This is the only thing I've read by Chalker, who's not known as a short story writer, so my impression of him may not be totally accurate.

As a "writer" I'd say he's not great, but not terrible. As a story teller he's better. But the ideas behind his stories are pretty interesting. I couldn't help imagining what these works would be like with a collaborator. Most of the story ideas sucked me in, but are written in a very typical old school sci-fi style. Fortunately I don't mind that style.

He writes long introductions to the stories, possibly too long. He doesn't always do himself any favors by telling you more than you want to know about the behind-the-scenes of his career. He comes off a little bitter and whining that he is not appreciated enough as a writer. I'd say that he did OK for someone of his talent, he says he made a good living for many years. The afterword was surprisingly interesting, after I thought I'd had plenty of his musings. In it he spells out his opinions of life, death, and politics, and makes some good observations that are very current and relevant, even though this was written in the early 80's. ( )