 | |
| Author | A. Bertram Chandler |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Alternative history novel |
| Publisher | Penguin |
Publication date | 1983 |
| Publication place | Australia |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 341 pp. |
| ISBN | 0140060049 |
Kelly Country is a 1983 alternative history novel by the Australian author A. Bertram Chandler. [1]
Australian bushranger and rebel Ned Kelly leads a successful revolution against British colonial rule. The result is that Australia becomes a world power, but the Australian Republic which Kelly founded degenerates into a hereditary dictatorship.
Writing in Australian Book Review critic Yvonne Rousseau concluded: "Chandler has thoroughly researched the political and military possibilities of the period; he has dealt with misgivings as to whether Kelly had the drive to establish a dynasty of Hereditary Presidents, each one respectfully spoken of as 'the Kelly'; he has provided astonishing adventures, constant shifts of scene, and a final revelation which casts an ironic light on history–which highlights an uncertainty very few men can be immune to–and which paradoxically shows the final Kelly (the one who wiped out Hanoi with nuclear weapons) to be a greater-hearted man than the reader has believed." [2]
Van Ikin, in Westerly found that "The novel cannot help but raise certain questions about Australian history and nationalism, yet these intellectual issues are not tackled with the same zest and imagination that the author applies to scenes of battIe or reconstructions of historical spectacle. This imbalance, however, is quite deliberate: it is clear that Chandler has set out to write a rollickingly readable yarn, peppered with suspense, excitement, and enthusiastic humour. Moreover it is to his credit that he ensures that certain key questions are at least asked (if not answered)." [3]
After the novel's initial publication in Australia by Penguin in 1983, [1] it was reprinted as follows:
The novel was also translated into German in 1986, with the alternate title Die Australische Revolution. [6]
Arthur Bertram Chandler was an Anglo-Australian merchant marine officer, sailing the world in everything from tramp steamers to troop ships, but who later turned his hand to a second career as a prolific author of pulp science fiction. He also wrote under the pseudonyms of George Whitley, Andrew Dunstan and S.H.M. Many of his short stories draw on his extensive sailing background. In 1956, he emigrated to Australia and became an Australian citizen. By 1958 he was an officer on the Sydney-Hobart route. Chandler commanded various ships in the Australian and New Zealand merchant navies, including his service as the last master of the Australian aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne; by law, the ship was required to have an officer on board while awaiting its towing to China to be broken up. Chandler wrote over 40 novels and 200 works of short fiction, winning the Australian Ditmar Awards for the short story "The Bitter Pill" and for three novels: False Fatherland, The Bitter Pill, and The Big Black Mark. One of Chandler's daughters, Jenny Chandler, married British horror fiction writer Ramsey Campbell. His other children were Penelope Anne Chandler and Christopher John Chandler.
Damien Francis Broderick is an Australian science fiction and popular science writer and editor of some 74 books. His science fiction novel The Dreaming Dragons (1980) introduced the trope of the generation time machine, his The Judas Mandala (1982) contains the first appearance of the term "virtual reality" in science fiction, and his 1997 popular science book The Spike was the first to investigate the technological singularity in detail.
Cherry Barbara Grimm, better known by the pseudonym Cherry Wilder, was a New Zealand science fiction and fantasy writer.
DAW Books is an American science fiction and fantasy publisher, founded by Donald A. Wollheim, along with his wife, Elsie B. Wollheim, following his departure from Ace Books in 1971. The company claims to be "the first publishing company ever devoted exclusively to science fiction and fantasy." The first DAW Book published was the 1972 short story collection Spell of the Witch World by Andre Norton.
The Ditmar Award is Australia's oldest and best-known science fiction, fantasy and horror award, presented annually since 1969, usually at the Australian "Natcon". The historical nominations and results of the Award follow.
Victor Kelleher is an Australian writer. Kelleher was born in London and moved to Africa with his parents, at the age of fifteen. He spent the next twenty years travelling and studying in Africa, before moving to New Zealand. Kelleher received a Masters from St Andrew's University and a Ph.D. in English Literature from The University of South Africa. He has taught in Africa, New Zealand and Australia. While in New Zealand, he began writing part-time, prompted by homesickness for Africa. He moved to Australia in 1976, with his South African wife, Alison, and was associate professor at the University of New England, in Armidale, New South Wales, before moving to Sydney to write full-time. After receiving a grant from the Australia Council Literature Board, Kelleher spent six months of 1996 at the Kessing Writers' Studio in Paris. Many of the books he has written have been based on his childhood and his travels in Africa.
Paul Collins is an Australian writer and editor who specializes in science fiction and fantasy.
Lee John Harding was an Australian freelance photographer, who became a writer of science fiction novels and short stories.
Australia, unlike Europe, does not have a long history in the genre of science fiction. Nevil Shute's On the Beach, published in 1957, and filmed in 1959, was perhaps the first notable international success. Though not born in Australia, Shute spent his latter years there, and the book was set in Australia. It might have been worse had the imports of American pulp magazines not been restricted during World War II, forcing local writers into the field. Various compilation magazines began appearing in the 1960s and the field has continued to expand into some significance. Today Australia has a thriving SF/Fantasy genre with names recognised around the world. In 2013 a trilogy by Sydney-born Ben Peek was sold at auction to a UK publisher for a six-figure deal.
John Bangsund was an Australian science fiction fan in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. He was a major force, with Andrew I. Porter, behind Australia winning the right to host the 1975 Aussiecon, and he was Toastmaster at the Hugo Award ceremony at that convention.
Bruce Gillespie is a prominent Australian science fiction fan best known for his long-running sf fanzine SF Commentary. Along with Carey Handfield and Rob Gerrand, he was a founding editor of Norstrilia Press, which published Greg Egan's first novel.
The Ditmar Award has been awarded annually since 1969 at the Australian National Science Fiction Convention to recognise achievement in Australian science fiction and science fiction fandom. The award is similar to the Hugo Award but on a national rather than international scale.
Marshall Ryan Maresca is an American fantasy author, best known for the multiple series of Maradaine novels, consisting of four different series set in the same fantastical city. He grew up in upstate New York, studied film production at Penn State. He currently lives in Austin, Texas.
This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1959.
This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1964.
This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1977.
This article presents a list of the historical events and publications of Australian literature during 1984.
"The Cage" is a science fiction short story by A. Bertram Chandler. It was first published in the June 1957 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, and, in the following month, July 1957, in an issue of Authentic Science Fiction. It was later included in many science fiction anthologies, including The Best Australian Science Fiction Writing : A Fifty Year Collection edited by Rob Gerrand.
The Big Black Mark (1975) is a science fiction novel by Australian writer A. Bertram Chandler. It forms part of the author's Rim World series, featuring the recurring character, John Grimes.
Displaced Person (1979) is a young adult novel by Australian writer Lee Harding. It was originally published by Hyland House in Australia in 1979, and simultaneously in USA by Harper & Row, under the title Misplaced Persons.