A. Bertram Chandler (1912–1984)

I love the aura of late 1950s and early 1960s space opera. There is an innocence to the stories, not a moral innocence, more an innocence of imagination, free from the restraints of the realities of space travel and the habitability of other planets.

That’s what’s going on here. This is a kind of odyssey story. We follow the protagonist, Calver, as he signs on to run the Rim, the outer edge of the galaxy, in the Lorn Lady, a cargo ship circulating among various not-so-heavenly planets out show more there.

Calver, naturally, is something of a hero, along with his heroine, Jane Arlen, aka “Calamity Jane”, who is haunted by tragedy wherever she goes. Calver is undaunted, and their adventures begin with Calver serving aboard the ship as
Second Mate and Arlen as “caterer” (cook).

Their adventures include galactic spies, a medieval-style battle (in which Arlen plays the part of captive to be rescued by Calver), a ghost ship mirroring the Lorn Lady, and more. You can probably get the picture. It’s not swashbuckling, but it’s swashbuckly.

The plot’s development revolves around Calver’s fulfilling his need to experience the outer reaches, and Arlen’s battle with the grip of her “Calamity Jane” curse.

It’s a space opera adventure of that innocent age.

Not to put too big a dent in the innocence, but this is thoroughly a book of its time. We could call Calver and Arlen “archetypes.” Or we could call them “stereotypes.” Arlen has the girl’s job on the ship, although she’s heroic in her way. Calver is the strong, heroic type. Bracket that stuff out if you can. show less

a review of
A. Bertram Chandler's Spartan Planet
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - August 25, 2016

I'm pretty sure that if I'd read the description of this bk 40 yrs ago I wd've shied away from it as entirely too lo-brow. NOW I think it was great, really inspired, hilarious. The basic premise is that there's a planet that'd been colonized by Earthlings long ago that'd developed into an all-male planet partially based on the male dominated militaristic city-state Sparta from ancient Greece. show more

Blundering into this is a Federation Survey Spaceship captained by Chandler's recurring character John Grimes & carrying a woman doctor named Margaret Lazenby whose job it is to study this lost colony's culture. Lazenby is the 1st & only woman most of the planet's inhabitants have ever seen. Human reproduction is a science controlled by specialists: doctors, & 'effeminate' male nurses. Creatures lower on the food chain give birth by having their male offspring rip off from the side of the father's body after having grown there as a conjoined twin of sorts & this is what the Spartans have been taught was their reproductive ancestry before the doctors improved things:

"["]it's just that some of us don't like to be reminded of our humble origins. How would you like to go through the budding process, and then have to tear your son away from yourself?"" - p 6

"The larger of the scavengers, the parent, had succeeded in bringing one of its short legs up under its belly. Suddenly it kicked, and as it did so it screamed, and the smaller animal shrieked in unison. They were broken apart now, staggering over the cobbles in what was almost a parody of a human dance. They were apart, and on each of the rough, mottled flanks was a ragged circle of glistening, raw flesh, a wound that betrayed by its stench what was the usual diet of the lowly garbage eaters. The stink lingered even after the beasts, rapidly recovering from their ordeal, had scurried off, completing the fission process, in opposite directions.

"That was the normal way of birth on Sparta." - pp 6-7

Chandler gives a reasonably imaginative treatment to his idea of a lost colony isolated from their true past to the degree that things have become redefined. As such, colonists speaking English consider it to be Greek b/c their seemingly all-male society is partially based around ancient Greek culture:

"Walking with calm deliberation the two men approached the barrier. The one with the trousered leg called, "Anybody here speak English?" He turned to his companion and said, "That was a silly question to which I should get a silly answer. After all. we've been nattering to them on RT all the way in."

""We speak Greek," answered Diomedes.

"The spaceman looked puzzled. "I'm afraid that I don't. But your English is very good. If you don't mind, it will have to do."

""But we have been speaking Greek all the time."" - p 24

The Spartans are accustomed to Spartan conditions - ie: stern & hard ones not inclined to comfort. They board Grimes's spaceship:

"Brasidus remained standing until he received a grudging nod from his superior. Then he was amazed by the softness, by the comfort of the chair into which he lowered himself. On Sparta such luxury was reserved for the aged—and only for the highly placed aged at that, for council members and the like." - p 32

Never having seen women before, the Spartans advance various theories about the 'deformities' on Lazenby's chest:

"["]it's manned by robots with twin turrets on their chests from which they shoot lethal rays."

""They must be functional . . ." mused Brasidus, "I suppose."

""What must be?" demanded the librarian.

""Those twin turrets. Good day to you."" - p 47

Now, it's probably all too easy to (potentially incorrectly) read personal details into an author's story. As such, I imagine Chandler writing this at a time when he was upset w/ a lover or a wife or getting divorced or somehow having trouble w/ the women or woman that he was intimate w/ in his life:

""A mere dozen of these malformed weaklings, without arms. . . . No, there can be no danger. Obviously, since they are member's of Seeker's crew, they can coexist harmoniously with men. So, we repeat, there is no danger."

""Sire!" It was the doctor who had raised the objection. "You do not know these beings. You do not know how treacherous they can be."

""And do you, Doctor Pausanias? And if you do know, how do you know?"

"The Councilman paled. He said lamely, "We are experienced, sire, in judging who is to live and who is not to live among the newborn. There are signs, reliable signs. She"—he pointed an accusing finger at Margaret Lazenby—"exhibits them."" - p 67

It's decided that these strange men w/ the protuberances on their chests are aliens from a planet called Arcadia - &, Lo & Behold!, they do exert a suspiciously entrancing fascination on the Spartan Brasidus & others - even to the extent of leading Brasidus astray from his boyfriend:

""Brasidus, I have to be on duty soon. Will you come with me to my room?"

"The Sergeant looked at his friend. Achron was a pretty boy, prettier than most, but he was not, he could never be, an Arcadian. . . .

"What am I thinking? he asked himself, shocked. Why am I thinking it?

"He said, "Not tonight, Achron."" - p 85

I don't want to spoil the plot for you but the ending cd be sd to have a wry ambiguity. Watch where those twin turrets are pointed! They might be coming after YOU!! show less

Yes, this really, truly, honest-to-God is a book about werewolves in space. Horny werewolves, to be exact. Probably written on a bet (the dedication is "For Harlan Ellison, who made me do it").

In the future, the ftl drive that grants access to the stars has an odd effect on those few folks unfortunate enough to have the (extremely recessive) lycanthropic gene, and after the discovery of a few too many random bloodied crew member corpses, our protagonist Falsen finds himself marooned on an show more uninhabited and fairly dreary planet. Fortunately, it doesn’t take long to find a similarly abandoned and horny female werewolf with whom to sate mutual needs. Opportunity and adversity arrive in the form of the horny ostensibly all-female crew of matriarchal cat/human-hybrid-like aliens who are exploring said planet to evaluate its suitability for colonization. The story follows a sequence of exploration, violent confrontations with horrific ostensibly native fauna, and observations on aspects of the anatomy of cat/human girls in various stages of undress.

There’s not much good to be said about this book. The engineering problem that dominates a good part of the second half of the book is reasonably interesting. And, while the ostensibly big surprise at the end was really no surprise at all, the final couple of paragraphs offer a deliciously Martinesque conclusion that perhaps makes the fairly minimal effort to slog your way through this one worth it. show less

A. Bertram Chandler is one of my favorite authors. Mankind will eventually discover a method of faster-than-light travel and I'm sure it will be some counter-intuitive, mysterious process like Frank Herbert envisioned, rather than a future analogue of nautical travel like in Chandler's books. Until then however, most readers will imagine starships manned by a captain and bridge, and NOONE captures the crew dynamic like Chandler.

Chandler's disappointed me only once, and it was Matilda's show more Stepchildren. I fell in love with Australia just like Chandler (an Englishman) did, but this book goes too far. People evolved from Kangaroos? The rest of the story was not powerful enough to allow for that much suspension of disbelief. Read one of his other books. show less