The Thing of Venus

A pulp science fiction novel from the early 1940s, set on a dangerous, mysterious Venus. Val Kenton was once a Space Patrolman, until disgrace and addiction stripped everything from him. Now he drifts, dependent on drugs, when Earth sends a desperate call: a group of colonists is marooned on Venus, and among them is Elise, the woman he once loved. To save them, Val must journey into a world of alien jungles, toxic atmospheres, and Things that should not exist, dragging his broken body and darker impulses along for the ride. The novel lives in the shadow between redemption and vengeance, asking whether a man who has lost himself can find anything worth saving in the void between the stars.