Arthur Bertram Chandler carved out a four-decade-long career as a science-fiction writer, with much of that time spent living in Australia. In all, he published more than 40 novels and collections and over 240 works of short fiction using either his birth name or the pseudonyms George Whitley and S.M.H.. Chandler also contributed essays and letters to dozens of speculative-fiction magazines and fanzines.
Between 1959 and 1984, Chandler developed the series he is perhaps best known for: the Rim Worlds. A collection of stories situated on the far bleak and cold edge of the galaxy, they are told from the perspective of several different characters. The most notable of these is John Grimes, once described by Publishers' Weekly as 'SF's answer to Horatio Hornblower.' Two of his short stories, 'Giant Killer' (1945) and 'The Cage' (1957), are also regarded by critics as being among the best science-fiction stories of the mid-twentieth century. To 2012, 'Giant Killer' has been reprinted in at least 17 different publications, while 'The Cage' has amassed more than 30 reprints. Nearly all of his novels were published in the USA.
Raised in Beccles, Suffolk, Chandler left school in 1928 to become a merchant seaman. He began his apprenticeship at age 16 with the Sun Shipping Company and eventually rose to status of captain. During his 45 years as a seafarer, he sailed the world in virtually every class of vessel - ranging from tramp steamers to troop transport ships. In an interview with Thomas Sheridan ('He Wrote "The Rat's Tale"') published in the February/March 1947 issue of Fantasy Review, Chandler recalls that after eight years with the Sun Company, he had risen to second mate but had had his fill 'of tramps.' After working ashore for a while, he joined Shaw Savill Lines as Fourth Officer in 1937, eventually working his way up to Chief Officer. This allowed him the opportunity to make more regular voyages to and from Australasia (ctd. David Kelleher).
In relation to his passion for science fiction and fantasy, Chandler also recalls in the Sheridan interview that these had been 'instilled in childhood by reading of Verne, Wells and Lester Bidston.' It was later 're-awakened by odd encounters with the Gernsback magazines, and finally satisfied by Street and Smith's Astounding.' The urge to write, he further notes, had always been as strong as his urge to roam, and he had some initial publishing success with light verse and humorous pieces submitted to Nautical Magazine (ctd. David Kelleher).
Chandler had his first science-fiction story, 'This Means War,' published in the May 1944 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. According to the author, its genesis lay in a visit he made to New York-based science-fiction editor John W. Campbell in 1942. Although he received a good deal of encouragement from Campbell, Chandler recalls that it took him some while to before his first story came to fruition:
Not yet being the proud possessor of my Master's ticket, and having plenty of swotting to do, I thought the notion fantastic, though the prospect intrigued me. Six months later, when I had become a Master Mariner–at least, on paper–and was again in New York, I bought The Books of Charles Fort for light reading on our outward passage. That gave me an idea for a story, which I slowly and painfully pecked out on the way to New Zealand (Sheridan, ctd. David Kelleher).
Chandler's writing career started towards the end of the golden age of science fiction, a period generally regarded as having occurred between 1938 and 1946. During that time there was a noticeable transition from 'facile adventure to rather more carefully thought out speculation.' As Sean McMullen notes in 'Chandler on the Scoreboard' (1991), he 'like many of the authors of that time ... brought his own specialist knowledge to SF.' In this respect, Chandler's passion for the sea, his experiences, and his knowledge of nautical life and ships were often infused into his stories. Indeed, his narratives are rich in seafaring allusions, whether it be the names and types of spacecraft (pinnaces, cruisers, tramp liners, etc.), the organisational structure of various commands such as the Federation Survey Service (Rim Worlds series), or life in general aboard the various space 'ships' in which many of his stories are set. There are repeated references in the Rim Worlds series, for example, to an obsolete type of magnetically powered spaceship known as the 'Gaussjammer', which is modelled on the late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century windjammer.
Chandler's employment as a merchant seaman was also perfectly suited to his life as a writer. With many hours to fill in between shifts, he was able to devote much of his spare time to writing. As Sean McMullen notes:
The 1950's saw nearly 60% of his total short story output, and his average peaked at one sale per fortnight for a couple of years. With such volume one can hardly expect them all to be profound, and the themes did range from serious moral issues to bad puns. 'Boomerang' (1947) is one of the earliest stories to warn of the danger of accidental nuclear war (and the setting was a race between Melbourne and Sydney to land a rocket on the moon!). 'Next in Line' (1952) is humorously told, yet is a quite chilling allegory on the inability of society to adjust to new technology. 'Gateway' (1953) is an insight into how brutally pragmatic seamen can be when the safety of their ship is in question. 'Familiar Pattern' (1960) draws parallels between the first contact between aliens and humans (in Bass Strait!) and European colonisation of the Pacific Islands - the readers voted it second. Chandler did have a serious face, even if it wore a grin (1991).
Chandler's interest in the Antipodian region led to him eventually immigrating to Australia. After he arrived in 1956, he commanded merchant vessels under both the Australian and New Zealand flags. It did not take him long, either, to begin infusing his stories with Australian themes, language, colloquialisms, and places. Indeed, Australia is frequently referred throughout the Rim World series, including being acknowledged as having taken the lead in space exploration and in colonising other planets. John Grimes is himself a 'Terran' (the name given to Earth), and many planets have Australian-named cities or town (see, for example, 'The Mountain Movers', 1972). Some planetary civilisations are also seen to have evolved after contact with early Australian interstellar explorers (The Inheritors, 1972; Matilda's Stepchildren, 1979). Chandler even gives Grimes's arch nemesis an 'Aussie'-flavoured name: Drongo Kane.
The 1960s and early 1970s were incredibly productive for Chandler, with his output rising to as high as four novels per year. While not all were set in the Rim Worlds, it was that series that has since had the most reprints and translations. The last fifteen years of his life (ca. 1970-1984) saw Chandler largely writing Rim Worlds stories in addition to Australian historical science fiction. His 1984 novel Kelly Country explores, for example, an alternate history, in which the bushranger Ned Kelly was not captured and hanged, but led a rebellion, ultimately becoming the president of an Australian republic, which degenerated into a hereditary dictatorship. And in The Anarch Lords (1981), Chandler brings both Australian fictional history and the Rim Worlds together.
It was during the 1970s and early 1980s, too, that Chandler won the Australian fans' Ditmar Award four times out of a record fourteen fiction nominations (McMullen). The A. Bertram Chandler Award, recognising 'significant and sustained contributions to the appreciation of science fiction in Australia', was inaugurated in his honour by the Australian Science Fiction Foundation. He was also a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society and appeared as a guest of honour at a number of science-fiction conventions, including the World Science Fiction Convention at Chicago in 1982.
Chandler's fandom has been widespread over a long period. Sean McMullen notes, for example, that his second, third, fourth, and fifth stories in Astounding came fourth, third, second and first respectively in readers' polls. 'Moreover, out of his first 20 SF stories in magazines that ran polls, half polled 1st, 2nd or 3rd. Say what you will, this is popularity' ('Chandler on the Scoreboard').
The popularity of his writing extends beyond the English-speaking science-fiction community, too. Many of his works have been translated into foreign languages, including French, Italian, Russian, Polish, Spanish, Norwegian, German, Swedish, and Japanese. Regarded highly in Japan, he once won the prestigious Seiun Sho award. The covers of his reprints in that country are also considered to be among the best ever produced.
The father of Bradley Chandler, Bertram Chandler died in Sydney in 1984, barely ten years after retiring from his seafaring career. Leigh Edmonds, in his review of the 1990 Dreamstone anthology, From Sea to Shining Star, reflects on Chandler's work and legacy:
One of the problems with the speculation in many of the later stories is that they are now so obviously dated. There are a couple of stories which involve the first landing on the moon, and they are, by the standards of the reality of 1969, lacking in foresight. This may be because Chandler's view of space travel was that of a seaman, whereas space has been colonised by the aviation industry, and so it has been the test pilots, and not old sea-hardened ship's captains, who have created the culture of space. In these stories there is also the reminder that the view of what people could do and how they related to technological developments was different when Chandler wrote these stories. Here the actions of people are still shaped by earlier ideas where technical innovation was still individual, rather than part of a large web of communications and highly automated and standardised machinery. The relaxed and independent nature of many of the crews in Chandler's ships and space ships also speaks of Chandler's own basically easy going attitude, something which does not appear to have survived into the new era science fiction characterised in the 1970's by Larry Niven, and more recently by the Cyberpunks (Eidolon 4, March 1991).
There is little doubt that the technology in Chandler's works is now often out-dated (but not always so). However, this does not appear to have affected his continuing popularity. The peppering of Australian allusions, references, and in-jokes also seems to be a non-issue, as his works continue to find new audiences around the world. Since 2000, there have been more than a dozen anthologies, including anthology series, published in both traditional and digital formats. Quite a few are translated editions.
Perhaps the answer to this on-going popularity is that his stories are not reliant on technology. The narratives often unfold slowly, driven by fully fleshed-out personalities with all their flaws and quirks (including sexual foibles) laid bare. The crises rarely ensue as part of high-tech space battles or within scenes of futuristic action, but rather they arise out of interpersonal interaction between people (human and non-human) who are placed in a variety of situations: sometimes dangerous, sometimes strange, and very often exotic.
