[RimWorlder]

Hi. I popped in here looking for fellow fans of the works of A. Bertram Chandler. He's the guy who invented the Rim Worlds - the worlds on the edge of the galaxy.

I've been a fan of his for a long, long time and have recently begun a project to create a concordance of his works. I'd like to have some fellow fans to discuss issues with, critique, bounce ideas off of and etc., as I work on things like a timeline of the universe Chandler created.

I have a website devoted to the project at www.rimworlds.com. Please stop on by and give it a look.

[Lowlander]

Glad to hear the old pulp king is not forgotten. When using the word pulp it's meant as a compliment. Over the years I have read and enjoyed his novels (Grimes novels, Spartan Planet, Empress Irene novels, Coils of Time and Alternate Martians).

Most of his older novels are very enjoyable. A pity that by the end of his career (late 70's early 80's) the quality of his work dropped. I remember reading Matilda's Stepchildren (what a great cover !) and although I found it amusing it was also a bit embarrassing.

And of course he also wrote very good short fiction. I remember two great stories. Giant Killer which is truly excellent and of course the short story "The Cage" which is one of my all time favorites in sf short fiction.

So I have many fond memories of A. Bertram Chandler. He was by no means an Asimov or a Vance but a very entertaining old style writer.

[RimWorlder]

Your appreciation is appreciated - lol.

However, I believe that Chandler was much more than a space opera writer with a few good short stories under his belt. I'm hoping that the work I'm doing on the concordance will help raise a little awareness.

For example:

During the late 40's through the 60's, he consistently ranked in the top 25 authors published in Astounding - displacing many other more well-known names.

Giant Killer was nominated for a 'retro-Hugo'

He is one of the few SF authors who has a writing award named for him.

And, to visit more literary realms, he was among the first to consistently play around with the 'world-as-myth' theme and with a 'future history' theme.

There are, I think, perhaps three major reasons why he's not as highly regarded as an Asimov, Clarke, Sturgeon, etc.

First, he was a working stiff located first in the UK and then in Australia (officer in the merchant navy) and could not attend conventions monthly or hobnob on a regular basis with fans and editors (although he did just that in Australia in later years). There's something to be said for the 'politics' of being a popular, available author and the effect it has on ones career.

Second, for one reason or another, his John Grimes series of novels were, for some reason, perceived of as 'space opera' and were mostly published during an era when SF was moving away from that genre. They're not space opera, but very few people have/had the background to appreciate his extrapolation of ocean shipping into space.

Finally, he didn't create grand, romantic characters, but concetrated on folks like himself, ordinary working stiffs who run into a spot of trouble and have the wherewithal or good luck to work their way out.

I'll not bandy critiques of individual novels around as one man's meat is another's potatoes (or something like that). His later novels were sufficiently of the same vein as earlier ones to satisfy me and one needs to keep in mind that most of those stories were also written to fill in 'gaps' in the personal history of John Grimes. In some instances the story had to be written to account for later events.

After having read all of the Grimes novels and stories over the years, and many of them given multiple reads, I'm now working through them in sequence order. I'm currently on Catch the Star Winds (discounting the short Chance Encounter, its the first of the John Grimes as a Rim Worlder story) and if I had to pick a clunker out of all of the stories, this one would be it. But instead, I remember that there will unfortunately not be any new stories, and I sit back and enjoy it.

BTW, the official Chandler website is hosted by an Australian named David Kelleher, who is no mean bibliographer of Chandler's works. His website can be found at www.bertramchandler.com.

[Hobbit]

Really interesting, RimWorlder: thank you. Always interesting to hear something of the oldies.

His influence in the UK was at one point the equivalent of Eric Frank Russell, another underrated UK writer.

I wasn't aware, until very recently, that ABC was the father in law of the horror writer Ramsey Campbell. (unless I've been told wrong!)

Hobbit

[RimWorlder]

E F Russell - if I could pick any SF writer's style to inherit, it would be his. He's so sarcastic in an inoffensive way, he's got 'killing with kindness' down pat.

I've managed to obtain everything in print by him, fortunately - especially thanks to Jack Chalker who was also a big fan.

Some of his scenes never fail to make me laugh out loud, no matter how many times I've read them.

Chandler is underrated in my opinion. I neglected to mention that he was also one of the very few truly 'old guard' authors who was asked to provide a story for The Last Dangerous Visions?

Maybe now that some time has gone by, and in light of the issuing of 5 omnibus volumes of his works by the SFBC, he'll begin to get a little more scrutiny.

[Hobbit]

Maybe now that some time has gone by, and in light of the issuing of 5 omnibus volumes of his works by the SFBC, he'll begin to get a little more scrutiny. Agreed. Another reason why I wish we could get copies of books from the US SFBC here in the UK.

I love those magazine covers at the site, btw.

I've just realised that I have a bound copy of the issues of the UK Fantasy Review, which has reviews by Chandler in them. A really good magazine; I think it's a fascinating view of what was of importance in 1950's SF.

Hobbit

[RimWorlder]

Hobbit,

thank you. There are more (and better) images of the magazines Chandler was published in at the official site - www.bertramchandler.com.

Obviously the books can be obtained in the UK - but I'm assuming you mean though an SFBC membership...

There are lots of copies of the John Grimes omnibi(?) available through www.abe.com (advanced book exchange) - both new and used.

You do have one advantage over me - most of Chandler's hardback publictions were done in the UK, so finding them in used book stores is a lot easier. Additionally, only the Avalon edition (hardback) of his novel The Rim of Space has the full text - and there are some minor differences between other Avalon versions and the DAW and ACE paperbacks published over here.

***
I chose Chandler for my project/hobby for several reasons. I've always been fascinated by the Rim, he was the third SF author I was introduced to AND he has now become somewhat relatively obscure.

Unfortunately, every opportunity I had to meet the man ended up in a miss or near miss. I'm sure it would have been interesting as, the more I read by and about him, the more I find we had in common.

[B5B7]

I am a big fan of ABC - I have read all his John Grimes novels at least twice [I haven't seen the Empress Irene books, but have read the Galactic Rim books]. His novel 'The Bitter Pill" I think is superb.
I also of course am a big EF Russell fan.
A lot of the great/good SF authors of the mid-late 20th century are not so well known as they should be, and yet probably have been read by a lot of SF fans who are more into books than into SF community [ie SF clubs, conventions, and the internet].

Unfortunately, have not read any for quite a while as my Chandler books along with many of my other books are currently in storage interstate.

[RimWorlder]

thanks for stopping by. if you get a chance, please visit www.bertramchandler.com (the official Chandler website) and www.rimworlds.com, my project site for the Rim Worlds Concordance.

I'd be interested in hearing any commentary and/or suggestions from Chandler fans.