Venus Enslaved

A rocket hurtles toward Venus with three Earth convicts aboard: Planter, a haunted killer with a lost love on his mind; Disbro, ruthless, brilliant, and always scheming; and Max, a hulking survivor barely holding the ship together. Their desperate flight carries the dark humor and hard-edged energy of classic pulp science fiction, but Venus proves more than a death sentence. Disbro secretly alters their course, aiming for the planet's north pole and a better chance at survival, while Planter begins to feel the dangerous pull of hope. When the ship crashes nose-first into the swampy surface, the men discover that Venus is breathable, oppressive, and alive with threats. A tentacled muck-creature attacks, then reveals itself as a bizarre plant-like organism, and Planter is saved by Mara, a sharp-tongued young woman armed with a crossbow-like weapon. As he fights Skygors and earns her respect, he is drawn into the hidden Nest, where armed women live in secrecy and discipline, claiming an Earth origin of their own. Meanwhile, Disbro and Max encounter another organized Venusian power and are forced into tense submission and uneasy alliances. On this alien world of hidden civilizations, survival means strength, cunning, and choosing whom to trust. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.