Castle Perilous by John DeChancie
Castle Perilous is a giant castle with 144,000 rooms that are portals to other worlds. These portals are constantly shifting in and out of other dimensions and occasionally they temporarily open up somewhere on Earth. At those times people may stumble into the castle and not be able to get back out. They become one of the permanent “guests” who have great food, luxurious accommodations, and servants to wait on them. Best of all, they get to explore some of the stable portals leading to exotic places. When Gene, Linda, and Snowclaw each stumble into Castle Perilous, it’s under siege by the jilted lover of the castle’s owner.
Here’s a novel that’s got some fun and whimsical ideas but never really capitalizes on all of its creative potential. I love the premise and the story is amusing, but it lacks passion and depth. The characters are shallow, we spend little time exploring the other wo... Read More
More speculative fiction by John DeChancie
Skyway — (1983-1987) Publisher: Independent space trucker Jake McGraw, accompanied by his father Sam, who inhabits the body of truck itself, his “starrig,” 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: an alien race called the Reticulans, the human government known as the Colonial Assembly, and a nasty piece-of-work called Corey Wilkes, head of the wildcat trucker union TATOO. No matter what Jake does, no matter how many twists and turns he makes, he can’t shake any of the menaces on his tail. The Starrigger series, continues with Red Limit Freeway and concludes with Paradox Alley.
Dr. Dimension — (1993-1994) With David Bischoff. Publisher: When an anonymous benefactor sends Dr. Demetrios Demopoulos a crateful of future technology, the doctor builds a spacetime machine in which he, Dr. Vivian Vernon, and three colleagues take a one-way ride into galactic chaos.
Castle Falkenstein —(1995-1996) Publisher: In this alternate history of the late 19th century, King Ludwig of Bavaria rules a mad empire of lords, ladies, spies, and scientists. When he discovers that his arch enemy, General Bismark, is developing a steam-powered intracontinental balistic missile, he launches his own missile program while enlisting the help of Tom Olam, 20th century time traveler, to sabotage Bismark’s missile program.
Stand-alones:
The Kruton Interface — (1993) Publisher: Captain David Wanker thought his career had hit rock bottom. Then he was assigned to the starship Repulse, the lowest-rated ship in the Space Forces. The navigator gets lost, the engineer speaks only Gaelic, the security personnel have narcolepsy, and the ship’s doctor needs medication. No sooner than he takes command, his job as captain is lost to automation invented by a mad scientist who thinks he’s Groucho Marx. Worse yet, when he meets up with the inhabitants of the planet Kruton, a world that is one huge law firm, he finds himself a defendant in the biggest lawsuit ever to hit the Galactic courts. Hilarity not only ensues — it practically goes supernova!
MagicNet — (1993) Publisher: Witnessing a friend’s death at the hands of a demon, English professor Skye King finds himself unwittingly hooked onto the MagicNet, a computer-generated, magical force that has taken on a life of its own.
Living with Aliens — (1995) Publisher: Thirteen-year-old Drew could not be happier with his alien friends, Zorg and Flez, who help raise his IQ, find him a girl-friend, and travel to Mars, until the ornery Blog comes to arrest them for treason. 
Innerverse — (1996) Publisher: Twenty years after the eastern third of the United States is mysteriously cut off and transformed into a police state of passive humans ruled by a ominous technology, agent Frank Sutter becomes the region’s only hope.
Other States of Being: 16 Short Abductions — (1999) Publisher: These tales explore strange and alien modes of existence led by a diverse universe of beings: a compulsive gambler who wins a fortune and loses his world; a clone of Hitler who plots the retaking of the Falklands; the man who is jailed for his profession of remolding entire planets; a woman who was a Sphinx but who must now solve the riddle of life; a shoemaker whose elvish workers demand a monstrous wage; a murderer who must come to terms with a simulacrum of his victim — and many more. In this age of xenophobia and fear of The Other, these stories are wickedly funny. All are enormously satisfying for readers of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. 
The Little Gray Book Of Alien Stories — (2004) Publisher: A collection of short fiction by science fiction writer John DeChancie, the creator of the popular “Castle Perilous” series
(1946- )
