Repairman Jack

Repairman Jack is a character in a series of novels by F. Paul Wilson. Jack initially was just one protagonist in a string of related novels, but then gained his own series known as The Repairman Jack series.

This series of novels uses realistic, thriller-like situations to tell a story with a broad sci-fi theme. It is technically a spin-off branch of the aforementioned larger, overarching sci-fi series (Nightworld).

Introduction

Repairman Jack is a self-titled "fix-it" man, but not in the common workshop sense. He is something of an underground mercenary, hired by everyday people to fix situations that cannot be dealt with through legal means (ex: blackmail). He is careful about who he agrees to do fix-its for, preferring innocent, desperate citizens being victimized with no one else to turn to. These fix-its usually begin simply, but grow into complex problems that begin to involve more and more sci-fi & supernatural elements as the novels continue. The second novel, Legacies, is the only one that is completely free of any overtly supernatural elements.

All of Jack's fix-its are immediately relevant problems in today's world, covering topics such as conspiracy groups, grassroots movements, designer drugs, public shootings, terrorists, legal dealings and scientific & biological experiments. Jack relies on his brain, wits, experience and real-life weapons and techniques to do battle, and though he makes increasing use of supernatural sources of information (a spiritual medium, an indestructible tome of unknown age), he has so far not used supernatural weapons or abilities in battle.

Jack hides his identity from the government by not voting, paying taxes, opening bank accounts, registering guns or cars, or doing anything else that will leave a paper or electronic trail. He uses a TracFone to leave untraceable calls, demands cash only for payment, and stashes his savings in gold coins in his apartment. He consistently wears gloves or wipes surfaces in order not to leave behind traces of his identity. He advertises his services strictly by word of mouth and via an anonymous website.

Personal life

Jack has a sister (Kate) and brother (Tom), both older than himself. Shortly after the beginning of the series, his father moved from New Jersey to Florida. His mother died when he was a teenager.

He has a girlfriend named Gia DiLauro, a commercial artist with a young daughter named Vicky. Jack's best friend is an arms dealer and information specialist (Abe Grossman) who runs his secret armory out of the Isher Sports Shop. His other good friend Julio runs a bar that Jack often uses as a place to check out potential customers.

Appearance and Personality

Jack is a man who carefully keeps himself outside of what he terms 'officialdom', refusing to enter the workforce (and claims to have no U.S. Social Security number). Because of this and the fact that he has earned many enemies over the years, his physical appearance embodies the word 'average': he is of average height, average build, with brown hair and eyes. He is physically fit but not obviously so; a confident fighter and skilled with guns.

Jack is prone to fits of righteous anger in which he will dive into situations rashly, though luck, skill and creative improvisation usually serve him well.

Though he generally keeps to himself, Jack is fiercely loyal to and protective of his loved ones. His need to protect his family is what drives much of his actions later in the series, along with an innate sense of righteousness. He enjoys playing mind games with con artists and criminals, and has a wry and sometimes dark sense of humor. Jack can also be described as vengeful and cold-blooded under certain circumstances; he often is indifferent to killing those he deems deserving of death.

Motivation

Jack's first fix-it happened when he was a teenager. A prankster continually destroyed his neighbor's lawn with his car, and his neighbor offered to pay him to put a stop to it. Jack helped his neighbor patch up the lawn and then set a trap for the prankster, which resulted in a trashed car and the prankster never again returning.

When he was in college, Jack's mother was killed when a delinquent dropped a cinder block onto their family's moving car from an overpass. This event was the turning point in Jack's life. After patiently staking out the overpass, Jack eventually killed the young man who killed his mother. From then on, Jack felt he had no place in his old world, dropped out of college and left "officialdom", entering his underground lifestyle in New York.

Series Plot

Jack lives in what appears to be the normal modern city of New York; he gets involved in many "mundane" fix-its where he deals with gangsters, criminals, cults, con artists and kidnappers, but he also runs into supernatural creatures and beings that are often tied to the illegal dealings.

Typically, Jack gets involved in multiple fix-its in each novel, usually one of those turning into a large issue that leads him to use his skills to battle supernatural forces. Jack also begins to find his loved ones threatened by these forces, and while he struggles to maintain some control over his life, he is also faced with internal challenges, such as facing the possibility of having to give up his entire adult lifestyle. As the series progresses, the appearance of supernatural beings and situations lead Jack to become entangled in a larger, universal fight. While he protests his involvement, he is dragged deeper with each novel into growing unrest and chaos - the observable effects of a cosmic battle for all existence. The two major forces involved are called (by their earthly agents) the Ally and the Otherness. The Ally "collects" worlds as souvenirs, the Otherness "consumes" worlds as a predator. The conflict is thus not so much a matter of "good and evil" as "indifferent and inimical".

It is stressed repeatedly in the novels that though both forces require control over all of existence, the value of individual worlds is negligible - but it is also stated that Earth is of greater-than-average value as it is a world containing sentient life. Sentience is rare, making this world more attractive to the Ally - much like a stone with a distinct shape or pattern. The Otherness(and its agents) derive sustenance from destruction and thus finds sentient life useful as it can be guided to destroy its surroundings and itself - like self-slaughtering cattle. This is the reason the indifferent force has been dubbed the Ally - but this definition extends to humans only so long as they serve its ends.

The Otherness has a powerful champion dubbed the Adversary - an evil magician once known as Rasalom. Ages past, Rasalom made a deal with the Otherness; in exchange for power and eternal life, he would lead the Otherness' minions - malevolent supernatural entities - in its campaign against the Ally. Jack has met him several times, each time barely surviving the experience.

The Ally once had a corresponding champion dubbed the Sentinel - a warrior known as Glaeken. Soon after Rasalom was empowered, Glaeken was given a magical sword that strengthened and healed him while weakening and harming agents of the Otherness. Thus empowered, he was directed to lead the "Yeniçeri" - orphaned children raised to fight in the Ally's cause - against Rasalom. It is interesting to note that, at some point more than 1000 years ago, Glaeken became estranged from the Yeniçeri and left them to their own devices.

The battles between the Adversary and the Sentinel continued - to the point of Glaeken temporarily slaying Rasalom multiple times - finally, Glaeken succeeded in overpowering him approximately a thousand years ago. However, Glaeken had grown to enjoy his agelessness, and knew that it would end with Rasalom's death. He thus sealed him in a keep in the Carpathian mountains by use of the sword's hilt. This imprisonment came to an end during the events of The Keep; Rasalom was (seemingly) destroyed along with the sword and Glaeken began to age as a human. Glaeken has since been aging normally since the late 1940s and is now an old man.

However, Rasalom's demise was purely temporary - he was able to resurrect himself during the events of Reborn in the late 1960s. Shortly thereafter, a pair of superhuman beings known as "The Twins" (responsible for the worldwide sightings of men in black) took leadership over the "Yeniçeri". Since his rebirth, Rasalom has been keeping a low profile so as not to attract the attention of Glaeken, The Twins or the Yeniçeri.

In modern times, Jack has found himself chosen, against his knowledge and will, to represent the Ally. The phrase, "a spear has no branches" is applied to him often, as the Ally attempts to hone him into a lone, hardened warrior by killing those he has emotional attachments to. He later finds out the Ally has specified him as the second in line of the Ally's forces. The Twins have been destroyed by the Otherness and the Ally's original champion Glaeken, nicknamed the Sentinel, is old and failing. At this point, Jack is known as the Heir, because should Glaeken die, Jack will become the Ally's new champion - or leave Earth defenseless. The Nightworld series, parent to the Repairman Jack series, already names Jack as a main fighter in the cosmic war.

Several novels in, it is revealed that a third force in the power struggle has been making its presence known through various representatives: a series of women with nothing in common save strange canine companions and seemingly oracular knowledge. The force they represent is thus far unnamed, but dislikes both the Otherness and the Ally. However, as these women are openly sympathetic and helpful to Jack, their agenda tends to parallel that of the Ally, though they, like Jack, wish neither force were present. These women can see into the future and command certain superhuman powers. The force they represent appears not to be as powerful as either the Otherness or the Ally: they can't drive out the Otherness and can be killed by Otherness creatures, and they cannot over-ride or over-rule the Ally. Rasalom seems to know them collectively as The Lady, and fears them. It has been speculated that these women are a representation of "Mother Earth", because they repeatedly call themselves Jack's and other people's "Mother". Another clue is when an agent of the Otherness was burying supernaturally dark artifacts across the globe, all the women's backs simultaneously showed a pattern of scarring that mapped the artifacts' locations.

As of the latest novel, Jack discovers he may be more closely linked to the Otherness than he had previously realized - a scion of an ancient and powerful bloodline. It remains to be seen if Jack will have new abilities bestowed upon him at some point to equal the playing ground, or if he will continue to remain a character firmly rooted in the "real world".

Future of Repairman Jack

The timeline of the latest Repairman Jack novel (Bloodline) currently ends in mid-April, Jack-time. The final showdown between the Otherness and the Ally is anticipated to occur before the summer of the following year. Since every new book has progressed at most four or so months into Jack's life, several more Jack books are expected before then. Per the author: "I'm figuring on ending his saga around 2012 or so, with book sixteen or seventeen."

There has been tentative news of a Repairman Jack movie based on the first novel (The Tomb, or Rakoshi.) Plot setting and elements of the original plot most likely will be altered due to filming location.

A trilogy of young adult novels about Jack's teenage years has been confirmed. They will not change the events of the adult Jack's life, but will perhaps elaborate on hints about his past that Jack has dropped in the novels so far. The first is slated for 2008 and titled "Secret Histories".

This novel finally puts in print Wilson's stated connection between his supernatural and science fiction via the character of Jack's "Uncle Gurney", the protagonist of his drug-war satire short story 'Lipidleggin', and the ancestor of far-future economic revolutionary Peter LaNague.

Novels and Stories

Repairman Jack has appeared in the following novels as an adult:
* "The Tomb" (1984) [re-released in 1998 with updated cultural references, and again in 2004 in a limited edition under its original title, "Rakoshi", by Borderlands Press]
* "Legacies" (1998)
* "Conspiracies" (1999)
* "All the Rage" (2000)
* "Hosts" (2001)
* "The Haunted Air" (2002)
* "Gateways" (2003)
* "Crisscross" (2004)
* "Infernal" (2005)
* "Harbingers" (2006)
* "Bloodline" (2007)
* "By the Sword" (2008)
* Untitled books (TBA)
* "Nightworld" (1992, though his appearance here happens after all others - updated Borderlands Press edition released in June '06)

Repairman Jack has appeared in the following novels as a teen-ager:
* "" (2008)

Repairman Jack stories in anthologies:
*"The Wringer" Night Screams (1996)
*"Day in the Life" The Barrens and Others (1998)
*"Interlude at Duane's", Thriller (2006)

Other:
*"The Long Way Home", [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000A0F6RC] Amazon.com Shorts (2005)

External links

* [http://www.repairmanjack.com Official Site]
*About [http://us.macmillan.com/series/RepairmanJack Repairman Jack] at the [http://us.macmillan.com/TorForge.aspx publisher's official website]