Old Venus

 Old Venus

Reviewed By  Janet Mawdesley       May 30, 2015

 

Author  George R. R. Martin, Gardner Dozois

Distributor:     
ISBN:                 9781783297870
Publisher:         Titan Publishing Group
Release Date:    

   Website:   http://www.newsouthbooks.com.au

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Lovers of Sci-Fi and Fantasy will be in their element with this wondrous collection of short and not so short stories from some of the top writers in this genre with Eleanor Arnason, Allen M Steele, Gwenth Jones, amongst the many who have all contributed to what can only be called a compendium of totally enjoyable stories using Venus as their ’place to be’ in the world yet to arrive.

As with all fantasy writing the stories are only as good as the authors imagination which in each of these stories proves to be far fetching, entertaining, intriguing and enjoyable.

The pieces range from short 30 page ‘potboilers’ in Planet of Fear where Paul McAuley takes us to a remote mining station where the miners are on guard against an attack by monsters; but is all as it seems. Are they really monsters of could something else be contributing to the chaos on Makarov Station.

Joe Haldeman presents us with a spoof in ‘Living Hell’ where a Pilot sets out on a rescue mission and somehow almost seems to need to be rescued as things simply do not turn out he way he expected. He eventually arrives at the ‘poles’, where a group of women have become stranded after a solar attack knocks out there communications. After some serious hair-raising confrontations with weird things he discovers that death is not dead, like it normally is, simply reinvention!

In ‘The Wizard of the Trees” we join Jack Davis who boarded the Titanic at the London Docks and somehow, after the boat sinks finds himself, not exactly dead, but in a place that looks nothing like earth. And to cap it off he has a mighty big headache which does not improve when a yellow skinned couple come to his aid.

But whatever the imagination contrives, each of the stories is based on Venus and each and every one of the characters and monsters that come alive on the pages are all dear to the fantasy lover’s heart.

The introduction has been done by Gardener Dozois in which he explains the origins of the wonderfully futuristic stories based about the planet Venus, as well as the rise and fall of fantasy fiction ‘Venetian style’ and the resurgence of this popular form of literature.

For the newcomer to the genre, enjoy this diverse selection of ‘yarns’ and for the aficionados enjoy this wonderful collection created by some of your favourite authors.

Fiction