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.

À propos de l'auteur

Wellman, Manly Wade

Manly Wade Wellman was an American writer whose long career spanned much of the twentieth century, and whose life moved through the worlds of journalism, adventure, and imaginative fiction. Born in Brazil and later making his home in the United States, he worked as a reporter before becoming one of the most versatile voices in pulp and genre literature, writing steadily across decades and earning a devoted readership for his skill with atmosphere, folklore, and the uncanny. He is best remembered for stories that blend the supernatural with American history, frontier life, mountain legend, and a deep sense of place, creating fiction that feels both eerie and grounded in lived experience. His work often explores resilience, the power of oral tradition, the collision between old beliefs and modernity, and the strange forces that seem to linger just beyond ordinary understanding. That combination gives his writing lasting relevance today, especially for readers drawn to stories about cultural memory, regional identity, and the mystery hidden inside everyday life. Wellman’s legacy rests not only in his range and productivity, but in the way he helped define a distinctly American strain of weird fiction, one that values character, landscape, and folklore as much as suspense. Readers who enjoy atmospheric tales, folklore-infused fantasy, old-fashioned adventure, or haunting stories with a strong sense of place are especially likely to appreciate him.