Earth investigator Jerry Vanning comes to Venus hunting fugitive politician Don Callahan, who may be carrying a secret treaty dangerous enough to shake the System. In the bleak frontier settlement of Venus Landing, he encounters a world of swamp rot, oppressive heat, and the dreaded North-Fever, a mysterious affliction that drives its victims northward into the wilderness and never lets them return. But the fugitive is not where he seems: hidden in plain sight at the Star Palace under the name Jerome Bentley, Callahan is only the first clue in a far stranger mystery. As Vanning follows the trail beyond town, the fever takes hold of him too, dragging him through a nightmare jungle of fog, carnivorous growth, and the bones of earlier victims. Driven by an irresistible compulsion, he passes through stone, falls into a hidden tunnel, and stumbles into a secret valley ruled by the fish-faced Swamja. There he learns the truth: North-Fever is an artificial plague used to lure captives into slavery beneath Venus's mountains. With the help of Lysla, a young Earth woman trapped in the hidden city, Vanning must survive alien captivity, uncover Callahan's disguise, and confront a ruthless civilization built on deception, control, and fear. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.

À propos de l'auteur

Kuttner, Henry

Henry Kuttner was an American writer born in Los Angeles in 1915, a gifted and imaginative voice who came of age during the golden age of pulp science fiction and fantasy. He began publishing in the 1930s and quickly became known for his versatility, moving with ease between science fiction, fantasy, horror, and humorous speculative fiction. Working closely with his wife, C. L. Moore, he helped create some of the most inventive and polished genre stories of the mid-20th century, and his career produced a remarkable body of work that remains admired for its energy, wit, and range. Kuttner’s writing often explores the instability of identity, the dangers and absurdities of unchecked power, the collision between human frailty and cosmic forces, and the strange possibilities opened by science and the imagination. Those concerns still feel fresh today, especially in an era fascinated by technology, alternate realities, and the ethical costs of progress. Though he died young in 1958, his influence endures in the way later writers blend adventure with psychological depth and speculative daring. Readers who enjoy fast-moving, idea-rich stories with a sharp sense of wonder and a touch of the uncanny will find Henry Kuttner especially rewarding.