Homesick

by Lyn Venable

Marilyn A. Venable, a.k.a. Lynn Venable and Lyn Venable, was a very accomplished female science fiction writer in a male-dominated industry, thus the names Lynn Venable and Lyn Venable. "Homesick" is a short story Ms. Venable wrote for one of the pulp sci-fi magazines of the 1950s.

Imagine if you will a three-year journey to outer space and back, drinking distilled water, breathing filtered air, and synthetic food. You can imagine the anticipation of returning to Earth, and then discovering you are allergic to everything on Earth from women to the air you breathe. This is the story of four aging astronauts, able only to look at Earth from their spaceship or venture out to water the geraniums wearing a spacesuit.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction

Audible Audio

First published January 1, 1952

Reviews

[Cole Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short story, written by Marilyn Venable under the pseudonym Lyn Venable, follows a group of aging astronauts who return to Earth after a thirty-year trip only to find they must remain in their ship.

I was surprised how much I loved the writing, the plot, the thought process behind this story. Venable's consideration about the toll space travel can have on astronauts is particularly interesting because of what we know about the toll even short missions can have on astronauts' bodies.

[Viji (Bookish endeavors) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice plot,but lousy presentation. The title is apt,in a wicked sense. Homesick-sick of home. Can't even imagine such an existence. Even stars get to be boring after some time.

[Martine · Rating 4 out of 5]

What would happen to men that come back to Earth after 30 years in space?

Five things:
- Short story
- Journey back to earth
- All male characters, but written by a female author
- Space travel
- Gardening

[Tony Ciak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Scifi,horror, short story, twilight zone, by a master and narrated by a great narrator!!!

[Chris Aldridge · Rating 4 out of 5]

6/20 16 mins. Part of LibriVox Audiobook “Short SF Collection Vol. 058”. Well narrated by Dale Grothmann. Astronauts return home to a changed world..or is it? Interesting parallel with modern rise in autoimmune diseases, allergies etc possibly due to our increased hygiene and isolation from the natural world .

[Forked Radish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just like the muscles, the immune system needs exercise. That's why I eat things from off the floor, out of the bin, and even from street vendors.

[Tim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent story...cool enough idea but the execution wasn't as good as it could have been. But as they say...these are some astronauts ... in.... trouble.

[Denise · Rating 3 out of 5]

The four aging men have been confined to the space ship since they were in their 20s. A sad, understated story.

Please read the full review here.