Old Venus

A Collection of Stories

By: George R.R. Martin - editor, Gardner Dozois - editor

Narrated by: Diana Rigg, Full Cast, Michael Dorn, Stephen Fry, Jake Stormoen, W. Morgan Sheppard, Gethin Anthony, Wil Wheaton, Janis Ian, Ron Donachie, Various

Length: 22 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Sixteen all-new stories by science fiction's top talents, collected by best-selling author George R. R. Martin and multiple-award-winning editor Gardner Dozois.

From pulp adventures such as Edgar Rice Burroughs' Carson of Venus to classic short stories such as Ray Bradbury's "The Long Rain" to visionary novels such as C. S. Lewis' 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 amid 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 16 original stories by some of science fiction's best writers - edited by number-one New York Times best-selling 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.

Featuring all-new stories by:

• Eleanor Arnason
• Elizabeth Bear
• David Brin
• Tobias S. Buckell
• Michael Cassutt
• Joe Haldeman
• Matthew Hughes
• Gwyneth Jones
• Joe R. Lansdale
• Stephen Leigh
• Paul McAuley
• Ian McDonald
• Garth Nix
• Mike Resnick
• Allen M. Steele
• Lavie Tidhar
• And an Introduction by Gardner Dozois

©2015 George R.R. Martin, Gardner Dozois (P)2014 Random House Audio

Excellent book

If you could sum up Old Venus in three words, what would they be?

The stories in, "Old Venus", were all very good, and there was lots of them. I can never remember specific stories, but I know there was some that were so action packed that I felt like I was watching a movie thriller. Rather then thinking about them as being on Venus, which we now no is uninhabitable, I just imagined them being about distant planets in distant galaxies. This was my favorite, "Audible", selection so far. I look forward to more like this.

Exactly what I was looking for

I had just finished re-listening to Sky People, a very retro action adventure on a Venus teeming with dinosaurs, cavemen, and sinister Russians, so Old Venus was exactly what I needed to keep scratching that retro sci-fi itch.

I will say, about a third of the authors on this collection didn't really understand the assignment. Some stories are much more modern sci-fi, with none of the wonder and wistfulness for a mysterious Venus of the past.

That said, most of the stories are good and the good ones really rip! Loaded with deadly jungles and oceans, sinister and sexy aliens, and death ray shoot outs, Old Venus is a very enjoyable collection of science fiction with a distinctly vintage flavor.

Varied but overall solid

I love the idea for this collection, and most of the stories are solid, with few even being excellent, and the generic range is impressive. My main problem was that there are simply too many stories, and after a while I started to get bored of swamps, amphibians, sleazy Russian colonists and rain. For this reason my favourite story was David Brin's, which has a much more imaginative take on the Venusian setting. The editors should probably have culled the weaker stories to produce a tighter and less repetitive collection.

The other problem is that many of these stories don't really have much to do with the idea of planet Venus and would work equally well if you crossed out 'Venus' and replaced it with 'Arglethorpe IV' or anything else; I suspect that the authors took a story they were already working on and just changed the setting.

The readers are mostly very good - I particularly enjoyed Harry Lloyd's work and Stephen Fry was a fun surprise. It's time for Roy Dotrice to retire though - at least, his quavery voice is utterly unsuited to a gung-ho action story.

Overall amazing

I love collections of Science fiction. Short or otherwise they always seem to posit such wonderful worlds that we can explore. This book was awesome, a few of the stories were not to great in my opinion, but overall this book has some amazing tales in it.

lots of good storys

What did you love best about Old Venus?

most of it was interesting. the intro was great.

Any additional comments?

its alright. a good book to get in between something you really like. a nice rest from deep listening. and some good stories too.

Excellent Readers

Production quality is excellent. Beautifully read! Too think of a time when the stars held mystery and romance… these stories recall that time. The 22 hours go by fast.

Vintagey Sci-fi in Space

I listen to a lot of anthologies, and I enjoyed this one quite a bit. All of the stories have a different feel but maintain a vintage grit about them... highly reminiscent of Pulp space sci-fi from the 50s or 60s, but with a better quality of character development.

The different imaginings of a colonized Venus are for the most part intensely entertaining. If you liked this one you should check out other anthologies by George RR Martin. Likewise if you like other anthologies by George you will probably enjoy this one as well.

AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY

Ordered for Chapter 60 plus

Jake Stormoen does an incredible job here, voicing characters fluidly. The intensity of the story is subtle and deep.

Couldn't get past narrator voice.

couldn't finish. do not recommend. voice was so boring and dull, despite the potential for fun story telling.