The Dragon Slayers

On Venus, the jungle breathes, the pretzins grow, and the dragons are very, very real. Pole and Bliss Kenton are trying to build a life on another world, but Venusport Division Chief Carl Wattles has other plans: the pretzins need harvesting, and the Kentons' new house project is cutting into productivity. Between the daily grind of alien agriculture and the constant threat of scale-covered nightmares lurking in the undergrowth, our stubborn homesteaders must decide whether to follow orders or follow their dreams. When Wattles sends 'help,' things get complicated in ways no one expected. Frank Banta's 1960s Venusian adventure is pure frontier optimism wrapped in genuine peril, a story where a couple fights dragons not with swords but with determination, humor, and the radical idea that a home might be worth more than a harvest quota. It's sweet, it's silly, and it understands exactly what makes humans try to put down roots anywhere, even on a planet that wants to eat them.