiction author, Jack Laurence Chalker was a Baltimore City Schools history teacher in Maryland for a time, a member of the Washington Science Fiction Association, and was involved in the founding of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society. Some of his books said that he was born in Norfolk, Virginia although he later claimed that was a mistake.
He attended all but one of the World Science Fiction Conventions from 1965 until 2004. He published an amateur SF journal, Mirage, from 1960 to 1971 (a Hugo nominee in 1963 for Best Fanzine).
Chalker was married in 1978 and had two sons.
His stated hobbies included esoteric audio, travel, and working on science-fiction convention committees. He had a great interest in ferryboats, and, at his wife's suggestion, their marriage was performed on the Roaring Bull Ferry.
Chalker's awards included the Daedalus Award (1983), The Gold Medal of the West Coast Review of Books (1984), Skylark Award (1985), Hamilton-Brackett Memorial Award (1979), as well as others of varying prestige. He was a nominee for the John W. Campbell Award twice and for the Hugo Award twice. He was posthumously awarded the Phoenix Award by the Southern Fandom Confederation on April 9, 2005.
On September 18, 2003, during Hurricane Isabel, Chalker passed out and was rushed to the hospital with a diagnosis of a heart attack. He was later released, but was severely weakened. On December 6, 2004, he was again rushed to hospital with breathing problems and disorientation, and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and a collapsed lung. Chalker was hospitalized in critical condition, then upgraded to stable on December 9, though he didn't regain consciousness until December 15. After several more weeks in deteriorating condition and in a persistent vegetative state, with several transfers to different hospitals, he died on February 11, 2005 of kidney failure and sepsis in Bon Secours of Baltimore, Maryland.
Chalker is perhaps best known for his Well World series of novels, the first of which is Midnight at the Well of Souls (Well World, #1).
He attended all but one of the World Science Fiction Conventions from 1965 until 2004. He published an amateur SF journal, Mirage, from 1960 to 1971 (a Hugo nominee in 1963 for Best Fanzine).
Chalker was married in 1978 and had two sons.
His stated hobbies included esoteric audio, travel, and working on science-fiction convention committees. He had a great interest in ferryboats, and, at his wife's suggestion, their marriage was performed on the Roaring Bull Ferry.
Chalker's awards included the Daedalus Award (1983), The Gold Medal of the West Coast Review of Books (1984), Skylark Award (1985), Hamilton-Brackett Memorial Award (1979), as well as others of varying prestige. He was a nominee for the John W. Campbell Award twice and for the Hugo Award twice. He was posthumously awarded the Phoenix Award by the Southern Fandom Confederation on April 9, 2005.
On September 18, 2003, during Hurricane Isabel, Chalker passed out and was rushed to the hospital with a diagnosis of a heart attack. He was later released, but was severely weakened. On December 6, 2004, he was again rushed to hospital with breathing problems and disorientation, and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and a collapsed lung. Chalker was hospitalized in critical condition, then upgraded to stable on December 9, though he didn't regain consciousness until December 15. After several more weeks in deteriorating condition and in a persistent vegetative state, with several transfers to different hospitals, he died on February 11, 2005 of kidney failure and sepsis in Bon Secours of Baltimore, Maryland.
Chalker is perhaps best known for his Well World series of novels, the first of which is Midnight at the Well of Souls (Well World, #1).
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
October 23, 2022
The first time I tried to read this book, I stopped about a third of the way through. I have a vague memory of not finding the story believable.
This time, many years later, I made it through but it was a slog. The concept, for the time it was written (1995), was pretty daring--people being sucked into life inside a massive computer. It's much more mainstream today. But what made it so difficult for me to read was the characters don't talk to each other, they make speeches. There's no natural back-and-forth. Instead, one goes on and on, then the other does, then the first one does, each dumping loads of information on the listener (and reader).
The book feels like one of those where, because the author was already very successful, the book got no meaningful editing. Which is too bad: it could have used it.
This is the first book of a trilogy but I seriously doubt I'll hunt down the remaining two books.
This time, many years later, I made it through but it was a slog. The concept, for the time it was written (1995), was pretty daring--people being sucked into life inside a massive computer. It's much more mainstream today. But what made it so difficult for me to read was the characters don't talk to each other, they make speeches. There's no natural back-and-forth. Instead, one goes on and on, then the other does, then the first one does, each dumping loads of information on the listener (and reader).
The book feels like one of those where, because the author was already very successful, the book got no meaningful editing. Which is too bad: it could have used it.
This is the first book of a trilogy but I seriously doubt I'll hunt down the remaining two books.
April 16, 2014
A pretty good Jack L. Chalker novel that did not involve too many crazy alien species or oddball transformations from one species to another. As an added bonus the raunch factor present in so many of his works seemed toned down a little bit. "The Matrix" like overtones but written well before the debut of "The Matrix" film.
Also some very interesting insights on the NSA and other government spy agencies well before the truth was leaked by Edward Snowden.
Heavy on the Alice in Wonderland references, but a good story all the same.
Also some very interesting insights on the NSA and other government spy agencies well before the truth was leaked by Edward Snowden.
Heavy on the Alice in Wonderland references, but a good story all the same.
November 12, 2010
This novel started out feeling very much like The Matrix, but at some point it hit a completely warped point that threw it into a new realm entirely for me. I had no idea one novel could pack in so many questions about reality. It was incredibly imaginative and suspenseful. I think I have an innate hankering for technology geeky novels and this one definitely did the trick.
July 25, 2022
After finally reading this im convinced that the wachowskis stole from this to make The Matrix. Some of it is lifted verbatim. Also considering the wachowki's gender changes and the subject material in a lot of Chaulker's novels, I have no doubt they were fans.
Its sad Chaulker doesn't get credit.
Oh well on to the next two books.
Its sad Chaulker doesn't get credit.
Oh well on to the next two books.
November 6, 2012
Holy crap this was a fun ride. This series is a must read for anyone who enjoys alternate universes and virtual reality. This seriously goes down the rabbit hole.
April 16, 2023
I recently finished a book for review in which the author lays out what he thinks were definitive arguments against materialism (and by default, for dualism.) Chalker wrote something in this book that sort of ties into some of the silliness of those arguments - the old philosophical “how do we know what is real?” questions that supposedly “prove” one of his points:
“I once knew somebody who said that the only rational definition of insanity was I recently finished a book for review in which the author lays out what he thinks were definitive arguments against materialism (and by default, for dualism.) when you saw a different world run by different rules than anyone else, and that your alternate reality, whether pretty or ugly, good or evil, was therefore false because it was yours alone. When most everyone else saw the same things you saw, felt the same things you felt, and believed what you believed, then the one who didn’t was the insane one.” (He really didn’t prove anything, but that’s a different review…)
I’ve been struggling with how to condense and fix the flow of my electronic reams of notes on that one, and I turned to this book for a shift and shift it did. What a bender! Matrix before The Matrix. This is the kickoff, from Chalker’s Intro:
“This book simply establishes the premise, gives the background and some of a very large cast, murders a few people (but not necessarily permanently), screws around with identity and ego, contains a hookah-smoking caterpillar, a pipe-smoking dodo, an all-female biker gang and drug cartel, a cigar-smoking Native American woman who says she goes into a parallel universe via the trees, the Roswell saucer, at least two possibly alien races, a little antigovernment paranoia, a bunch of two-faced villains, and a lot of mind control. We won’t get complicated until the next book.”
Won’t get complicated, yet, eh? What am I in for??? I carried this around unread for almost two decades before losing it to a fire and could never get into it enough to keep going. Pushed this time and was rewarded. Near (for 1995) future craziness that takes a turn down trippy lane. Chalker also said this in his Intro:
“I’ve come across discussions on such diverse platforms as conventions, fanzines, and the Internet where people argue whether I write fantasy novels or science-fiction novels. Most people think I write predominantly fantasy, and in this they are wrong. What I do not write are engineering stories “—hey, gang, let’s build a space station! Hey, let’s terraform Mars! Those are all well and good, and some folks do them well, but they are very much in the tradition of Astounding in the Campbell era, a magazine I am not going to ever denigrate but which, I think, told as many variations of engineering stories as I ever want to read.”
Probably true. And…
“My late father was born two months before the Wright brothers flew their first plane at Kitty Hawk. He died twenty years after the last man walked on the moon, the last one that’s likely to walk on the moon or beyond in my lifetime. I pray not in my children’s lifetimes, but we are a world and a nation who seem to have lost our dreams and are spiritually dying for it.”
That happened. But humans are apparently finally going back in 2024.
“The only downer is increasing evidence as I get older that my own playing around with the human mind and form seem increasingly more likely than terraforming Mars.”
Yep. And …
“And now I come to computers. Not today’s, of course, or maybe not tomorrow’s, but for all the wonders of cyberspace it still looks like cyberspace. Why should it? How good can it really get? Those who have run into me online know that I’m not a novice in this area and that I got my Junior Pournelle Merit Badge long ago. ”
This is great! We are getting closer (and the real reason I highlighted that was the Junior Pournelle Merit Badge - IFKYK).
It did draw me in, after all these years of not being able to. Now to write that review.
———-
Some writing/editing sloppiness:
“simply quit the project if he weren’t allowed full reign”
Uh, full (or free) rein.
And “corpus colostrum”
Seriously? It’s callosum. He used it twice so …
“BBS systems”
Redundant (1995… bulletin board systems were only just on their way out.)
“I once knew somebody who said that the only rational definition of insanity was I recently finished a book for review in which the author lays out what he thinks were definitive arguments against materialism (and by default, for dualism.) when you saw a different world run by different rules than anyone else, and that your alternate reality, whether pretty or ugly, good or evil, was therefore false because it was yours alone. When most everyone else saw the same things you saw, felt the same things you felt, and believed what you believed, then the one who didn’t was the insane one.” (He really didn’t prove anything, but that’s a different review…)
I’ve been struggling with how to condense and fix the flow of my electronic reams of notes on that one, and I turned to this book for a shift and shift it did. What a bender! Matrix before The Matrix. This is the kickoff, from Chalker’s Intro:
“This book simply establishes the premise, gives the background and some of a very large cast, murders a few people (but not necessarily permanently), screws around with identity and ego, contains a hookah-smoking caterpillar, a pipe-smoking dodo, an all-female biker gang and drug cartel, a cigar-smoking Native American woman who says she goes into a parallel universe via the trees, the Roswell saucer, at least two possibly alien races, a little antigovernment paranoia, a bunch of two-faced villains, and a lot of mind control. We won’t get complicated until the next book.”
Won’t get complicated, yet, eh? What am I in for??? I carried this around unread for almost two decades before losing it to a fire and could never get into it enough to keep going. Pushed this time and was rewarded. Near (for 1995) future craziness that takes a turn down trippy lane. Chalker also said this in his Intro:
“I’ve come across discussions on such diverse platforms as conventions, fanzines, and the Internet where people argue whether I write fantasy novels or science-fiction novels. Most people think I write predominantly fantasy, and in this they are wrong. What I do not write are engineering stories “—hey, gang, let’s build a space station! Hey, let’s terraform Mars! Those are all well and good, and some folks do them well, but they are very much in the tradition of Astounding in the Campbell era, a magazine I am not going to ever denigrate but which, I think, told as many variations of engineering stories as I ever want to read.”
Probably true. And…
“My late father was born two months before the Wright brothers flew their first plane at Kitty Hawk. He died twenty years after the last man walked on the moon, the last one that’s likely to walk on the moon or beyond in my lifetime. I pray not in my children’s lifetimes, but we are a world and a nation who seem to have lost our dreams and are spiritually dying for it.”
That happened. But humans are apparently finally going back in 2024.
“The only downer is increasing evidence as I get older that my own playing around with the human mind and form seem increasingly more likely than terraforming Mars.”
Yep. And …
“And now I come to computers. Not today’s, of course, or maybe not tomorrow’s, but for all the wonders of cyberspace it still looks like cyberspace. Why should it? How good can it really get? Those who have run into me online know that I’m not a novice in this area and that I got my Junior Pournelle Merit Badge long ago. ”
This is great! We are getting closer (and the real reason I highlighted that was the Junior Pournelle Merit Badge - IFKYK).
It did draw me in, after all these years of not being able to. Now to write that review.
———-
Some writing/editing sloppiness:
“simply quit the project if he weren’t allowed full reign”
Uh, full (or free) rein.
And “corpus colostrum”
Seriously? It’s callosum. He used it twice so …
“BBS systems”
Redundant (1995… bulletin board systems were only just on their way out.)
August 23, 2017
So I found a weather-beaten copy of this at the Last Bookstore in Los Angeles, where all forgotten SF goes to die, and I remembered the author's "Well of Souls" series fondly from high school. The followup Well trilogy was sort of hard to take and I abandoned it, and this is a different series, more mystical multiverse body transfer stuff. Supposedly it almost got made into a movie and then The Matrix came out with the same premise, and that was that. Chalker died youngish, it appears, in Baltimore, and it's interesting to imagine that we were both in that city at the same time when he was plugging away at what is basically pulp trash. It is occasionally enjoyable pulp trash, though it sure does jump around a lot and the prose is conversational and passable but a bit of a jumble. The story pretty much ends on a cliffhanger.
August 12, 2017
This was a recommendation from a friend, who has different taste than mine and probably would not have read it if he hadn't read it along with me. Lol. The synopsis didn't draw me in, and turns out, I'm not into cyber stuff or body switching, although the plot is interesting enough. I don't care for the writing style, feels like it was written by someone in the 70's, imagining what the 90's would look like, but I do dig the 'Alice in Wonderland' references. I also like the female characters, more so than the male protagonist. Since I always want to know how it ends, regardless if its a bad book, I'll finish the series. (Otherwise, it'll bug me, lol)
February 17, 2020
This wasn't my first time reading this book. So the fact that I thought it was good enough to read again tells you something.
Jack Chalker is one of those writers that is a marmite author. You either love him or hate him. Personally I love him. So I go back to him time and again.
This isn't his best work. But is far from his worst. The usual body swap motif that permeates most of Chalker's work is there. But he has come up with another set of new wrinkles. Will especially appeal to the computer geek crowd, but is appealing enough for most people. The plot is a lot more confusing than normal, so you have to keep up.
I recommend it.
Jack Chalker is one of those writers that is a marmite author. You either love him or hate him. Personally I love him. So I go back to him time and again.
This isn't his best work. But is far from his worst. The usual body swap motif that permeates most of Chalker's work is there. But he has come up with another set of new wrinkles. Will especially appeal to the computer geek crowd, but is appealing enough for most people. The plot is a lot more confusing than normal, so you have to keep up.
I recommend it.
May 24, 2025
2.5
Technically an interesting premise with interesting concepts reminiscent of Simulacra and some P.K.D works. What is real? What is reality? How do the characters influence it? While some aspects, such as changing of the 'character' are rather interesting, I feel they could have been explored better as it does not seem that even gender swapping leaves much of an impact on the personalities. But the biggest issue with the book is that it is just kinda boring. Things are happening, lot of people are talking but I just could not care about any of it at all.
Technically an interesting premise with interesting concepts reminiscent of Simulacra and some P.K.D works. What is real? What is reality? How do the characters influence it? While some aspects, such as changing of the 'character' are rather interesting, I feel they could have been explored better as it does not seem that even gender swapping leaves much of an impact on the personalities. But the biggest issue with the book is that it is just kinda boring. Things are happening, lot of people are talking but I just could not care about any of it at all.
June 15, 2022
I've bounced hard off of Chalker's other works, but the premise sound interesting so I thought I'd give this one a shot. The plot is interesting, very Matrixesque, but the delivery is awkward. There are a lot of info dumps - it's very high on tell not show and the dialogue seemed really stilted. The cliffhanger ending did leave me interested in finding out more, so I'll grab the other two books in the series at some point and see how it ends.
August 4, 2023
I have to start by saying that I've read other things by Chalker and they were okay, but he's an author I'll generally pass on. But I found the third volume of this series (of course) at the used book store and was intrigued enough to hunt down the first two. An entertaining foray into the nature of reality / virtual reality and how do we know which is which. Not up to four star standards, but good enough I'll read at least the next one.
December 11, 2019
Waste of my time as usual from this author. Confusing but interesting.
March 20, 2016
I love a bit of Alice in Wonderland themed stories. This one definitely plays up the Alice analogies. But as for the actual story, it's weird. The plot is not too odd, but the elements of reincarnation are a bit weird. The dialogue, though, is so awkward. Chapters and chapters of dialogue that are essentially large data dumps. And the information provided is convoluted and hard to understand.
October 6, 2009
Even for Jack Chalker this one is weird and difficult to follow. I gave up in midstream, lost in the bizarre thicket of sex changes and technobabble. Sorry Jack, loved your other series, but this one ain't their equal.
November 10, 2007
A confusing mix of Alice in Wonderland and cyberpunk. Fist book of 3. Everything you know is wrong. Likable and taken only this one book out of the series enjoyable.
August 25, 2009
The first book in a Chalker series is always a treat.
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September 26, 201210
October 5, 2014
Virtual reality series. Kind of like The Matrix, and kind of not.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews