And the Devil Will Drag You Under
And the Devil Will Drag You Under (1979) is a comic fantasy by American writer Jack Chalker involving an alcoholic demon and two humans he summons to collect the pieces of a mystic artifact that the demon requires to save Earth from an asteroid on a collision course. The humans' journeys include both mystical transformations of their bodies and trips to worlds that parodied famous fantasy novel locales.
First edition cover | |
Author | Jack Chalker |
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Illustrator | Darrell K. Sweet |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre | Fantasy novel |
Publisher | Del Rey Books |
Publication date | August 1979 |
Media type | Print (paperback) |
Pages | 273 pp |
ISBN | 0-345-27926-3 |
OCLC | 5337941 |
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 will be washed overboard: "and the Devil will drag you under/By the sharp lapel of your checkered coat...".