Amateur in Chancery is a science fiction short story by George O. Smith first published in 1953.

The creature from Venus didn't know right from left—and life and death hung in the balance!

Amateur in Chancery was first published in Galaxy Magazine October 1961.

George Oliver Smith (1911-1981) (also known by the pseudonym Wesley Long) was an American science fiction author. He is not to be confused with George H. Smith, another American science fiction author.

Smith wrote mainly about outer space, with such works as Operation Interstellar (1950), Lost in Space (1959), and Troubled Star (1957). Smith continued regularly publishing science fiction novels and stories until 1960. He was given the First Fandom Hall of Fame award in 1980.