All About Venus

by Brian W. Aldiss (Editor), Harry Harrison (Editor), Svante Arrhenius (Contributor)

A Revelation of the Planet Venus in Fact and Fiction by Arthur C. Clarke - C.S. Lewis - Olaf Stapledon - Poul Anderson and many others.
The swirling clouds of mystery that cloak the planet Venus have exercised an unrivaled fascination for the most powerful imaginations of our day. Now at last their most dazzling flights have been gathered together.

Contents:

I. CLOUDED JUDGEMENTS
Destinies of the Stars by Svante Arrhenius
Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon
Pirates of Venus by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Perelandra by C.S. Lewis

II. "VENUS IS HELL!"
Exploring the Planets by V.A. Firsoff
The Big Rain by Poul Anderson
Intelligent Life in the Universe by Carl Sagan

III. BIG SISTER
Escape to Venus by S. Makepeace Lott
Sister Planet by Poul Anderson
Before Eden by Arthur C. Clarke

IV. THE OPEN QUESTION
Some Mysteries of venus resolved by Sir Bernard Lovell
Dream of Distance by Anonymous
Venus Mystery for Scientists by John Davy

Genres: Science Fiction, Anthologies, Fantasy, Fiction

219 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 1968

About the author

Pseudonyms: Jael Cracken, Peter Pica, John Runciman, C.C. Shackleton, Arch Mendicant, & "Doc" Peristyle.

Brian Wilson Aldiss was one of the most important voices in science fiction writing today. He wrote his first novel while working as a bookseller in Oxford. Shortly afterwards he wrote his first work of science fiction and soon gained international recognition. Adored for his innovative literary techniques, evocative plots and irresistible characters, he became a Grand Master of Science Fiction in 1999.
Brian Aldiss died on August 19, 2017, just after celebrating his 92nd birthday with his family and closest friends.

Brian W. Aldiss Group on Good Reads

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is an abridgement of a book that was published in the U.K. with the title Farewell, Fantastic Venus! It mixes science essays and science fiction, showing how the theories and perceptions of the planet have changed. It strikes me as odd that Mars has always been so much more popular, but there you go. It has excerpts of pieces of Olaf Stapledon, Edgar Rice Burroughs, and C.S. Lewis novels, which I never thought was a good idea. It does not have anything by Ray Bradbury or Leigh Brackett, for example, and classics by them would have used the space better. It does have a pair of Poul Anderson stories and an Arthur C. Clarke that are pretty good; what's here is okay, but it could have been much better.

[TigerMoon77 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published in 1968, this anthology of both fact & fiction about the planet Venus is the sort of thing you just won't find today. As science was discovering the true, hellish nature of the planet, this book served as a fond look back at earlier imagined vistas -- the eternal rains, the verdant swamps, the endless clouds, both in reasonably hard SF & pure planetary romance. At the same time, it offers a range of non-fiction articles spanning the centuries, gradually revealing Venus as the sulfuric inferno we know it to be now. The fictions range from excerpts from Edgar Rice Burroughs' "The Pirates of Venus", Olaf Stapledon's "Last and First Men", and C. S. Lewis' "Perelandra", to such short stories as Poul Anderson's "The Big Rain" and Arthur C. Clarke's "Before Eden" -- each presenting a vivid world impossible to write about these days. More's the pity! As a marker between romance & reality, it's a thoroughly enjoyable collection, recommended for the historically-minded SF reader.

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recommended only for people who enjoy dense narrative and very little sci-fi. Reminded me a lot of James Michener.

[Tony Ellis · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, they literally don't write them like this anymore. On the 18th of October, 1967, spoilsport Russians landed a probe on Venus and proved once and for all it wasn't the exotic, romantic planet of so many science fiction tales. A year later, Aldiss and Harrison published this collection of stories and essays culled from years long past, to commemorate that lost world.

The result is an intriguing, eclectic mix of sci-fi like your grandad used to read, and short scholarly articles, many of them as outdated as the SF. There's one utterly charming 1882 report by the Astronomer Royal, Sir Robert Ball, in which he describes his attempt to view the transit of Venus across the sun, something that only happens a couple of times in more than a century, from an observatory in Dunsink, Ireland, in December. Ireland. In December. It's the most British thing ever.

All-in-all, this was an unspectacular, enjoyable curio, which in its way has as much to say about the SF scene of 1968 as it does about the fictive history of Venus in the preceding years. Who on earth would even think of publishing a book that mixed SF stories and scientific essays today?

I give this three stars, but one of those is definitely for quirkiness, and your mileage may vary.

[Leothefox · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a tragically mixed bag. I give it 3 stars mostly for including Burroughs (an excerpt from the first Carson of Venus book, "Pirates of Venus") and other antique speculative pieces. For some reason not one but two Poul Anderson stories appear here with opposing versions of Venus (the first of which is about fighting commies, which makes it the more fun of the two).
As always the "hard sci-fi" entries put me right to sleep.