The planet

Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never f ...

has been used as a setting in fiction since before the 19th century. Its impenetrable cloud cover gave

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

writers free rein to speculate on conditions at its surface; the planet was often depicted as warmer than

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. While large volumes of water can be found throughout the Solar System, only Earth sustains liquid surface water. About 71% of Earth's surfa ...

but still

habitable Habitability refers to the adequacy of an environment for human living. Where housing is concerned, there are generally local ordinances which define habitability. If a residence complies with those laws it is said to be habitable. In extreme e ...

by humans. Depictions of Venus as a lush, verdant paradise, an oceanic planet, or fetid swampland, often inhabited by

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

-like beasts or other monsters, became common in early

pulp Pulp may refer to: * Pulp (fruit), the inner flesh of fruit Engineering * Dissolving pulp, highly purified cellulose used in fibre and film manufacture * Pulp (paper), the fibrous material used to make paper * Molded pulp, a packaging material ...

science fiction, particularly between the 1930s and 1950s. Some other stories portrayed it as a desert, or invented more exotic settings. The absence of a common vision resulted in Venus not developing a coherent fictional mythology, in contrast to the image of

Mars in fiction Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, has appeared as a setting in works of fiction since at least the mid-1600s. It became the most popular celestial object in fiction in the late 1800s as the Moon was evidently lifeless. At the time, the pre ...

. When portrayed, the native sentient inhabitants, Venusians, were generally portrayed as gentle, ethereal and beautiful. Early science fiction writers who set their stories on Venus included

Otis Adelbert Kline Otis Adelbert Kline (July 1, 1891 – October 24, 1946) born in Chicago, Illinois, USA, was a songwriter, an adventure novelist and literary agent during the pulp era. Much of his work first appeared in the magazine ''Weird Tales''. Kline was an ...

in the 1920s; Edgar Rice Burroughs,

Olaf Stapledon William Olaf Stapledon (10 May 1886 – 6 September 1950) – known as Olaf Stapledon – was a British philosopher and author of science fiction.Andy Sawyer, " illiamOlaf Stapledon (1886-1950)", in Bould, Mark, et al, eds. ''Fifty Key Figures ...

, and Stanley G. Weinbaum in the 1930s;

Robert A. Heinlein Robert Anson Heinlein (; July 7, 1907 – May 8, 1988) was an American science fiction author, aeronautical engineer, and naval officer. Sometimes called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was among the first to emphasize scientific accu ...

, Henry Kuttner, and

C. S. Lewis Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Oxford University (Magdalen College, 1925–1954) and Cambridge Univers ...

in the 1940s; and Isaac Asimov and Frederik Pohl in the 1950s. From the mid-20th century on, as the reality of Venus' harsh surface conditions became known, the early tropes of adventures in Venusian tropics gave way to more realistic stories. The planet became portrayed instead as a hostile, toxic inferno, with stories changing focus to topics of the planet's colonization and

terraforming Terraforming or terraformation ("Earth-shaping") is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying the atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology of a planet, moon, or other body to be similar to the environment of Earth to make ...

, although the vision of tropical Venus is occasionally revisited in intentionally

retro Retro style is imitative or consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from history, including in music, modes, fashions, or attitudes. In popular culture, the "nostalgia cycle" is typically for the two decades that begin 20–30 ...

stories. Modern treatments can be found in the works of authors such as Ben Bova and

Pamela Sargent Pamela Sargent (born March 20, 1948) is an American feminist, science fiction author, and editor. She has an MA in classical philosophy and has won a Nebula Award. Sargent wrote a trilogy concerning the terraforming of Venus that is sometim ...

Early depictions: exotic tropics

While the earliest use of the planet

as the primary setting in a work of fiction was

Achille Eyraud Achille is a French and Italian masculine given name, derived from the Greek mythological hero Achilles. It may refer to: People Artists * Achille Beltrame (1871–1945), Italian painter * Achille Calici (c. 1565–?), Italian painter * Achi ...

's ''

Voyage à Venus Voyage(s) or The Voyage may refer to: Literature *''Voyage : A Novel of 1896'', Sterling Hayden * ''Voyage'' (novel), a 1996 science fiction novel by Stephen Baxter *''The Voyage'', Murray Bail * "The Voyage" (short story), a 1921 story by K ...

'' (''Voyage to Venus'', 1865), it had appeared centuries earlier in works visiting multiple locations in the

Solar System The Solar System Capitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar ...

such as

Athanasius Kircher Athanasius Kircher (2 May 1602 – 27 November 1680) was a German Jesuit scholar and polymath who published around 40 major works, most notably in the fields of comparative religion, geology, and medicine. Kircher has been compared to fe ...

's ''

Itinerarium Exstaticum ''Itinerarium exstaticum quo mundi opificium'' is a 1656 work by the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher. It is an imaginary dialogue in which an angel named Cosmiel takes the narrator, Theodidactus ('taught by God') on a journey through the planets ...

'' (1656) and

Emanuel Swedenborg Emanuel Swedenborg (, ; born Emanuel Swedberg; 29 March 1772) was a Swedish pluralistic-Christian theologian, scientist, philosopher and mystic. He became best known for his book on the afterlife, ''Heaven and Hell'' (1758). Swedenborg had a ...

's '' The Earths in Our Solar System'' (1758), and

Gary Westfahl Gary Wesley Westfahl (born May 7, 1951) is an American scholar of science fiction. He has written reviews for the ''Los Angeles Times'', ''The Internet Review of Science Fiction'' and Locus Online. He worked at the University of California, River ...

considers the mention of the " Morning Star" in the second-century work '' True History'' by

Lucian of Samosata Lucian of Samosata, '; la, Lucianus Samosatensis ( 125 – after 180) was a Hellenized Syrian satirist, rhetorician and pamphleteer who is best known for his characteristic tongue-in-cheek style, with which he frequently ridiculed superstiti ...

to be the first appearance of Venus—or any other planet—in

. In time, Venus became one of the most popular planets in early science fiction, though never approaching the popularity of

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

. On the subject, Westfahl writes that while Mars has a distinctive body of major works such as

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

The War of the Worlds ''The War of the Worlds'' is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by ''Pearson's Magazine'' in the UK and by ''Cosmopolitan (magazine), Cosmopolitan'' magazine in the US. The novel's first appear ...

'' (1898) and

Ray Bradbury Ray Douglas Bradbury (; August 22, 1920June 5, 2012) was an American author and screenwriter. One of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers, he worked in a variety of modes, including fantasy, science fiction, horror, mystery fictio ...

fix-up A fix-up (or fixup) is a novel created from several short fiction stories that may or may not have been initially related or previously published. The stories may be edited for consistency, and sometimes new connecting material, such as a frame s ...

novel ''

The Martian Chronicles ''The Martian Chronicles'' is a science fiction fix-up novel, published in 1950, by American writer Ray Bradbury that chronicles the exploration and settlement of Mars, the home of indigenous Martians, by Americans leaving a troubled Earth th ...

'' (1950), Venus largely lacks a corresponding canon, and quotes

Brian Aldiss Brian Wilson Aldiss (; 18 August 1925 – 19 August 2017) was an English writer, artist, and anthology editor, best known for science fiction novels and short stories. His byline reads either Brian W. Aldiss or simply Brian Aldiss, except for o ...

saying "how few have been the visitors to Venus, compared with the voyages to Mars!". Venus has a thick layer of clouds that prevents telescopic observation of the surface, giving writers free rein to imagine any kind of world below. One of the many visions was of a tidally locked Venus with half of the planet always exposed to the Sun and the other half in perpetual darkness, as in Garrett P. Serviss' '' A Columbus of Space'' (1909) and Garrett Smith's '' Between Worlds'' (1919). The absence of a common vision of Venus resulted in the less coherent mythology of Venus, particularly compared with the image of

. As a result of the setting's versatility, according to ''

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (SFE) is an English language reference work on science fiction, first published in 1979. It has won the Hugo, Locus and British SF Awards. Two print editions appeared in 1979 and 1993. A third, continu ...

'', "some of the gaudiest romances of Genre SF are set on Venus". Stephen L. Gillett, one of the contributors to '' The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy'', describes the situation as a "cosmic Rorschach test", with numerous authors populating the land beneath Venus' featureless clouds with exotic but usually habitable settings, and producing stories ranging from adventure to

satire Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...

. A common assumption was that the Venusian clouds were made of water, as clouds on Earth are, and consequently the planet was most often portrayed as having a wet climate. This sometimes meant vast oceans, but more commonly swamps and jungles. Another influential idea was the early version of the

nebular hypothesis The nebular hypothesis is the most widely accepted model in the field of cosmogony to explain the formation and evolution of the Solar System (as well as other planetary systems). It suggests the Solar System is formed from gas and dust orbiting t ...

of Solar System formation which held that the planets are older the further from the Sun they are, meaning that Venus should be younger than Earth and might resemble earlier periods in Earth's history such as the Carboniferous. Scientist

Svante Arrhenius Svante August Arrhenius ( , ; 19 February 1859 – 2 October 1927) was a Swedish scientist. Originally a physicist, but often referred to as a chemist, Arrhenius was one of the founders of the science of physical chemistry. He received the Nob ...

popularized the idea of Venus being swamp-covered with flora and fauna similar to that of prehistoric Earth in his non-fiction book '' The Destinies of the Stars'' (1918).

Jungle and swamp

Early treatments of a Venus covered in swamps and jungles are found in Gustavus W. Pope's ''

Journey to Venus ''Journey to Venus the Primeval World; Its Wonderful Creations and Gigantic Monsters'' is an 1895 science fiction novel written by Gustavus W. Pope. The book was a sequel to Pope's novel of the previous year, ''Journey to Mars''. The ''Venus'' vol ...

'' (1895),

Fred T. Jane John Fredrick Thomas Jane (6 August 1865 – 8 March 1916) was the founding editor of reference books on warships ('' All the World's Fighting Ships'') and aircraft ('' All the World's Airships'') and the namesake of what would become Jane's In ...

's ''

To Venus in Five Seconds ''To Venus in Five Seconds: An Account of the Strange Disappearance of Thomas Plummer, Pillmaker'' is a science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with i ...

'' (1897), and

Maurice Baring Maurice Baring (27 April 1874 – 14 December 1945) was an English man of letters, known as a dramatist, poet, novelist, translator and essayist, and also as a travel writer and war correspondent, with particular knowledge of Russia. During Wo ...

's "

" (1909). Following its popularization by Arrhenius, the portrayal of the Venusian landscape as dominated by jungles and swamps recurred in other works of fiction and became "a staple of

science fiction imagery". Clark Ashton Smith's " The Immeasurable Horror" (1931) and

Lester del Rey Lester del Rey (June 2, 1915 – May 10, 1993) was an American science fiction author and editor. He was the author of many books in the juvenile Winston Science Fiction series, and the editor at Del Rey Books, the fantasy and scienc ...

's " The Luck of Ignatz" (1939) depict threatening Venusian creatures in a swamp-and-jungle climate. Fantastic_adventures_194111

In the

planetary romance Planetary romance is a subgenre of science fiction in which the bulk of the action consists of adventures on one or more exotic alien planets, characterized by distinctive physical and cultural backgrounds. Some planetary romances take place ag ...

(or " sword and planet") subgenre that flourished in this era, Ralph Milne Farley and

wrote series in this setting starting with '' The Radio Man'' (1924) and '' The Planet of Peril'' (1929), respectively. These stories were inspired by Edgar Rice Burroughs' Martian '' Barsoom'' series that began with ''

A Princess of Mars ''A Princess of Mars'' is a science fantasy novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the first of his Barsoom series. It was first serialized in the pulp magazine ''All-Story Magazine'' from February–July, 1912. Full of swordplay and dari ...

'' (1912); Burroughs later wrote planetary romances set on a swampy Venus in the '' Amtor'' series, beginning with ''

Pirates of Venus ''Pirates of Venus'' is a science fantasy novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the first book in the Venus series (also called the "Carson Napier of Venus series"), the last major series in Burroughs's career (the other major series w ...

'' (1932). Other authors who wrote planetary romances in this setting include C. L. Moore and

Leigh Brackett Leigh Douglass Brackett (December 7, 1915 – March 18, 1978) was an American science fiction writer known as "the Queen of Space Opera." She was also a screenwriter, known for '' The Big Sleep'' (1946), '' Rio Bravo'' (1959), and '' The Long Go ...

with stories like " Black Thirst" (1934) and " Enchantress of Venus" (1949), respectively.

portrayed Venusian swamps in several unrelated stories including "

The Green Hills of Earth "The Green Hills of Earth" is a science fiction short story by American writer Robert A. Heinlein. One of his Future History stories, the short story originally appeared in ''The Saturday Evening Post'' (February 8, 1947), and it was collecte ...

" (1947), ''

Space Cadet ''Space Cadet'' is a 1948 science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein about Matt Dodson, who joins the Interplanetary Patrol to help preserve peace in the Solar System. The story translates the standard military academy story into outer space: a ...

'' (1948), and ''

Podkayne of Mars ''Podkayne of Mars'' is a science-fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, originally serialised in '' Worlds of If'' (November 1962, January, March 1963), and published in hardcover in 1963. The novel features a teenage girl name ...

'' (1963). On

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

, a 1955 episode of ''

Tom Corbett, Space Cadet Tom Corbett is the main character in a series of ''Tom Corbett—Space Cadet'' stories that were depicted in television, radio, books, comic books, comic strips, and other media in the 1950s. The stories followed the adventures of Corbett, Ast ...

'' depicts a crash landing in a Venusian swamp. Ray Bradbury's short story " The Long Rain" (1950) depicts Venus as a planet with incessant rain, and was later adapted to screen twice: to film in ''The Illustrated Man'' (1969) and to television in ''

The Ray Bradbury Theater ''The Ray Bradbury Theater'' is an anthology series that ran for three seasons on First Choice Superchannel in Canada and HBO in the United States from 1985 to 1986, and then on USA Network, running for four additional seasons from 1988 to 19 ...

'' (1992). In Germany, the ''

Perry Rhodan ''Perry Rhodan'' is a West German/ German space opera franchise, named after its hero. It commenced in 1961 and has been ongoing for decades, written by an ever-changing team of authors. Having sold approximately two billion copies (in novel ...

'' novels (launched in 1961) used the vision of Venus as a jungle world.

Ocean

Others envisioned Venus as a panthalassic planet, covered by a planet-wide ocean with perhaps a few islands. Large land masses were thought impossible due to the assumption that they would have generated atmospheric updrafts that would have broken up the planet's solid cloud layer. An early treatment of an oceanic Venus is Harl Vincent's " Venus Liberated" (1929). In

's ''

Last and First Men ''Last and First Men: A Story of the Near and Far Future'' is a "future history" science fiction novel written in 1930 by the British author Olaf Stapledon. A work of unprecedented scale in the genre, it describes the history of humanity from t ...

'' (1930), future descendants of humanity are modified to be adapted to life on an ocean-covered Venus.

's '' Perelandra'' (1943) retells the story of

Adam and Eve Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...

in the Garden of Eden on

floating island A floating island is a mass of floating aquatic plants, mud, and peat ranging in thickness from several centimeters to a few meters. Floating islands are a common natural phenomenon that are found in many parts of the world. They exist less co ...

s in a vast Venusian ocean. In

Poul Anderson Poul William Anderson (November 25, 1926 – July 31, 2001) was an American fantasy and science fiction author who was active from the 1940s until the 21st century. Anderson wrote also historical novels. His awards include seven Hugo Awards and ...

's " Sister Planet" (1959), migration to an oceanic Venus is contemplated as a potential solution to Earth's

overpopulation Overpopulation or overabundance is a phenomenon in which a species' population becomes larger than the carrying capacity of its environment. This may be caused by increased birth rates, lowered mortality rates, reduced predation or large scal ...

. "

Clash by Night ''Clash by Night'' is a 1952 American film noir drama directed by Fritz Lang and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Paul Douglas, Robert Ryan, Marilyn Monroe and Keith Andes. The film is based on the 1941 play by Clifford Odets, adapted for the scre ...

" (1943) by

Lawrence O'Donnell Lawrence Francis O'Donnell Jr. (born November 7, 1951) is an American television anchor, actor, liberal political commentator, and host of '' The Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell'', an MSNBC opinion and news program that airs on weeknights. H ...

(joint

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

of C. L. Moore and Henry Kuttner) and its sequel '' Fury'' (1947) describe survivors from a devastated Earth living beneath Venusian oceans. Those two works have been called in ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' "the most enduring pulp image" of an oceanic Venus, and the former received another sequel in 1991, ''

The Jungle ''The Jungle'' is a 1906 novel by the American journalist and novelist Upton Sinclair. Sinclair's primary purpose in describing the meat industry and its working conditions was to advance socialism in the United States. However, most readers we ...

'' by David A. Drake.

Desert

A third group of early theories about conditions on Venus explained the cloud cover with a hot, dry planet where the atmosphere holds water vapor and the surface has dust storms. The idea that water is abundant on Venus was controversial, and by 1940 Rupert Wildt had already discussed how a greenhouse effect might result in a hot Venus. The vision of a desert Venus was never as popular as that of a swampy or jungle one, but by the 1950s it started appearing in a number of works. In Polish science fiction writer

Stanisław Lem Stanisław Herman Lem (; 12 September 1921 – 27 March 2006) was a Polish writer of science fiction and essays on various subjects, including philosophy, futurology, and literary criticism. Many of his science fiction stories are of satirical ...

's novel ''

The Astronauts ''The Astronauts'' ( Polish: ''Astronauci'') is the first science fiction novel by Polish writer Stanisław Lem published as a book, in 1951. To write the novel, Lem received advance payment from publishing house Czytelnik (Warsaw). The book b ...

'' (1951)—later filmatized as the Polish–

East German East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

coproduction ''

The Silent Star ''Milcząca Gwiazda'' (german: Der schweigende Stern), literal English translation ''The Silent Star'', is a 1960 East German/ Polish color science fiction film based on the 1951 science fiction novel ''The Astronauts'' by Polish science fiction wr ...

'' (1960)—an expedition to Venus discovers a barren environment and the ruins of a civilization, deducing that the cause was

nuclear holocaust A nuclear holocaust, also known as a nuclear apocalypse, nuclear Armageddon, or atomic holocaust, is a theoretical scenario where the mass detonation of nuclear weapons causes globally widespread destruction and radioactive fallout. Such a scenar ...

. Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth's ''

The Space Merchants ''The Space Merchants'' is a 1952 science fiction novel by American writers Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth. Originally published in ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' magazine as a serial entitled ''Gravy Planet'', the novel was first published ...

'' (1952) is a satire that depicts Venus being successfully marketed as an appealing destination for migrants from Earth in spite of its hostile environment. In

Robert Sheckley Robert Sheckley (July 16, 1928 – December 9, 2005) was an American writer. First published in the science-fiction magazines of the 1950s, his many quick-witted stories and novels were famously unpredictable, absurdist, and broadly comical. ...

's "Prospector's Special" (1959), the desert surface of Venus is mined for resources. Arthur C. Clarke's " Before Eden" (1961) portrays Venus as mostly hot and dry, but with a habitable climate at the poles. While these inhospitable portrayals more accurately reflected the emerging scientific data, they nevertheless generally underestimated the harshness of the planet's conditions.

Later depictions: hostile inferno

In scientific circles, life on Venus was increasingly viewed as unlikely from the 1930s on, as more advanced methods for observing Venus suggested that its atmosphere lacks oxygen. Later, space probes such as ''

Mariner 2 Mariner 2 (Mariner-Venus 1962), an American space probe to Venus, was the first robotic space probe to conduct a successful planetary encounter. The first successful spacecraft in the NASA Mariner program, it was a simplified version of the B ...

'' in 1962 found that Venus' surface temperature was in the range , and atmospheric pressure at ground-level was many times that of Earth's. This rendered obsolete fiction that had depicted a planet with exotic but habitable settings, and writers' interest in the planet diminished when its inhospitability became better understood. Fiction about Venus started to mainly focus on survival in the hostile environment, as in

Larry Niven Laurence van Cott Niven (; born April 30, 1938) is an American science fiction writer. His best-known works are '' Ringworld'' (1970), which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards, and, with Jerry Pournelle, '' The Mote in God's E ...

's " Becalmed in Hell" (1965); devices for protection against the elements include domed cities as in John Varley's " In the Bowl" (1975), floating cities as in Geoffrey A. Landis's " The Sultan of the Clouds" (2010), and

space stations A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a human crew in orbit for an extended period of time, and is therefore a type of space habitat. It lacks major propulsion or landing systems. An orbital station or an orbital space station is ...

. Stories about survival in less extreme conditions had earlier appeared in works such as

John W. Campbell John Wood Campbell Jr. (June 8, 1910 – July 11, 1971) was an American science fiction writer and editor. He was editor of ''Astounding Science Fiction'' (later called '' Analog Science Fiction and Fact'') from late 1937 until his death ...

's " Solarite" (1930), where the surface temperature exceeds ;

Clifton B. Kruse Clifton may refer to: People *Clifton (surname) *Clifton (given name) Places Australia *Clifton, Queensland, a town **Shire of Clifton * Clifton, New South Wales, a suburb of Wollongong *Clifton, Western Australia Canada * Clifton, Nova Scoti ...

's " Menace from Saturn" (1935), where the atmosphere is toxic; and

Philip Latham Charles Philip Latham (17 January 1929 – 20 June 2020) was a British television actor. He was educated at Felsted School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, from which he graduated in 1951. In the late 1960s/early 1970s he was well kno ...

's ''

Five Against Venus ''Five Against Venus'', written by Philip Latham, is a science-fiction novel first published in the United States in 1952 by the John C. Winston Company. Philip Latham was the nom de plume of Robert S. Richardson, a professional astronomer who ...

'' (1952), a

Robinsonade Robinsonade () is a literary genre that takes its name from the 1719 novel ''Robinson Crusoe'' by Daniel Defoe. The success of this novel spawned so many imitations that its name was used to define a genre, which is sometimes described simply ...

. Colonization stories had been popular throughout the 1940s and 1950s, and became so again towards the end of the century in parallel to the rise in popularity of fictional

projects.

Colonization

Colonization of Venus The colonization of Venus has been a subject of many works of science fiction since before the dawn of spaceflight, and is still discussed from both a fictional and a scientific standpoint. However, with the discovery of Venus's extremely hostil ...

appeared as early as J. B. S. Haldane's essay " The Last Judgment" (1927) and

John Wyndham John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris (; 10 July 1903 – 11 March 1969) was an English science fiction writer best known for his works published under the pen name John Wyndham, although he also used other combinations of his names ...

's " The Venus Adventure" (1932), and grew in popularity in subsequent decades. Following emerging scientific evidence of Venus' harsh conditions, colonization of Venus was increasingly portrayed as more challenging than

colonization of Mars Colonization or settlement of Mars is the theoretical human migration and long-term human establishment of Mars. The prospect has garnered interest from public space agencies and private corporations and has been extensively explored in scien ...

. Several writers have suggested that Venusian colonists may have to lead a

nomadic A nomad is a member of a community without fixed habitation who regularly moves to and from the same areas. Such groups include hunter-gatherers, pastoral nomads (owning livestock), tinkers and trader nomads. In the twentieth century, the popu ...

life, hiding from the extreme temperatures. Colonizing Venus is a major theme in

Jack Williamson John Stewart Williamson (April 29, 1908 – November 10, 2006), who wrote as Jack Williamson, was an American science fiction writer, often called the "Dean of Science Fiction". He is also credited with one of the first uses of the term '' gen ...

's ''Seetee'' series (1949–1951), Rolf Garner's trilogy beginning with '' Resurgent Dust'' (1953), and Soviet science fiction writers

Arkady and Boris Strugatsky The brothers Arkady Natanovich Strugatsky (russian: Аркадий Натанович Стругацкий; 28 August 1925 – 12 October 1991) and Boris Natanovich Strugatsky ( ru , Борис Натанович Стругацкий; 14 A ...

's ''

The Land of Crimson Clouds ''The Land of Crimson Clouds'' (russian: Страна багровых туч, translit=''Strana bagrovykh tuch'') is a 1959 science fiction novel by Soviet writers Boris and Arkady Strugatsky, the first set in the Noon Universe. Plot summary A ...

'' (1959). In Heinlein's " Logic of Empire" (1941), the colonies rely upon exploiting labourers trapped in indentured servitude. S. Makepeace Lott's '' Escape to Venus'' (1956) depicts a colony that has turned into a dystopia. Marta Randall's "

Big Dome The Big Domes were a fleet of streamlined dome cars built by the Budd Company for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway ("Santa Fe") in 1954. Budd built a total of 14 cars in two batches. The Santa Fe operated all 14 on various streamlined t ...

" (1985) features a rediscovered domed colony abandoned during a prior terraforming project. The story's jungle-like setting has been described by Gillett as an homage to the "traditional" image of Venus found in early science fiction. Sarah Zettel's '' The Quiet Invasion'' (2000) features colonization of Venus by

extraterrestrials Extraterrestrial life, colloquially referred to as alien life, is life that may occur outside Earth and which did not originate on Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been conclusively detected, although efforts are underway. Such life might ...

better adapted to the planet's conditions.

Terraforming

As scientific knowledge of Venus advanced, science fiction authors endeavored to keep pace, particularly by focusing on the concept of terraforming Venus. An early treatment of the concept is found in Stapledon's ''Last and First Men'', where the process destroys the lifeforms that already existed on the planet. While Venus has since come to be regarded as the most promising candidate for terraforming, before the 1960s science fiction writers were more optimistic about the prospects of terraforming Mars, and early depictions consequently portrayed terraforming Venus as more challenging. Anderson's " The Big Rain" (1954) revolves around an attempt to bring about rain on a desert Venus, and in his " To Build A World" (1964) a terraformed Venus becomes the site of countless wars for the more desirable parts of the surface. Other early depictions of terraforming Venus include

A. E. van Vogt Alfred Elton van Vogt ( ; April 26, 1912 – January 26, 2000) was a Canadian-born American science fiction author. His fragmented, bizarre narrative style influenced later science fiction writers, notably Philip K. Dick. He was one of the ...

's '' The World of Null-A'' (1948) and

James E. Gunn James Edwin Gunn (July 12, 1923 – December 23, 2020) was an American science fiction writer, editor, scholar, and anthologist. His work as an editor of anthologies includes the six-volume ''The Road to Science Fiction, Road to Science Ficti ...

's '' The Naked Sky'' (1955). The terraforming of Venus has remained comparatively rare in fiction, though the process appears in works like Bob Buckley's " World in the Clouds" (1980) and G. David Nordley's " The Snows of Venus" (1991), while other such as Raymond Harris' '' Shadows of the White Sun'' (1988) and Nordley's " Dawn Venus" (1995) feature an already terraformed, Earth-like Venus.

's ''Venus'' trilogy—consisting of '' Venus of Dreams'' (1986), '' Venus of Shadows'' (1988), and '' Child of Venus'' (2001)—is an epic detailing the generations-long process of terraforming Venus, drawing comparisons to

Kim Stanley Robinson Kim Stanley Robinson (born March 23, 1952) is an American writer of science fiction. He has published twenty-two novels and numerous short stories and is best known for his ''Mars'' trilogy. His work has been translated into 24 languages. Many ...

's ''Mars'' trilogy (1992–1996); Robinson's later novel ''2312'' (2012) features Venus in the process of being terraformed. A terraformed Venus reverting to its natural state is mentioned in Clarke's '' The Ghost from the Grand Banks'' (1991). In the

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

film '' Venus Wars'' (1989), the terraforming of Venus is precipitated by a comet impact removing atmosphere and adding water to the planet. Gillett suggests that the theme of terraforming Venus reflects a desire to recapture the simpler, traditional

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy literature and d ...

of early prose about the planet.

Nostalgic depictions

A romantic, habitable, pre-Mariner Venus continued to appear for a while in deliberately nostalgic and

works such as

Roger Zelazny Roger Joseph Zelazny (May 13, 1937 – June 14, 1995) was an American poet and writer of fantasy and science fiction short stories and novels, best known for ''The Chronicles of Amber''. He won the Nebula Award three times (out of 14 nomin ...

's " The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth" (1965) and Thomas M. Disch's " Come to Venus Melancholy" (1965), and Brian Aldiss and Harry Harrison collected works written before the scientific advancements in the anthology '' Farewell Fantastic Venus'' (1968). The nostalgic image of Venus has also occasionally resurfaced several decades later: S. M. Stirling's '' The Sky People'' (2006) takes place in an alternate universe where the pulp version of Venus is real, and the anthology ''

Old Venus ''Old Venus'' is a "retro Venus science fiction"-themed anthology edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois, that was published on March 3, 2015. All of the stories are set on the planet Venus as styled in the pre-space probe pulp magazin ...

'' (2015) edited by

George R. R. Martin George Raymond Richard Martin (born George Raymond Martin; September 20, 1948), also known as GRRM, is an American novelist, screenwriter, television producer and short story writer. He is the author of the series of epic fantasy novels ''A Song ...

and

Gardner Dozois Gardner Raymond Dozois ( ; July 23, 1947 – May 27, 2018) was an American science fiction author and editor. He was the founding editor of ''The Year's Best Science Fiction'' anthologies (1984–2018) and was editor of '' Asimov's Science Fictio ...

collects newly-written works in the style of older stories about the now-outdated vision of Venus. The role-playing games '' Space: 1889'' and ''

Mutant Chronicles ''Mutant Chronicles'' is a pen-and-paper role-playing game set in a post-apocalyptic world, originally published in 1993. It has spawned a franchise of collectible card games, miniature wargames, video games, novels, comic books, and a film ...

'' likewise use a deliberately retro depiction of Venus.

Lifeforms

Beasts

Early writings, in which Venus was often depicted as a younger Earth, often populated it with large beasts. Pope's ''Journey to Venus'' (1895) depicted a tropical world featuring

s and other creatures similar to those known from Earth's history.

Jerry Pournelle Jerry Eugene Pournelle (; August 7, 1933 – September 8, 2017) was an American scientist in the area of operations research and human factors research, a science fiction writer, essayist, journalist, and one of the first bloggers. In the 1960s ...

noted that early science fiction was rife with images of exotic Venusian life: "thick fungus that ate men alive; a world populated with strange animals,

dragons A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

and dinosaurs and swamp creatures resembling the beastie from the Black Lagoon". Stanley G. Weinbaum portrayed Venus as home to a voracious ecosystem in " Parasite Planet" (1935), and his visions inspired other authors such as Isaac Asimov, whose ''

Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus ''Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus'' is the third novel in the ''Lucky Starr'' series, six juvenile science fiction novels by Isaac Asimov that originally appeared under the pseudonym Paul French. The novel was first published by Doubleday & ...

'' (1954) depicts human colonists living in underwater cities encountering various hostile sea-dwelling creatures. Venus is home to a dragon in Heinlein's ''

Between Planets ''Between Planets'' is a juvenile science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, originally serialized in '' Blue Book'' magazine in 1951 as "Planets in Combat". It was published in hardcover that year by Scribner's as part of the ...

'' (1951) and to dinosaurs in the

Three Stooges The Three Stooges were an American vaudeville and comedy team active from 1922 until 1970, best remembered for their 190 short subject films by Columbia Pictures. Their hallmark styles were physical farce and slapstick. Six Stooges appeare ...

short '' Space Ship Sappy'' (1957), while a Venusian monster brought to Earth by a space probe attacks humans in the film ''

20 Million Miles to Earth ''20 Million Miles to Earth'' (also known as ''The Beast from Space'') is a 1957 American horror science fiction monster film directed by Nathan Juran and starring William Hopper, Joan Taylor, and Frank Puglia. It was produced by Charles H. S ...

'' (1957). The Soviet film '' Planeta Bur'' (1962) features an American–Soviet joint scientific expedition to Venus, which finds the planet teeming with various lifeforms, many resembling terrestrial species, including sentient if primitive Venusians. Zelazny's "The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth" revolves around an encounter with a giant Venusian sea monster, and Clarke's ''

The Deep Range ''The Deep Range'' is a 1957 science fiction novel by British writer Arthur C. Clarke, concerning a future sub-mariner who works in the field of mariculture, herding whales. The story includes the capture of a sea monster similar to a kra ...

'' (1957) presents sea creatures on Venus as a

tourist attraction A tourist attraction is a place of interest that tourists visit, typically for its inherent or an exhibited natural or cultural value, historical significance, natural or built beauty, offering leisure and amusement. Types Places of natural ...

. Sentient plant life appears in several stories including Weinbaum's "Parasite Planet" sequel " The Lotus Eaters" (1935), the Superman comic book story "The Three Tough Teen-Agers" (1962) by

Jerry Siegel Jerome Siegel ( ; October 17, 1914 – January 28, 1996) Roger Stern. ''Superman: Sunday Classics: 1939–1943'' DC Comics/ Kitchen Sink Press, Inc./Sterling Publishing; 2006 was an American comic book writer. He is the co-creator of Superman, i ...

and Al Plastino, and '' The Outer Limits'' episode " Cold Hands, Warm Heart" (1964). In the second half of the 20th century, as the hellish conditions of Venus became better known, depictions of life on Venus became more exotic, with ideas such as the "living petroleum" of Brenda Pearce's " Crazy Oil" (1975), the telepathic jewels of Varley's "In the Bowl", and the more mundane cloud-borne microbes of Ben Bova's ''

'' (2000).

Venusians

In contrast to the diversity of visions of the Venusian environment, the inhabitants of Venus are most commonly portrayed as human, or human-like. In his review of early (pre-1936) science fiction,

Everett Franklin Bleiler Everett Franklin Bleiler (April 30, 1920 – June 13, 2010) was an American editor, bibliographer, and scholar of science fiction, detective fiction, and fantasy literature. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he co-edited the first "year's best" s ...

lists examples such as winged, angelic people;

telepaths Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...

; archaic humans ("subhumans"); humans but with wings and antennae; humans with tentacles; furry humans; blue-skinned humans; dwarves; giants;

centaurs A centaur ( ; grc, κένταυρος, kéntauros; ), or occasionally hippocentaur, is a creature from Greek mythology with the upper body of a human and the lower body and legs of a horse. Centaurs are thought of in many Greek myths as being ...

; fish-men; catpeople; reptilians; rat-men; and plant-men. Bleiler also listed a number of more bizarre portrayals of Venusians, such squid-like; four legged elephantine beings; intelligent giant bees, beetles, ants and worm larvae; giant monstrous insects; and even "living colors". Some works which portrayed Venusians as humans explained this by suggesting that Venus had been colonized by an ancient, advanced civilization from Earth, such as

Atlantis Atlantis ( grc, Ἀτλαντὶς νῆσος, , island of Atlas) is a fictional island mentioned in an allegory on the hubris of nations in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and '' Critias'', wherein it represents the antagonist naval power that b ...

in Warren E. Sanders' " Sheridan Becomes Ambassador" (1932) and Ancient Egypt in Jeffrey Lloyd Castle's '' Vanguard to Venus'' (1957). Perhaps due to an association of the planet Venus with the Roman goddess of love, sentient Venusians have often been portrayed as gentle, ethereal, and beautiful – an image first presented in Bernard le Bovyer de Fontenelle's ''

Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds ''Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds'' (french: Entretiens sur la pluralité des mondes) is a popular science book by French author Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, published in 1686. Content The work consists of six lessons popularizing ...

'' (1686). This trope was repeated, among others, in W. Lach-Szyrma's '' A Voice from Another World'' (1874) and '' Letters from the Planets'' (1887–1893), about an interplanetary tour of a winged, angel-like Venusian, as well as in

George Griffith George Griffith (1857–1906), full name George Chetwynd Griffith-Jones, was a prolific British science fiction writer and noted explorer who wrote during the late Victorian and Edwardian age. Many of his visionary tales appeared in magazin ...

's '' A Honeymoon in Space'' (1900), where human visitors to Venus encounter flying Venusians communicating through music. The anonymously published ''

A Narrative of the Travels and Adventures of Paul Aermont among the Planets A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes'' ...

'' (1873) depicts one Venusian race like this and another which is primitive and violent. The association of Venus with women manifests in different ways in many works. The planet is inhabited solely or mostly by women in works like " What John Smith Saw in the Moon: A Christmas Story for Parties Who Were Children Twenty Years Ago" (1893) by Fred Harvey Brown and ruled by women in

Leslie F. Stone Leslie Frances Silberberg (June 8, 1905 – March 21, 1991), known by the pen name Leslie F. Stone, was an American writer and one of the first women science fiction pulp writers, contributing over 20 stories to science fiction magazines between ...

's " The Conquest of Gola" (1931) among others. The films ''

Abbott and Costello Go to Mars ''Abbott and Costello Go to Mars'' is a 1953 American science fiction comedy film starring the comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello and directed by Charles Lamont. It was produced by Howard Christie and made by Universal-International. D ...

'' (1953) and ''

Queen of Outer Space ''Queen of Outer Space'' is a 1958 American science fiction feature film shot in DeLuxe Color and CinemaScope. Produced by Ben Schwalb and directed by Edward Bernds, it stars Zsa Zsa Gabor, Eric Fleming, and Laurie Mitchell. The screenplay by C ...

'' (1958) feature the trope of Venus being populated by beautiful women, and ''

Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women ''Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women'' is a 1968 American science fiction film, one of two films whose footage was taken from the 1962 Soviet SF film ''Planeta Bur'' (''Planet of Storms'') for producer Roger Corman. The original film was ...

'' (1968), the second of two English-language adaptations of ''Planeta Bur'' (the other being '' Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet'', 1965), portrays the Venusians as "half-naked sex-appealing blond sirens" with supernatural or

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws ...

powers. A theme of a Venusian visitor to Earth is seen in some works, such as Lach-Szyrma's ''A Voice from Another World'' and William Windsor's '' Loma, a Citizen of Venus'' (1897). The British film '' Stranger from Venus'' (1954) portrays a visit by a Venusian in a similar manner to the one by a Martian in the US film ''

The Day the Earth Stood Still ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' (a.k.a. ''Farewell to the Master'' and ''Journey to the World'') is a 1951 American science fiction film from 20th Century Fox, produced by Julian Blaustein and directed by Robert Wise. It stars Michael Re ...

'' (1951). While individual visits tend to be peaceful, some authors have depicted large scale conflicts, including warfare, between Venusians and humans (or in rare cases, Venusians and Martians). Such hostilities have been described in, among others, '' The War of the Wenuses'' (1898) by Charles L. Graves and E. V. Lucas,

Ray Cummings Ray Cummings (born Raymond King Cummings) (August 30, 1887 – January 23, 1957) was an American author of science fiction literature and comic books. Early life Cummings was born in New York City in 1887. He worked with Thomas Edison as a ...

' '' Tarrano the Conqueror'' (1925) and Farley's '' The Radio Menace'' (1930). Venusians have appeared as both heroes and villains in a number of comic books. Several of

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...

stories in the 1940s featured the superheroine's female allies from Venus, while

Marvel Comic Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

's Sub-Mariner defended Earth from an invasion by amphibious Venusians around the same time. Also from that era comes a supervillain originating from Venus, Mister Mind, a sentient Venusian worm. Superhero

Tommy Tomorrow Tommy Tomorrow is a science fiction hero published by DC Comics in several of their titles from 1947 to 1963. He first appeared in ''Real Fact Comics'' #6 (January 1947). He was created by Jack Schiff, George Kashdan, Bernie Breslauer, Virgil Fin ...

in "Frame-Up at Planeteer Academy" (1962) has a blue-skinned Venusian sidekick called Lon Vurian. James William Barlow and John Munro penned descriptions of Venusian civilizations, in '' History of a Race of Immortals without a God'' (1891) and '' A Trip to Venus'' (1897), respectively. However, as with the description of the climate and geography, there is no real consistency in depictions of the Venusian society and culture. Depending on the work, the cultural and scientific level of Venus has been described as both inferior (ex. ''Last and First Men'', ''Between Worlds'') and superior to human (ex. ''Letters from the Planets'', ''To Venus in Five Seconds''). Likewise, Venusian governance has variously been portrayed as

utopian A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', describing a fictional island society ...

capitalist Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...

, feudal,

monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy) ...

, or matriarchical, among others. Homer Eon Flint's " The Queen of Life" (1919) depicts an anarchist society on Venus, and

Stanton A. Coblentz Stanton Arthur Coblentz (August 24, 1896 – September 6, 1982) was an American literature, American writer and poet. He received a Master's Degree in English literature and then began publishing poetry during the early 1920s. His first publi ...

's '' The Blue Barbarians'' (1931) is a satirical depiction of a Venus ruled by plutocrats.

References

{{Venus Fiction about terrestrial planets Fiction Lists of astronomical locations in fiction

Early depictions: exotic tropics

Jungle and swamp

Ocean

Desert

Later depictions: hostile inferno

Colonization

Terraforming

Nostalgic depictions

Lifeforms

Beasts

Venusians

See also

References