Venusians - Venusians in Literature

Venusians in Literature

• In the "Venus series" of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Burroughs created a fictitious 'Venusian' alphabet supposedly used by the Venusians (or "Amtorians" - as "Amtor" is what the natives call their planet). His artificial Amtor letters flow nicely together like cursive writing.
• In Olaf Stapledons 1930 novel Last and First Men, when the Moon threatens to slowly spiral down to crash into Earth, humans leave Earth and colonize Venus; in the process of doing so, humans totally exterminate Venus' native inhabitants, a semi-intelligent deep ocean marine species.
• In Charles R. Tanner's "Tumithak of the Corridors" (1932) and its sequels, Venus is the homeworld of the shelks, spider-like aliens who have conquered Earth and forced most of the few surviving humans underground.
• In William Lumley and H. P. Lovecraft's "The Diary of Alonzo Typer" (written in 1935 and published in 1938), part of the Cthulhu Mythos, there are mentions of the "Lords of Venus", and conflicting indications that the Serpent People originated there. The story was followed by "In the Walls of Eryx," co-written by Lovecraft and Kenneth J. Sterling, in which a prospector is trapped in a maze on Venus, apparently constructed by lizardmen.
• In C. S. Lewis' book Perelandra (1943), professor Elwin Ransom travels to Venus (the title is the name of the planet in the Old Solar language), a planet mostly covered by water with floating islands on it, in order to fight a possessed professor Weston and prevent the "Adam and Eve" of this young planet from bringing about the same fate that befell Earth (Thulcandra). In the book, Lewis depicts a wide variety of flora and fauna, with some animals close to being sentient. The King and Queen of the planet are humanoid, but green, and their commandment is for them not to sleep on the fixed land, a still island. When this happens, the Oyarsa of this world, a type of Angel like being who seems feminine like the classical goddess, tells Ransom that this will be the start of a new age.
• In several of the early short stories of Isaac Asimov, collected in The Early Asimov, the action is set partially or wholly on Venus.
• In the British comic Dan Dare (1950–1967), Venus is inhabited by green-skinned Treens and Therons, who are separated by a fire wall running across Venus. The Mekon, the Super-intelligent Treen leader is a primary villain. Most Treens are emotionless. The Terons are more friendly to Earth.
• The Space Merchants is a science fiction novel, written by Frederik Pohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth in 1952, about the campaign by advertising agencies on an overpopulated Earth to convince humans to colonize Venus, which is depicted as having a harsh and stormy tropical climate.
• I Am the Doorway, a short story in Stephen King's 1971 collection Night Shift, concerns an astronaut who returns from a tragic mission to Venus to find himself possessed by a murderously terrified alien entity.
• In Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator (1972), Willy Wonka says that Venus used to be home to an alien race before they were "gobbled up" by vermicious knids.
• In Jacqueline Susann's romance Yargo (1979), Venus is said to be inhabited by bees that are as big as horses.
• In the self-help book by John Gray, Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, women are occasionally (metaphorically) referred to as Venusians, while men are referred to as Martians.
• In the book Venus by Ben Bova, the inhabitants of Venus are strange snake like creatures that use molten sulfur for blood. They are not sapient. There are also micro-organisms in the clouds that break down ceramics and metals.
• In Heinlein's story "Logic of Empire" the Venusians are an intelligent but primitive race of amphibians who trade valuable swamp roots to the human colonists in return for tobacco. In the novel Podkayne of Mars (depicting a fairly different Venus) Venusians are humanoids of great physical strength but also very primitive.
• In early Captain Marvel stories Venusians are giant frog-like amphibians which are ruled over by the evil mad scientist Sivana and his family. They are used to the tropical jungles of Venus and find Earth cold, but are quite savage. Venus is inhabited by other savage creatures, some which resemble prehistoric beasts, such as the centaur-like Gorillalion.
• The Hydrads of Venus, who resemble huge animated sponges, appear in Planet Comics, in the Lost World section. If hurt water can restore them to health. Though opposed to the Voltamen who have invaded Earth, they are also enemies to Hunt Bowman.
• In the Superman story which had the first appearance of the Legion of Super-Villains, one of the members was Cosmic King, a scientist who worked on transmuting elements, but when he was struck by the ray he gained the power to send those beams from his eyes. However he was exiled from Venus for these experiments.
• In DC Comics All-Star Comics #13 the JSA are gassed by Nazis and rocketed to different planets. Wonder Woman is sent to Venus and finds it to be inhabited by fairies led by Queen Desira, who worship Aphrodite, and claim to have been at peace for 'a million years'. She helps them in a war against the Meteor Men, large brutal males.
• In Showcase #23, Hal Jordan Green Lantern is sent by the Guardians, operating through the power battery to Venus where he meets blue-skinned primitive humanoids who are being attacked by pterodactyl-like creatures. He seals the monsters in a cave, and leaves the world, saying the cavemen will one day be a great civilisation.