The planetVenus has been used as asetting in fiction since before the 19th century. Itsopaque cloud cover gavescience fiction writers free rein to speculate on conditions at its surface—a "cosmicRorschach test", in the words of science fiction author Stephen L. Gillett. The planet was often depicted as warmer thanEarth but stillhabitable by humans. Depictions of Venus as a lush, verdant paradise, an oceanic planet, or fetid swampland, often inhabited bydinosaur-like beasts or other monsters, became common in earlypulp 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 ofMars in fiction.
When included, the native sentient inhabitants, Venusians, were often portrayed as gentle, ethereal and beautiful. The planet's associations with theRoman goddess Venus and femininity in general is reflected in many works' portrayals of Venusians. Depictions of Venusian societies have varied both in level of development and type of governance. In addition to humans visiting Venus, several stories feature Venusians coming to Earth—most often to enlighten humanity, but occasionally for warlike purposes.
From the mid-20th century on, as the reality of Venus's harshsurface conditions became known, the earlytropes of adventures in Venusian tropics mostly 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'scolonization andterraforming, although the vision of tropical Venus is occasionally revisited in intentionallyretro stories.
The earliest use of the planetVenus as the primarysetting in a work of fiction wasVoyage à Venus (Voyage to Venus, 1865) byAchille Eyraud [fr],[1][2]: 6 though it had appeared centuries earlier inworks depicting multiple locations in theSolar System such asAthanasius Kircher'sItinerarium Exstaticum (1656) andEmanuel Swedenborg'sThe Earths in Our Solar System (1758).[1]Science fiction scholarGary Westfahl considers the mention of the "Morning Star" in the second-century workTrue History byLucian of Samosata to be the first appearance of Venus—or any other planet—in the genre.[3]: 164
Venus hasa thick layer of clouds that preventstelescopic observation of the surface, which gave writers free rein to imagine any kind of world below untilVenus exploration probes revealed the true conditions in the 1960s—Stephen L. Gillett describes the situation as a "cosmicRorschach test".[1][4][5]: 861 Venus thus became a popular setting inearly science fiction, but that same versatility meant that it did not develop a counterpart to the image ofMars in fiction made popular byPercival Lowell around the turn of the century—with supposedMartian canals and a civilization that built them—and it never reached the same level of popularity.[1][3]: 164–165 [6]: 12 On the subject, Westfahl writes that whileMars has a distinctive body of major works such asH. G. Wells'sThe War of the Worlds (1897) andRay Bradbury'sfix-up novelThe Martian Chronicles (1950), Venus largely lacks a corresponding canon.[3]: 165–166
Aclement twilight zone on a synchronously rotating Mercury, a swamp-and-jungle Venus, and acanal-infested Mars, while all classic science-fiction devices, are all, in fact, based upon earlier misapprehensions by planetary scientists.
One of the many visions was of atidally locked Venus with half of the planet always exposed to the Sun and the other half in perpetual darkness—as was widely believed to be the case withMercury at the time. This concept was introduced by Italian astronomerGiovanni Schiaparelli in 1880 and appeared inGarrett P. Serviss'sA Columbus of Space (1909) andGarret Smith'sBetween Worlds (1919), among others.[2]: 8 [3]: 169 [8]: 671 [9]: 111 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.[3]: 166 [8]: 671 [10]: 547 This sometimes meant vast oceans, but more commonly swamps and/or jungles.[3]: 167 Another influential idea was theearly version of thenebular hypothesis ofSolar 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 theCarboniferous.[3]: 166 [5]: 860 ScientistSvante Arrhenius popularized the idea of Venus being swamp-covered with flora and fauna similar to that of prehistoric Earth in his non-fiction bookThe Destinies of the Stars (1918). Whereas Arrhenius assumed that Venus had unchanging climatic conditions that were similar all over the planet and concluded that a lack ofadaptation to environmental variability would result only in primitive lifeforms, later writers often included variousmegafauna.[3]: 166 [8]: 671 [11]: xii–xiii
Early treatments of a Venus covered in swamps and jungles are found inGustavus W. Pope'sJourney to Venus (1895),Fred T. Jane'sTo Venus in Five Seconds (1897), andMaurice Baring's "Venus" (1909).[10]: 547 Following its popularization by Arrhenius, the portrayal of the Venusian landscape as dominated by jungles and swamps recurred frequently in other works of fiction; in particular,Brian Stableford says inScience Fact and Science Fiction: An Encyclopedia that it became "a staple ofpulp science fiction imagery".[10]: 547 Clark Ashton Smith's "The Immeasurable Horror" (1931) andLester del Rey's "The Luck of Ignatz" (1939) depict threatening Venusian creatures in a swamp-and-jungle climate.[3]: 167–168 "In the Walls of Eryx" (1936) byH. P. Lovecraft andKenneth Sterling features an invisible maze on a jungle Venus.[12][13]: 483
In theplanetary romance subgenre that flourished in this era,Ralph Milne Farley andOtis Adelbert Kline wrote series in this setting starting withThe Radio Man (1924) andThe Planet of Peril (1929), respectively.[8]: 671 [11]: xiii [14]: 23 [15]: 232–234 These stories were inspired byEdgar Rice Burroughs's MartianBarsoom series that began withA Princess of Mars (1912);[10]: 547 [14]: 23 Burroughs later wrote planetary romances set on a swampy Venus in theAmtor series, beginning withPirates of Venus (1932).[3]: 167 [4] Other authors who wrote planetary romances in this setting includeC. L. Moore with theNorthwest Smith adventure "Black Thirst" (1934) andLeigh Brackett with stories like "The Moon that Vanished" (1948) and theEric John Stark story "Enchantress of Venus" (1949).[11]: xiv [12]
Robert A. Heinlein portrayed Venusian swamps in several unrelated stories including "Logic of Empire" (1941),Space Cadet (1948), andPodkayne of Mars (1963).[5]: 860 Ontelevision, a 1955 episode ofTom Corbett, Space Cadet depicts a crash landing in a Venusian swamp.[3]: 168 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 inThe Illustrated Man (1969) and to television inThe Ray Bradbury Theater (1992)—though the latter removed all references to Venus in light of the changed scientific views on the planet's conditions.[1][3]: 168 [4][16]: 13 Bradbury revisited the rainy vision of Venus in "All Summer in a Day" (1954), where the Sun is only visible through the cloud cover once every seven years.[12][17]: 53 [18] InGerman science fiction, thePerry Rhodan novels (launched in 1961) used the vision of Venus as a jungle world, while the protagonist inK. H. Scheer's sixteenthZBV [de] novelRaumpatrouille Nebelwelt (1963) is surprised to find that Venus does not have jungles—reflecting then-recent discoveries about the environmental conditions on Venus.[12][19]: 78
Others envisioned Venus as apanthalassic 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 disrupting the planet's solid cloud layer.[10]: 547 [20]: 131 [21]: 41 Early treatments of an oceanic Venus includeHarl Vincent's "Venus Liberated" (1929) andLeslie F. Stone's "Women with Wings" (1930) andAcross the Void (1931).[3]: 167 [10]: 548 InOlaf Stapledon'sLast and First Men (1930), future descendants of humanityare modified to be adapted to life on an ocean-covered Venus.[1][8]: 672 [10]: 548 Clifford D. Simak's "Rim of the Deep" (1940) likewise features an oceanic Venus, with the story set at the bottom of Venusian seas, featuring pirates and hostile Venusian aliens.[10]: 548 [22]: 26–27 C. S. Lewis'sPerelandra (1943) retells theBiblical story ofAdam and Eve in theGarden of Eden onfloating islands in a vast Venusian ocean.[1][8]: 672 [10]: 548 Isaac Asimov'sLucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus (1954) depicts human colonists living in underwater cities on Venus.[3]: 167 [21]: 42 InPoul Anderson's "Sister Planet" (1959), migration to an oceanic Venus is contemplated as a potential solution to Earth'soverpopulation.[5]: 860 "Clash by Night" (1943) byLawrence O'Donnell (jointpseudonym of C. L. Moore andHenry Kuttner) and its sequelFury (1947) describe survivors from a devastated Earth living beneath Venusian oceans. Those two works have been called inThe Encyclopedia of Science Fiction "the most enduring pulp image" of an oceanic Venus, and the former received another sequel decades later,The Jungle (1991) byDavid A. Drake.[1][10]: 548 Roger Zelazny's "The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth" (1965) was the last major depiction of an ocean-covered Venus, published shortly after that vision had been rendered obsolete by advances inplanetary science.[8]: 672 [5]: 860
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.[5]: 860 [20]: 131 The idea that water is abundant on Venus was controversial, and by 1940Rupert Wildt had already discussed how a greenhouse effect might result in a hot Venus.[5]: 860 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.[6]: 12 [5]: 860 Frederik Pohl andCyril M. Kornbluth'sThe Space Merchants (1952) is a satire that depicts Venus being successfully marketed as an appealing destination for migrants from Earth in spite of its hostile environment.[3]: 168 [4][8]: 672 InRobert Sheckley's "Prospector's Special" (1959), the desert surface of Venus ismined for resources.[3]: 168 [5]: 860 Arthur C. Clarke's "Before Eden" (1961) portrays Venus as mostly hot and dry, but with a somewhat cooler climate habitable toextremophiles at the poles.[3]: 171 [5]: 860 [23]Dean McLaughlin'sThe Fury from Earth (1963) likewise features a dry, hostile Venus, this time rebelling against Earth.[5]: 860 [24]: 254 While these inhospitable portrayals more accurately reflected the emerging scientific data, they nevertheless generally underestimated the harshness of the planet's conditions.[4][5]: 860
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 lacked oxygen.[25]: 43 In theSpace Age, space probes starting with the 1962Mariner 2 found that Venus's surface temperature was in the range of 800–900 °F (400–500 °C), and atmospheric pressure at ground-level was many times that of Earth's.[10]: 548 [11]: xv [20]: 131 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.[10]: 548 [11]: xv [20]: 131 Some works go so far as to portray Venus as a mostly ignored part of an otherwise thoroughly explored Solar System; examples include Clarke'sRendezvous with Rama (1973) and the novel seriesThe Expanse (2011–2021) byJames S. A. Corey (joint pseudonym ofDaniel Abraham andTy Franck).[16]: 14
A romantic, habitable, pre-Mariner Venus continued to appear for a while in deliberately nostalgic andretro works such as Zelazny's "The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth" (1965) andThomas M. Disch's "Come to Venus Melancholy" (1965), andBrian Aldiss andHarry Harrison collected works written before the scientific advancements in the anthologyFarewell, Fantastic Venus (1968).[10]: 548 [11]: xv–xvii [26]: 201 The nostalgic image of Venus has also occasionally resurfaced several decades later:S. M. Stirling'sThe Sky People (2006) takes place in analternate universe where the pulp version of Venus is real, and the anthologyOld Venus (2015) edited byGeorge R. R. Martin andGardner Dozois collects newly-written works in the style of older stories about the now-outdated vision of Venus.[4][11]: xv–xvii Therole-playing gamesSpace: 1889 (1989) andMutant Chronicles (1993) likewise use a deliberately retro depiction of Venus.[19]: 79
Even before the hellish conditions on Venus were known, some authors imagined it as a place that would be hostile to humans.[3]: 168 Stories about survival in less extreme conditions had appeared in works such asJohn W. Campbell's "Solarite" (1930), where the surface temperature exceeds 150 °F (70 °C);Clifton B. Kruse's "Menace from Saturn" (1935), where the atmosphere is toxic; andPhilip Latham'sFive Against Venus (1952), aRobinsonade.[1][3]: 168 Similarly,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 fictionalterraforming projects.[1][10]: 548–549 Following the Space Age discoveries about the conditions on Venus, fiction about the planet started to mainly focus on survival in the hostile environment, as inLarry Niven's "Becalmed in Hell" (1965).[3]: 171 [5]: 860 Devices for protection against the elements in these stories includedomed cities as inJohn Varley's "In the Bowl" (1975),environmental suits as inBrian andFrank Herbert'sMan of Two Worlds (1986),floating cities as inGeoffrey A. Landis's "The Sultan of the Clouds" (2010) andDerek Künsken'sThe House of Styx (2020), andspace stations.[11]: xvi [12][16]: 14
Colonization of Venus appeared as early asJ. B. S. Haldane's essay "The Last Judgment" (1927) andJohn Wyndham's "The Venus Adventure" (1932), and grew in popularity in subsequent decades.[1][10]: 547–548 Following emerging scientific evidence of Venus's harsh conditions, colonization of Venus was increasingly portrayed as more challenging thancolonization of Mars.[10]: 548 Several writers have suggested that colonists on the surface of Venus might have to lead anomadic life to stay in a favourable position relative to the Sun.[27]: 96
Colonizing Venus is a major theme inJack Williamson'sSeetee series (1949–1951),Rolf Garner's trilogy beginning withResurgent Dust (1953), andSoviet science fiction writersArkady and Boris Strugatsky'sThe Land of Crimson Clouds (1959).[1][12] In Simak's "Hunger Death" (1938) colonists on Venus contend with aplague deliberately introduced by Martians,[12][22]: 27 Heinlein's "Logic of Empire" has the colonies rely upon exploiting workers trapped inindentured servitude,[8]: 671 [10]: 548 [28]: 66–67 andS. Makepeace Lott'sEscape to Venus (1956) depicts a colony that has turned into adystopia.[3]: 171 Marta Randall's "Big Dome" (1985) features a rediscovered domed colony abandoned during a prior terraforming project; Gillett describes the story's jungle-like setting as an homage to the image of Venus found in early science fiction.[5]: 861 Sarah Zettel'sThe Quiet Invasion (2000) features colonization of Venus byextraterrestrials better adapted to the planet's conditions.[3]: 171 [5]: 860
As scientific knowledge of Venus advanced, science fiction authors endeavored to keep pace, particularly by focusing on the concept ofterraforming Venus.[5]: 861 [7] An early treatment of the concept is found in Stapledon'sLast and First Men, where the process destroys the lifeforms that already existed on the planet.[3]: 167 While Venus has since come to be regarded as the most promising candidate for terraforming,[3]: 171, 173 before the 1960s science fiction writers were more optimistic about the prospects ofterraforming Mars, and early depictions, such as Kuttner and Moore'sFury, consequently portrayed terraforming Venus as more challenging.[29]: 135 Anderson's "The Big Rain" (1954) revolves around an attempt to bring about rain on a dry Venus,[8]: 672 [5]: 861 [30]: 81 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.[27]: 97 Other early depictions of terraforming Venus includeA. E. van Vogt'sThe World of Null-A (1948) andJames E. Gunn'sThe Naked Sky (1955).[12]
The terraforming of Venus has remained comparatively rare in fiction,[3]: 164 though the process appears in works likeBob Buckley [de]'s "World in the Clouds" (1980) andG. David Nordley's "The Snows of Venus" (1991),[3]: 171 [5]: 861 while other such asRaymond Harris'sShadows of the White Sun (1988) and Nordley's "Dawn Venus" (1995) feature an already terraformed, Earth-like Venus.[5]: 861 [10]: 549 Pamela Sargent'sVenus trilogy—consisting ofVenus of Dreams (1986),Venus of Shadows (1988), andChild of Venus (2001)—is anepic detailing the generations-long process of terraforming Venus, drawing comparisons toKim Stanley Robinson'sMars trilogy (1992–1996);[3]: 171 [5]: 861 [31]: 322 Robinson's later novel2312 (2012) features Venus in the process of being terraformed.[1][4][8]: 672 A terraformed Venus reverting to its natural state is mentioned in Clarke'sThe Ghost from the Grand Banks (1991).[3]: 164 Inanime, the terraforming of Venus appears in the filmVenus Wars (1989), where it is precipitated by acomet impact removing atmosphere and adding water to the planet, and the television showCowboy Bebop (1998), where it is carried out byintroduced plant life creating a breathable atmosphere.[19]: 79 [23][32][33] Gillett suggests that the theme of terraforming Venus reflects a desire to recapture the simpler, traditionalfantasy of early prose about the planet.[5]: 861
Early writings, in which Venus was often depicted as a younger Earth, often populated it with large beasts. Pope'sJourney to Venus (1895) depicted a tropical world featuringdinosaurs and other creatures similar to those known from Earth's history.[3]: 168 [6]: 12 Says a 2023 article inSpace Science Reviews, "While Mars offered a sort of barren elegance, Venus had perhaps too much life."[16]: 7 Stanley G. Weinbaum portrayed Venus as home to a voracious ecosystem in "Parasite Planet" (1935), and his visions inspired other authors such as Asimov, whoseLucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus depicts colonists encountering various hostile sea-dwelling creatures.[3]: 167 [21]: 42 Zelazny's "The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth" revolves around an encounter with a giant Venusian sea monster,[8]: 672 [5]: 860 and in Clarke'sThe Deep Range (1957) sea creatures on Venus are commercialized.[3]: 168 Venus is home todragons in Heinlein'sBetween Planets (1951) and to dinosaurs in theThree Stooges shortSpace Ship Sappy (1957), while a Venusian monster brought to Earth by a space probe attacks humans in the film20 Million Miles to Earth (1957).[3]: 168 [8]: 672 [34]: 248
Prehistoric creatures sometimes coexist with primitive humanoids in depictions of Venus.[3]: 168–169 TheGreen Lantern story "Summons from Space" (1959) features the heroes protecting the human-like inhabitants of Venus from dinosaurs.[8]: 673 In the British children's television showPathfinders to Venus (1961), the local fauna includes bothpterodactyls and "apemen".[35]: 249 The Soviet filmPlaneta 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.[36]: 448 [37]: 179–182
Science fiction authorJerry Pournelle 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 and dinosaurs and swamp creatures resemblingthe beastie from the Black Lagoon".[27]: 90 Sentient plant life appears in several stories including Weinbaum's "Parasite Planet" sequel "The Lotus Eaters" (1935), theSuperman comic book story "The Three Tough Teen-Agers" (1962) byJerry Siegel andAl Plastino, andThe Outer Limits episode "Cold Hands, Warm Heart" (1964).[3]: 170–171 A sentient Venusian worm calledMister Mind appears as asupervillain in theFawcett Comics stories aboutCaptain Marvel.[8]: 673 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" ofBrenda Pearce's "Crazy Oil" (1975), the telepathic jewels of Varley's "In the Bowl", and the more mundane cloud-borne microbes ofBen Bova'sVenus (2000; part of Bova'sGrand Tour series).[5]: 860
In contrast to the diversity of visions of the Venusian environment, the inhabitants of Venus are most commonly portrayed as human, or human-like.[3]: 167 The catalogue of early (pre-1936) science fiction works compiled byEverett Franklin Bleiler andRichard Bleiler in thereference worksScience-Fiction: The Early Years (1990) andScience-Fiction: The Gernsback Years (1998) lists examples such as winged, angelic people;telepaths;archaic humans ("subhumans"); humans but with wings and antennae; humans with tentacles; furry humans; dwarves; giants;centaurs; fish-men; catpeople;reptilians; rat-men; and plant-men.[15]: 921–922 [38]: 694–695 Some works which portray Venusians as humans explain this by suggesting that Venus was colonized by an ancient, advanced civilization from Earth, such asAtlantis inWarren E. Sanders's "Sheridan Becomes Ambassador" (1932) andPolish science fiction writerWładysław Umiński'sZaziemskie światy (1948) orAncient Egypt inJeffery Lloyd Castle [de]'sVanguard to Venus (1957),[3]: 169 [39] while theDan Dare comics that launched in 1950 feature a race of kidnapped humans that have beengenetically engineered to survive on Venus.[40]: 73 Comics superheroTommy Tomorrow in "Frame-Up at Planeteer Academy" (1962) has a blue-skinned but otherwise humanoid Venusian sidekick called Lon Vurian.[3]: 167 [8]: 673 The Bleilers also list a number of more bizarre portrayals of Venusians, such as squid-like; four-legged elephantine beings; intelligent giant bees, beetles, ants and worm larvae; giant monstrous insects; and even "living colors".[15]: 921–922 [38]: 694–695 In Simak's "Tools" (1942), a native Venusian is portrayed as "a blob of disembodiedradon gas captured in alead jar".[1][12][22]: 29
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Perhaps due to an association of the planet Venus with theRoman goddess of love whose name it shares, sentient Venusians have often been portrayed as gentle, ethereal, and beautiful—an image first presented inBernard le Bovyer de Fontenelle'sConversations on the Plurality of Worlds (1686).[1][7][10]: 547 This trope was repeated inW. Lach-Szyrma'sA Voice from Another World (1874) andLetters from the Planets (1887–1893), about an interplanetary tour of a winged, angel-like Venusian, as well as inGeorge Griffith'sA Honeymoon in Space (1900), where human visitors to Venus encounter flying Venusians communicating through music.[1][8]: 671 [10]: 547 The anonymously publishedA Narrative of the Travels and Adventures of Paul Aermont among the Planets (1873) depicts one Venusian race like this and another which is primitive and violent.[3]: 170 Primitive Venusians also appear inDonald Horner'sBy Aeroplane to the Sun (1910) andFrank Brueckel'sThe War Lord of Venus (1930),[3]: 168 while more advanced yet malicious ones are depicted in works such asLandell Bartlett's "The Vanguard of Venus" (1928) andRoy Rockwood'sBy Air Express to Venus; or, Captives of a Strange People (1929).[3]: 170
Venusian civilizations have most commonly been depicted as being comparable to Earth's level of development, slightly less frequently as being more advanced, and only occasionally less advanced.[3]: 167 Utopian depictions of Venus are commonplace,[3]: 169 appearing inJohn Munro'sA Trip to Venus (1897) among others.[8]: 671 In terms of governance,James William Barlow [fr]'sHistory of a Race of Immortals without a God (1891) features asocialist Venusian civilization,[1][41]Homer Eon Flint's "The Queen of Life" (1919) depicts ananarchist society on Venus,[10]: 547 andStanton A. Coblentz'sThe Blue Barbarians (1931) is a satirical depiction of a Venus ruled byplutocrats.[1][38]: 72–73 The Bleilers additionally listcapitalist,feudal,monarchical, andmatriarchal Venusian societies, among others.[38]: 694–695 In Polish science fiction writerStanisław Lem's novelThe Astronauts (1951)—later adapted to film as the Polish–East German coproductionThe Silent Star (1960) and then dubbed to English and recut asFirst Spaceship on Venus (1962)—an expedition to Venus discovers a barren environment and the ruins of a civilization, deducing that the cause wasnuclear holocaust.[3]: 169 [36]: 448 [42][43] Conversely, in Clarke's "History Lesson" (1949) Venusians come to Earth and find humanity already extinct from environmental causes.[3]: 169 [8]: 672
The association of Venus with women manifests in different ways in many works.[3]: 169 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) byFred Harvey Brown and ruled by women in Stone's "The Conquest of Gola" (1931) among others.[3]: 169 Incomic books, several ofDC Comics'Wonder Woman stories in the 1940s featured the superheroine's female allies from Venus.[8]: 673 The filmsAbbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953) andQueen of Outer Space (1958) feature the trope of Venus being populated by beautiful women,[1][36]: 448 andVoyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women (1968), the second of two English-language adaptations ofPlaneta Bur (the first beingVoyage to the Prehistoric Planet, 1965), portrays the Venusians as "half-naked sex-appealing blond sirens" withsupernatural orpsychic powers.[36]: 448 [44]: 2042, 2046
A theme of a Venusian visitor to Earth is seen in some works, such as Lach-Szyrma'sA Voice from Another World andWilliam Windsor'sLoma, a Citizen of Venus (1897).[1] The British filmStranger from Venus (1954) portrays a visit by a Venusian in a similar manner to the one by a Martian in the US filmThe Day the Earth Stood Still (1951).[1][3]: 170 Visits like this are typically peaceful and for the enlightenment of humanity.[3]: 170 Occasionally, Venusians come to Earth intent on conquering it, as inCharles L. Graves andE. V. Lucas's parody ofH. G. Wells'sThe War of the Worlds (1897) titledThe War of the Wenuses (1898),Ray Cummings'sTarrano the Conqueror (1925), and the filmTarget Earth (1954).[1][3]: 169–170 [12][15]: 174 Marvel Comic'sSub-Mariner defended Earth from an invasion by amphibious Venusians in a story arc from theGolden Age of Comic Books.[8]: 673 Venusians infiltrating Earth by posing as humans appear in several works includingEric Frank Russell'sThree to Conquer (1956) and Windsor'sLoma, a Citizen of Venus.[2]: 5 [45]: 51
Venus of Dreams (1986) launched a much more ambitious project [compared to her previous novel], a family saga set against the backdrop of the terraforming of the planet Venus, overseen by a home world culture that is largely influenced by Muslim attitudes toward gender roles. The richly detailed story continues inVenus of Shadows (1988), and concludes withChild of Venus (2001), an epic to rival the Mars trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson.
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