A. Bertram Chandler > Quotes

“A look-out?” asked Captain Beynon. “How do you work that, Flight Commander?” “We lower a cage, Captain,” said Stewart. “The man in the cage has a voicepipe. As soon as he sees anything that he can identify he whistles up, and informs the Navigator. But here comes the watch now.”
― A. Bertram Chandler, Glory Planet

“If you knew for sure the world would end at 5:30 tomorrow, would there be one heart's desire you'd want to achieve beforehand?”
― A. Bertram Chandler

“He sang, Farewell to the homeworld forever, Farewell to each warm, golden day, Farewell to the seas and the forests, For we’re bound out for Botany Bay! ‘Botany Bay was better than where we’re bound for,’ said Clayton. ‘But my ancestors weren’t real criminals. They only picked a few pockets or burgled a few houses. They weren’t guilty of the real crime — passing their forty-fifth birthdays!’ Singing, tooral I ooral I addy, Singing torool I ooral I ay, Singing tooral I ooral I addy — And we’re bound out for Botany Bay!”
― A. Bertram Chandler, The Bitter Pill

“Other Novels Bring Back Yesterday (1961) Rendezvous on a Lost World (1961) (aka When the Dream Dies) The Hamelin Plague (1963) Beyond the Galactic Rim (1963) Glory Planet (1964) The Deep Reaches of Space (1964) The Sea Beasts (1971) The Bitter Pill (1974) Up to the Sky in Ships (1982) Kelly Country (1983) Frontier of the Dark (1984) From Sea to Shining Star (1990)”
― A. Bertram Chandler, The Hamelin Plague

“wish you could do something about the Australian tobacco industry,’ said the Prime Minister gloomily, grinding the malodorous butt out in the ashtray.”
― A. Bertram Chandler, The Bitter Pill

“comptometers”
― A. Bertram Chandler, Bring Back Yesterday

“I’ll tell you something, Mr. Barrett; and you can make what you like of it. If any terrifying queerness starts creeping over things when I’m within cooee of my happy home”
― A. Bertram Chandler, The Hamelin Plague

“spluttering and gasping, coughing and retching, trying to clear the painfully burning fluid from his lungs. And suddenly, the dread that lurks in every Australian’s mind brought panic. Sharks! But there were no sharks, he knew that. The protein-rich predators had been fished out all along the east coast, were virtually extinct. All”
― A. Bertram Chandler, The Bitter Pill

“More like a kangaroo it was. A little one.” She said, “Don’t be silly. Whoever heard of kangaroos running around in the inner suburbs?” He said, “Yes, but—” She said, “We’d better try to get some sleep.”
― A. Bertram Chandler, The Hamelin Plague

“the megacity that stretched from Newcastle to Wollongong. Ten miles to the south a man-made constellation skimmed rapidly over the sea surface — masthead lights, green starboard light, accommodation and deck lights — the roar of its progress”
― A. Bertram Chandler, The Bitter Pill