And the Devil Will Drag You Under

Infobox Book
name = And the Devil Will Drag You Under
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = First edition cover
author = Jack Chalker
illustrator = Darrell K. Sweet
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Fantasy novel
publisher = Del Rey Books
release_date = August, 1979
media_type = Print (Paperback)
pages = 273 pp
isbn = ISBN 0-345-27926-3
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"And the Devil Will Drag You Under", (1979) is a comic fantasy by Jack Chalker involving an alcoholic demon and two humans he suborns to collect the pieces of a mystic artifact that the demon requires to save Earth from an asteroid on a collision course, thereby permitting him to continue his bender. The human's journeys include both mystical transformations of their bodies and trips to worlds that parodied famous fantasy novel locales.

The book's title is an homage to "Sit Down, You're Rockin' the Boat", a song written by musical theatre composer-lyricist Frank Loesser, for "Guys and Dolls" in which the character Nicely-Nicely Johnson, making a gospel style confession at a Salvation Army prayer meeting, tells of a dream in which his fellow passengers, on a "little boat to heaven," warn him that if he upsets the ride, he'll be washed overboard ... "and the Devil will drag you under / By the sharp lapel of your checkered coat ... "

Publication history

*1979, USA, Del Rey (ISBN 0-345-30504-3), pub date August, 1979.