On Influences, part 1: Chalker (Patreon)

Some posts back, backer Asklepios commented that the scene with Jonathon's patient reminded them of the novel "A Planet Called Treason", revised and later republished as just "Treason" by Orson Scott Card.  I'd read the book as a teenager, and while I don't -think- it influenced the writing of my scene, who can really say?  It did however get me thinking about some of the books that have influenced me - or more specifically, influenced Constant.

I'm focusing on the TG-themed stuff here I can remember reading as a teen.  Looking back and perhaps unsurprisingly, I went through a period of searching out 'mainstream' published works that explored the topic, and found it in sci-fi and fantasy.  Clearly I'm dating myself here, but this was all pre-internet when it was much more difficult to discover this kind of thing.

One of the first authors I can clearly remember doing this was Jack L Chalker.  An uncle--is it always a weird uncle that has this kind of stuff?--had both the Well of Worlds series, and the Four Lords of the Diamond series.  I borrowed and read them all.  I loved the Well World books for the high-concept sci fi and wacky aliens, but the TG elements ran through them as well.  It's been years since I read them, but I can remember there was the evil antagonist turned into a female fly-alien; one protagonist transformed into a female... centaur, maybe?  Nathan Brazil did some cross-dressing, and later finished the novel as a woman when the universe was reset... It's all a bt hazy, but it's the first time I can remember reading that kind of stuff in published fiction.

Some of Chalker's later books really doubled down on the theme.  The Identity Matrix is probably a staple for people who read this stuff, although it clearly more interested in the concept of body-swapping aliens than the protagonist's conflict at suddenly being female, and clearly doesn't care that much about the whole clothing and culture thing.  I remember some of the Soul Rider series went a bit dark with it all, with one failed villain being turned into a female prostitute; and there was a time-travel one where the protagonist ended up as a prostitute through time as well, though I can't remember its name.  In one of the Dancing God books the warrior-hero gets turned into a nymph, I think, and has to have sex to recharge herself?

For all that, I don't remember the books ever being particularly... erotic, or even sexual; they weren't pornographic.  I had a glance at the Identity Matrix before wriitng this up and I'm not sure Chalker's prose is all that great, either - great ideas, very imaginative, some vivid characters and creative plotting, but somewhat workmanlike in the actual writing.  

But that's probably quite unfair, as I'm sure it's all still churning around somewhere in the deep unconscious, and at least one of the books I've mentioned above features a plot element that aligns pretty closely with where I'm bringing Constant.

In any case, next entry I'll focus on another sci-fi author, the one I probably read the most as a young teen: Orson Scott Card. In the meantime, what early reads influenced your tastes and interest?