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The Hidden Planet: Science-Fiction Adventures on Venus
The planet Venus is one of the greatest mysteries of the sky. The closest and brightest planet to Earth--the familiar Evening Star--a near-twin in size, no one has ever seen its surface! For it is eternally hidden in thick impenetrable clouds. Yet, if ever men go by rocket to any other planet, it will be to THE HIDDEN PLANET first!
What would they find there? What strange creatures roam its surface? What unearthly intelligence rules beneath those clouds? Only the imaginative eye of science fiction dares to guess.
In this new collection, five of the best writers present five exciting adventures on mysterious Venus. Here are two short novels and three long novelettes--each a terrific interplanetary adventure.
What would they find there? What strange creatures roam its surface? What unearthly intelligence rules beneath those clouds? Only the imaginative eye of science fiction dares to guess.
In this new collection, five of the best writers present five exciting adventures on mysterious Venus. Here are two short novels and three long novelettes--each a terrific interplanetary adventure.
190 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
40 people want to read
About the author
Donald A. Wollheim
295 books34 followersDonald Allen Wollheim was a science fiction writer, editor, publisher and fan. He published his own works under pseudonyms, including David Grinnell.
A member of the Futurians, he was one of the leading influences on the development of science fiction and science fiction fandom in the 20th century United States.
In 1937, Wollheim founded the Fantasy Amateur Press Association. The first mailing was distributed in July of that year and included this statement from Wollheim: "There are many fans desiring to put out a voice who dare not, for fear of being obliged to keep it up, and for the worry and time taken by subscriptions and advertising. It is for them and for the fan who admits it is his hobby and not his business that we formed the FAPA."
Wollheim was also a member of the New York Science Fiction League, one of the clubs established by Hugo Gernsback to promote science fiction. When Wollheim published a complaint of non-payment for stories against Gernsback, Gernsback dissolved the New York chapter of the club.
Wollheim's first story, "The Man from Ariel," was published in the January 1934 issue of Wonder Stories when Wollheim was nineteen. Wollheim was not paid for the story and when he began to look into the situation, he learned that many other authors had not been paid for their work, publishing his findings in the Bulletin of the Terrestrial Fantascience Guild. Gernsback eventually settled the case with Wollheim and other authors out of court for $75, but when Wollheim submitted another story to Gernsback, under the pseudonym "Millard Verne Gordon," he was again not paid. One of Wollheim's short stories, "Mimic" was made into the feature film of the same name, which was released in 1997.
He left Avon Books in 1952 to work for A. A. Wyn at Ace Books. In 1953 he introduced science fiction to the Ace lineup, and for 20 years edited their renowned sf list. Ace was well known for the Ace Doubles series which consisted of pairs of books, usually by different authors, bound back-to-back with two "front" covers. Because these paired books had to fit a fixed total page-length, one or both were usually heavily abridged to fit, and Wollheim often made many other editorial alterations and title changes — as witness the many differences between Poul Anderson's Ace novel War of the Wing-Men and its definitive revised edition, The Man Who Counts. It was also during the 1950s he bought the book Junk by William S. Burroughs, which, in his inimitable fashion, he retitled Junkie.
In 1965 Wollheim published an unauthorized Ace edition of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien in three volumes — the first mass-market paperback edition of Tolkien's epic. This was done because Wollheim believed the Houghton Mifflin hardcover editions failed to properly assert copyright. In a 2006 interview, Wollheim's daughter claimed that Tolkien had angered her father by saying that his magnum opus would never be published in so ‘degenerate a form’ as the paperback book. However, Tolkien had previously authorized a paperback edition of The Hobbit in 1961, and eventually supported paperback editions of The Lord of the Rings and several of his other texts. In any case, Ace was forced to cease publishing the unauthorized edition and to pay Tolkien for their sales following a grass-roots campaign and boycott by Tolkien's U.S. fans. In 1993 a court found that the copyright loophole suggested by Ace Books was incorrect and their paperback edition found to have been a violation of Tolkien's copyright under US law.
After leaving Ace he founded DAW Books in 1971, named by his initials, which can claim to be the first mass market specialist science fiction and fantasy fiction publishing house. In later years, when his distributors, New American Library, threatened to withhold distribution of Thomas Burnett Swann's Biblical fantasy How are the Mighty Fallen (1974) because of its homosexual con
A member of the Futurians, he was one of the leading influences on the development of science fiction and science fiction fandom in the 20th century United States.
In 1937, Wollheim founded the Fantasy Amateur Press Association. The first mailing was distributed in July of that year and included this statement from Wollheim: "There are many fans desiring to put out a voice who dare not, for fear of being obliged to keep it up, and for the worry and time taken by subscriptions and advertising. It is for them and for the fan who admits it is his hobby and not his business that we formed the FAPA."
Wollheim was also a member of the New York Science Fiction League, one of the clubs established by Hugo Gernsback to promote science fiction. When Wollheim published a complaint of non-payment for stories against Gernsback, Gernsback dissolved the New York chapter of the club.
Wollheim's first story, "The Man from Ariel," was published in the January 1934 issue of Wonder Stories when Wollheim was nineteen. Wollheim was not paid for the story and when he began to look into the situation, he learned that many other authors had not been paid for their work, publishing his findings in the Bulletin of the Terrestrial Fantascience Guild. Gernsback eventually settled the case with Wollheim and other authors out of court for $75, but when Wollheim submitted another story to Gernsback, under the pseudonym "Millard Verne Gordon," he was again not paid. One of Wollheim's short stories, "Mimic" was made into the feature film of the same name, which was released in 1997.
He left Avon Books in 1952 to work for A. A. Wyn at Ace Books. In 1953 he introduced science fiction to the Ace lineup, and for 20 years edited their renowned sf list. Ace was well known for the Ace Doubles series which consisted of pairs of books, usually by different authors, bound back-to-back with two "front" covers. Because these paired books had to fit a fixed total page-length, one or both were usually heavily abridged to fit, and Wollheim often made many other editorial alterations and title changes — as witness the many differences between Poul Anderson's Ace novel War of the Wing-Men and its definitive revised edition, The Man Who Counts. It was also during the 1950s he bought the book Junk by William S. Burroughs, which, in his inimitable fashion, he retitled Junkie.
In 1965 Wollheim published an unauthorized Ace edition of The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien in three volumes — the first mass-market paperback edition of Tolkien's epic. This was done because Wollheim believed the Houghton Mifflin hardcover editions failed to properly assert copyright. In a 2006 interview, Wollheim's daughter claimed that Tolkien had angered her father by saying that his magnum opus would never be published in so ‘degenerate a form’ as the paperback book. However, Tolkien had previously authorized a paperback edition of The Hobbit in 1961, and eventually supported paperback editions of The Lord of the Rings and several of his other texts. In any case, Ace was forced to cease publishing the unauthorized edition and to pay Tolkien for their sales following a grass-roots campaign and boycott by Tolkien's U.S. fans. In 1993 a court found that the copyright loophole suggested by Ace Books was incorrect and their paperback edition found to have been a violation of Tolkien's copyright under US law.
After leaving Ace he founded DAW Books in 1971, named by his initials, which can claim to be the first mass market specialist science fiction and fantasy fiction publishing house. In later years, when his distributors, New American Library, threatened to withhold distribution of Thomas Burnett Swann's Biblical fantasy How are the Mighty Fallen (1974) because of its homosexual con
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July 12, 2023
A group of 5 sci-fi stories originally published between 1935 and 1954, with the connection of being set on the planet Venus. This collection was published in 1959, by which time the space age had started, and it wouldn’t be long before spacecraft were on their way to the planet. One suspects the book was published to cash in on the interest being generated by the new phenomenon of space flight. Just how little was known about Venus at the time is obvious from the collection. About the only thing that was known was that it would be hot, and most of these stories imagine it as a lush, jungly sort of world, full of life. The reader just has to accept the stories as being of their time.
The collection opens with the 1954 story Field Experiment. By the 22nd century Earth has achieved the long-dreamed of condition of world government, world peace and the eradication of poverty, but the sting in the tale is boredom. The world has become a safe but static place, drifting along without ambition or challenge. A multi-billionaire devises a scheme to secretly colonise Venus, and reinvigorate humanity by doing so. The story is not bad.
Venus Mission, from 1951, is a pulpy kind of story, that I can imagine might have originally been published in a magazine. In many ways it’s the kind of story I expected when I started reading the collection. There are a few stock characters, though I would say that the lead female character is definitely not the helpless type that might have been expected from a story of this vintage, so credit to the author for that. I thought the world building was quite good.
The Luck of Ignatz, from 1940, takes that oldest of seafaring tropes, the “Jonah” and relocates it to space. I think this story was meant be humorous, but it didn’t do much for me.
The Lotus Eaters, from 1935, is the oldest story in the collection, and amusingly, part of the story involves not only the USA but also Great Britain staking territorial claims on Venus, taking the reader back to the era when Britain was still considered a major world power. Leaving that aside, this is a very imaginative tale, and that’s often what I’m looking for in sci-fi. It imagines Venus, as having a sun-side and a dark side, like the Moon. The sunlit side is a desert type environment, and to that degree the story is a more accurate description of Venus than the stories featuring a world of tropical style vegetation.
Terror out of Space, from 1944, is a sort of a sci-fi horror story. I thought it was going along OK, but I wasn’t impressed with the ending, which seemed a bit hackneyed.
It’s always informative to see how attitudes have changed. In “Field Experiment”, the author notes that in creating the Earthly paradise, “the jungles and the deserts and the arctic wastes…were converted into rich, green land.” Of course today we are all about preserving wilderness. In several of the stories the Earth people encounter not just Venusian life, but intelligent Venusian life. There’s an automatic assumption though that the Earth should colonise the planet – that’s not even questioned. Venusian life is OK only insofar as it is useful to humans, and is actively eliminated when hostile.
On the whole, quite a fun collection for those who are into “classic sci-fi”.
The collection opens with the 1954 story Field Experiment. By the 22nd century Earth has achieved the long-dreamed of condition of world government, world peace and the eradication of poverty, but the sting in the tale is boredom. The world has become a safe but static place, drifting along without ambition or challenge. A multi-billionaire devises a scheme to secretly colonise Venus, and reinvigorate humanity by doing so. The story is not bad.
Venus Mission, from 1951, is a pulpy kind of story, that I can imagine might have originally been published in a magazine. In many ways it’s the kind of story I expected when I started reading the collection. There are a few stock characters, though I would say that the lead female character is definitely not the helpless type that might have been expected from a story of this vintage, so credit to the author for that. I thought the world building was quite good.
The Luck of Ignatz, from 1940, takes that oldest of seafaring tropes, the “Jonah” and relocates it to space. I think this story was meant be humorous, but it didn’t do much for me.
The Lotus Eaters, from 1935, is the oldest story in the collection, and amusingly, part of the story involves not only the USA but also Great Britain staking territorial claims on Venus, taking the reader back to the era when Britain was still considered a major world power. Leaving that aside, this is a very imaginative tale, and that’s often what I’m looking for in sci-fi. It imagines Venus, as having a sun-side and a dark side, like the Moon. The sunlit side is a desert type environment, and to that degree the story is a more accurate description of Venus than the stories featuring a world of tropical style vegetation.
Terror out of Space, from 1944, is a sort of a sci-fi horror story. I thought it was going along OK, but I wasn’t impressed with the ending, which seemed a bit hackneyed.
It’s always informative to see how attitudes have changed. In “Field Experiment”, the author notes that in creating the Earthly paradise, “the jungles and the deserts and the arctic wastes…were converted into rich, green land.” Of course today we are all about preserving wilderness. In several of the stories the Earth people encounter not just Venusian life, but intelligent Venusian life. There’s an automatic assumption though that the Earth should colonise the planet – that’s not even questioned. Venusian life is OK only insofar as it is useful to humans, and is actively eliminated when hostile.
On the whole, quite a fun collection for those who are into “classic sci-fi”.
June 30, 2021
This is an anthology that Wollheim edited for Ace Books in 1959 that contains five novelettes set on the planet Venus. The Venus we know today bears little resemblance to the one imagined by the science fiction writers of 1935-1954, when these stories first appeared in the pulp genre magazines of the time, of course, but they are still fun stories. The oldest is Stanley G. Weinbaum's The Lotus Eaters, the funniest is The Luck of Ignatz by Lester del Rey, the newest is Field Expedient by Chad Oliver, and my two favorites (both from Planet Stories magazine), are Terror Out of Space by Leigh Brackett and Venus Mission by J.T. McIntosh. Mars always got more attention, but Venus had it's moments! This original edition has a fun cover by the inimitable Ed Emshwiller.
June 1, 2024
As a kid, I always enjoyed those science fiction stories set on Venus in which that planet is shown to be a swampy or watery world. Until the 60s, Venus was a hidden planet, veiled by permanent cloud cover. So, anything could be down there, right? And so SF writers unleashed their imaginations upon the second planet from the Sun, all usually seeing that world as a hotter and wetter version of Earth. Unfortunately, our space probes have revealed that Venus is a hellish world, a good example of global warming gone way out of control.
In this book, we have 5 stories from the 30s, 40s and 50s, all set on a Venus that could be inhabited by aliens--sadly enough, that looks to be impossible, as far as we can tell, anyway.
The five stories (with my ratings) are:
Field Expedient (1954) by Chad Oliver (1928-1993) ***
Venus Mission (1951) by J.T. McIntosh (James M. MacGregor) (1925-2008) ****
The Luck of Ignatz (1940) by Lester Del Rey (1915-1993) **
The Lotus Eaters (1935) by Stanley G. Weinbaum (1902-1935) *****
Terror Out of Space (1944) by Leigh Brackett (1915-1978) ****
The book was published in 1959.
In this book, we have 5 stories from the 30s, 40s and 50s, all set on a Venus that could be inhabited by aliens--sadly enough, that looks to be impossible, as far as we can tell, anyway.
The five stories (with my ratings) are:
Field Expedient (1954) by Chad Oliver (1928-1993) ***
Venus Mission (1951) by J.T. McIntosh (James M. MacGregor) (1925-2008) ****
The Luck of Ignatz (1940) by Lester Del Rey (1915-1993) **
The Lotus Eaters (1935) by Stanley G. Weinbaum (1902-1935) *****
Terror Out of Space (1944) by Leigh Brackett (1915-1978) ****
The book was published in 1959.
June 14, 2023
Fun anthology of five stories set on Venus, copyright between 1935-1954, back when it was thought that the clouds of Venus hid either an ocean world or a rainy swamp world. The stories often read at times surprisingly modern with not that many anachronisms (lots of smoking in some of the stories for instance, a woman drinks quite a bit of alcohol toasting her pregnancy in another, though the colonial aspects of some were a bit darker). I think all of them would have worked well as stories set on alien worlds other than Venus, that change the name/star system and the story would work just fine as modern science fiction.
The first story is “Field Expedient” copyright 1954 by Chad Oliver, a story in which an eccentric billionaire named James Murray Vandervort sends his top employee Keith Ortega and Keith’s wife Carrie to oversea a secret and technically illegal colonization project on the cloudy jungle world of Venus. Less adventure story than the rest of the book, it has some beautiful images of Venus (a world I would love to visit) though the story is more Big Idea and philosophical in nature, exploring ideas like the advance of civilization. I liked the touches of life on Earth before we see Venus, kind of a Chandleresque version of Blade Runner.
Then is “Venus Mission” copyright 1951 by J.T. McIntosh, a noirish space adventure story of survival, starring roguish, selfish, kind of boorish, but very clever and capable anti-hero Warren Blackwell, famed war hero against Venus’s native inhabitants, the sinister semi-telepathic Greys. Warren is a man refusing to make the Big Sacrifice to save their crashed ship, lost in the foggy jungles of Venus, and the young woman crewmember Virginia Stuart, determined to do the right thing if Warren won’t to save the crew. Tense, exciting, a bit violent, I appreciated the strong woman character and the creepy jungles, though the colonial feel of humans on Venus and the nearly monolithic view of the alien Greys was a bit dark as was the ending.
“The Luck of Ignatz” copyright 1940 by Lester Del Rey felt probably the most dated in terms of technology and dialogue, reading like a 1930s era freighter and sailors were inspiration for a spacefaring vessel traveling to Venus, focusing on the unluckiest sailor ever, Jerry Lord as he desperately tries to get to Venus to find the love of his life. The best part was his friend and companion Ignatz, a Venusian zloaht or snail-lizard, an absolutely delightful alien intelligence that is key to the story. It was an interesting juxtaposition of very very 1930s feeling people and almost tech too with some nicely done and rather modern alien ecologies and anatomy.
“The Lotus Eaters,” copyright 1935, by Stanley G. Weinbaum, is next, with definitely the most unusual view of Venus, introducing the reader to a world where Venus has one side permanently in sunlight and is a charred desert, one side permanently in darkness and an icy, ultra cold wasteland, and humanity having settled a narrow twilight zone between the two spheres. The books centers on two explorers, a husband-wife team of American “Ham” Hammond and Brit Pat Hammond, as they explore and endure the dangers of the Dark Side of Venus. Some cool aliens mixed in with pulpish danger from dangerous native inhabitants. The dialogue and attitudes felt of the time, but points for some cool aliens.
Finally, is “Terror Out of Space” copyright 1944 by Leigh Brackett. Of all the stories, it is the one that most felt like it began in the middle, right in the action, but it also had the most alien aliens and the most alien version of Venus in the anthology, truly feeling like another world and also a world that could exist. Some great aliens, gripping action and survival scenes fighting very dangerous creatures (and at one point the main character’s – Lundy’s - crewmembers), and as one might guess from the title, had one foot firmly in the horror camp.
A fun anthology and a pretty quick read.
The first story is “Field Expedient” copyright 1954 by Chad Oliver, a story in which an eccentric billionaire named James Murray Vandervort sends his top employee Keith Ortega and Keith’s wife Carrie to oversea a secret and technically illegal colonization project on the cloudy jungle world of Venus. Less adventure story than the rest of the book, it has some beautiful images of Venus (a world I would love to visit) though the story is more Big Idea and philosophical in nature, exploring ideas like the advance of civilization. I liked the touches of life on Earth before we see Venus, kind of a Chandleresque version of Blade Runner.
Then is “Venus Mission” copyright 1951 by J.T. McIntosh, a noirish space adventure story of survival, starring roguish, selfish, kind of boorish, but very clever and capable anti-hero Warren Blackwell, famed war hero against Venus’s native inhabitants, the sinister semi-telepathic Greys. Warren is a man refusing to make the Big Sacrifice to save their crashed ship, lost in the foggy jungles of Venus, and the young woman crewmember Virginia Stuart, determined to do the right thing if Warren won’t to save the crew. Tense, exciting, a bit violent, I appreciated the strong woman character and the creepy jungles, though the colonial feel of humans on Venus and the nearly monolithic view of the alien Greys was a bit dark as was the ending.
“The Luck of Ignatz” copyright 1940 by Lester Del Rey felt probably the most dated in terms of technology and dialogue, reading like a 1930s era freighter and sailors were inspiration for a spacefaring vessel traveling to Venus, focusing on the unluckiest sailor ever, Jerry Lord as he desperately tries to get to Venus to find the love of his life. The best part was his friend and companion Ignatz, a Venusian zloaht or snail-lizard, an absolutely delightful alien intelligence that is key to the story. It was an interesting juxtaposition of very very 1930s feeling people and almost tech too with some nicely done and rather modern alien ecologies and anatomy.
“The Lotus Eaters,” copyright 1935, by Stanley G. Weinbaum, is next, with definitely the most unusual view of Venus, introducing the reader to a world where Venus has one side permanently in sunlight and is a charred desert, one side permanently in darkness and an icy, ultra cold wasteland, and humanity having settled a narrow twilight zone between the two spheres. The books centers on two explorers, a husband-wife team of American “Ham” Hammond and Brit Pat Hammond, as they explore and endure the dangers of the Dark Side of Venus. Some cool aliens mixed in with pulpish danger from dangerous native inhabitants. The dialogue and attitudes felt of the time, but points for some cool aliens.
Finally, is “Terror Out of Space” copyright 1944 by Leigh Brackett. Of all the stories, it is the one that most felt like it began in the middle, right in the action, but it also had the most alien aliens and the most alien version of Venus in the anthology, truly feeling like another world and also a world that could exist. Some great aliens, gripping action and survival scenes fighting very dangerous creatures (and at one point the main character’s – Lundy’s - crewmembers), and as one might guess from the title, had one foot firmly in the horror camp.
A fun anthology and a pretty quick read.
February 6, 2017
Using the last novella I read (Battle on Venus) as a jumping board, I moved on to The Hidden Planet (1959). This is a collection of stories by five authors featuring Earth's sister-planet Venus. Written during a time when we had little information about the planet (the brief introduction details just how little was known), each author gives us a little different vision of what lies beneath the cloud cover of our nearest neighbor. We get stories ranging from the man who made Venus a breeding ground for experiments with people to the adventurer who went a little too deeply into the depths of Venus's ocean to those who investigated jungles where dangers lurk. As with most short story collections, this is a bit uneven. The best of the bunch are the stories by McIntosh and Weinbaum with Oliver and Brackett a distant second and Del Rey not even even making the race. I just found the story about the bad luck mascot to be annoying. Why not take the thing back where you found it and get yourself back to work so you can have the girl of your dreams? The critter doesn't even sound appealing and would be plenty happy in its swamp....An overall score of ★★★ for the entire collection.
"Field Expedient" by Chad Oliver (1954): Tells the story of a childless billionaire who pours all his wealth into creating a colony on the very Earth-like planet. The men of Earth have become very complacent and no longer wish to reach for the stars. Vandervort believes his colony will give mankind back his exploratory vision.
You're never finished with danger. It follows a brave man around.
Maybe, but I'm not a brave man. Never was.
~Virginia Stuart, Warren Blackwell in "Venus Mission"
"Venus Mission" by J. T. McIntosh (1951): A ship is damaged on its way to a city on Venus and crash-lands far from their target. Venus has been hard-won after a war with the "Greys." Little info is given about the Greys except that despite the war being over and a treaty being signed, there are still renegade groups that love nothing more than to capture and torture humans. Will the survivors be able to make it to the nearest settlement?
"The Luck of Ignatz" by Lester Del Rey (1939): What happens when the luckiest man in the universe takes on the unluckiest mascot imaginable? Lots of bad luck for everyone else....and then nobody wants to give him a job or allow him to travel on their rocket ships. So, how's he supposed to rescue the girl he loves?
"The Lotus Eaters" by Stanley G. Weinbaum (1935): Patricia Burlingame, biologist, and her newly-wedded husband Hamilton "Ham" Hammond are asked by the Royal Society and the Smithsonian Institution to investigate the dark side of Venus. While there, they find a species of warm-blooded plants who can move about and share a communal intelligence. The plants reproduce through spores which, when they burst, have an effect on humans that can send them into a comatose state. Will Patricia and Ham escape?
"Terror Out of Space" by Leigh Brackett (1944): Operatives from the Special Branch of the Tri-World Police, Lundy and Smith, have captured an alien who has been wreaking havoc with the males of Venus. Whenever a guy looks at "Her," he abandons whatever he's supposed to be doing and follows Her wherever She leads. The alien causes men to see the her as the most beautiful woman ever--a dream girl, in fact. Lundy is the only one to survive the encounter and finds himself needing to defend Venus's plant people from Her as well. It turns into a very close call indeed.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
"Field Expedient" by Chad Oliver (1954): Tells the story of a childless billionaire who pours all his wealth into creating a colony on the very Earth-like planet. The men of Earth have become very complacent and no longer wish to reach for the stars. Vandervort believes his colony will give mankind back his exploratory vision.
You're never finished with danger. It follows a brave man around.
Maybe, but I'm not a brave man. Never was.
~Virginia Stuart, Warren Blackwell in "Venus Mission"
"Venus Mission" by J. T. McIntosh (1951): A ship is damaged on its way to a city on Venus and crash-lands far from their target. Venus has been hard-won after a war with the "Greys." Little info is given about the Greys except that despite the war being over and a treaty being signed, there are still renegade groups that love nothing more than to capture and torture humans. Will the survivors be able to make it to the nearest settlement?
"The Luck of Ignatz" by Lester Del Rey (1939): What happens when the luckiest man in the universe takes on the unluckiest mascot imaginable? Lots of bad luck for everyone else....and then nobody wants to give him a job or allow him to travel on their rocket ships. So, how's he supposed to rescue the girl he loves?
"The Lotus Eaters" by Stanley G. Weinbaum (1935): Patricia Burlingame, biologist, and her newly-wedded husband Hamilton "Ham" Hammond are asked by the Royal Society and the Smithsonian Institution to investigate the dark side of Venus. While there, they find a species of warm-blooded plants who can move about and share a communal intelligence. The plants reproduce through spores which, when they burst, have an effect on humans that can send them into a comatose state. Will Patricia and Ham escape?
"Terror Out of Space" by Leigh Brackett (1944): Operatives from the Special Branch of the Tri-World Police, Lundy and Smith, have captured an alien who has been wreaking havoc with the males of Venus. Whenever a guy looks at "Her," he abandons whatever he's supposed to be doing and follows Her wherever She leads. The alien causes men to see the her as the most beautiful woman ever--a dream girl, in fact. Lundy is the only one to survive the encounter and finds himself needing to defend Venus's plant people from Her as well. It turns into a very close call indeed.
First posted on my blog My Reader's Block. Please request permission before reposting. Thanks.
January 22, 2021
I think that this was intentionally published just before the planned probes were sent, so that these stories could find an audience before they became irrelevant. Whenever I read a story set in our solar system that we now know could not be accurate, I mentally shift gears to think of a sort of alternate universe in which Earth is pretty much the same, but the other planets and moons may differ. So I'm fine with this being 'wrong.' I'm just looking for some good stories. And these are good authors, so I'm excited to read now.
Anyway, here's the ToC; I'll fill it in with my comments as I read.
Field Expedient (1954) by Chad Oliver - though different from most of his stories, this still is enriched by the fact that Oliver was an anthropologist first, writer second. Good story.
Venus Mission (1951) by J.T. McIntosh (James M. MacGregor) - wow, modern sensibilities would not stand for this brutal massacre of the native Greys, no matter how viciously they treat the invading humans.
The Luck of Ignatz (1940) by Lester Del Rey - a very silly What If... what if good and bad luck were real & reliable? But again, the treatment of the natives is bothersome.
The Lotus Eaters (1935) by Stanley G. Weinbaum - wonderful idea story, with interesting characters too. What If, and Sense of Wonder, a little bit of humor, and high intelligence. One character knows etymology and physics, another knows biology (including the fact that intelligence hasn't much survival value). Probably the best science, too. I've read it before, but it was worth the reread.
Terror Out of Space (1944) by Leigh Bracket - Interesting exploration of alien life, but not well written unfortunately.
So, 2/5 of the stories were good, imo. And yet, I'm so glad that I've read it, I'm giving it the full four stars.
Anyway, here's the ToC; I'll fill it in with my comments as I read.
Field Expedient (1954) by Chad Oliver - though different from most of his stories, this still is enriched by the fact that Oliver was an anthropologist first, writer second. Good story.
Venus Mission (1951) by J.T. McIntosh (James M. MacGregor) - wow, modern sensibilities would not stand for this brutal massacre of the native Greys, no matter how viciously they treat the invading humans.
The Luck of Ignatz (1940) by Lester Del Rey - a very silly What If... what if good and bad luck were real & reliable? But again, the treatment of the natives is bothersome.
The Lotus Eaters (1935) by Stanley G. Weinbaum - wonderful idea story, with interesting characters too. What If, and Sense of Wonder, a little bit of humor, and high intelligence. One character knows etymology and physics, another knows biology (including the fact that intelligence hasn't much survival value). Probably the best science, too. I've read it before, but it was worth the reread.
Terror Out of Space (1944) by Leigh Bracket - Interesting exploration of alien life, but not well written unfortunately.
So, 2/5 of the stories were good, imo. And yet, I'm so glad that I've read it, I'm giving it the full four stars.
September 26, 2014
An anthology of scifi tales who all share Venus as their backdrop. Published in 1959, before earthlings had a clear idea of what lay under the second planet's clouds, each story depicts Venus differently to match moods and themes. Venus is a hothouse world of jungles; Venus is drowned in a black, waveless ocean; Venus is just like Earth, only always cloudy; and so on. Although some are close to "standard" scifi stuff—explorers on a new world—a few of the stories creep into other genres, such as a quasi-comical piece about a man and his bad-luck Venusian pet (which wasn't very funny), or a tale about a woman running from torture-obsessed Venusians which that bordered on horror.
Like all anthologies, the collection is uneven. Some pieces are well-written. Chad Oliver's story of Venusian colonists was worded nicely, but ended up being a little preachy. Others stories, like the comical piece, could not end soon enough. For me, by far, the standout story was "The Lotus Eaters" by Stanley Weinbaum, an author whose work I'd never read before. What started as a run-of-the-mill exploration story turned into a thought experiment about how a plant might think differently from a human. I liked the author's angle and will likely read more of his stuff in the future.
I saw the book's cover on a blog and found an electronic copy buried deep within the internet. Unsurprisingly, the scene on the book's cover never takes place in any of the book's stories.
Like all anthologies, the collection is uneven. Some pieces are well-written. Chad Oliver's story of Venusian colonists was worded nicely, but ended up being a little preachy. Others stories, like the comical piece, could not end soon enough. For me, by far, the standout story was "The Lotus Eaters" by Stanley Weinbaum, an author whose work I'd never read before. What started as a run-of-the-mill exploration story turned into a thought experiment about how a plant might think differently from a human. I liked the author's angle and will likely read more of his stuff in the future.
I saw the book's cover on a blog and found an electronic copy buried deep within the internet. Unsurprisingly, the scene on the book's cover never takes place in any of the book's stories.
October 21, 2022
Mediocre. Algo decepcionante. El mejor relato fue el último, Terror en el espacio, de Leigh Brackett. Los lotófagos de Weinbaum tampoco está mal, pero los tres restantes no dan la talla.
March 30, 2024
Really old-school stories from the 50's. You can tell. Keeping that in mind, pretty entertaining. A couple were really out there. But it has set on the shelf for decades and I felt obligated to read it.
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