Wednesday 6 May 2015

SCI-FI REVIEW: Old Venus - George RR Martin and Gardner Dozois

Release Date: 06/03/15
Publisher:  Titan

SYNOPSIS:

From pulp adventures such as Edgar Rice Burroughs's Carson of Venus to classic short stories such as Ray Bradbury's "The Long Rain" to visionary novels such as C. S. Lewis's Perelandra, the planet Venus has loomed almost as large in the imaginations of science fiction writers as Earth's next-nearest neighbor, Mars. But while the Red Planet conjured up in Golden Age science fiction stories was a place of vast deserts and ruined cities, bright blue Venus was its polar opposite: a steamy, swampy jungle world with strange creatures lurking amidst the dripping vegetation. Alas, just as the last century's space probes exploded our dreams of Mars, so, too, did they shatter our romantic visions of Venus, revealing, instead of a lush paradise, a hellish world inimical to all life. But don't despair! This new anthology of sixteen original stories by some of science fiction's best writers - edited by #1 New York Times bestselling author George R. R. Martin and award-winning editor Gardner Dozois - turns back the clock to that more innocent time, before the hard-won knowledge of science vanquished the infinite possibilities of the imagination. Join our cast of award-winning contributors - including Elizabeth Bear, David Brin, Joe Haldeman, Gwyneth Jones, Mike Resnick, Eleanor Arnason, Allen M. Steele, and more - as we travel back in time to a planet that never was but should have been: a young, rain-drenched world of fabulous monsters and seductive mysteries.


REVIEW:

As a reader who spends a lot of time with their head in a book, I do like it when I have a collection of short stories just to dive into when I have either a quick break or to utilise on travel time. Edited by two well established authors, the host of authors demonstrates an ability to bring the best of the genre to the fore as so many big names have contributed.

Its full of adventure, has different tales for every Sci-Fi taste and when added to a one off price for readers to try names they may not have had chance to yet, also gives you chance to add more names to your TBR pile (of which mine is already huge.)

All round a cracking set of fun and one that was a pure joy to devour and whilst every story may not be for all readers, theres enough options here to allow you to find something special.


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