Eric John Stark, the Conan of the Spaceways, continues his adventures in this exciting story. This time he is on the shores of Venus' gaseous red seas seeking the whereabouts of a missing comrade. The villains, a cruel and power-hungry family that rules over the pirate enclave of Shuruun do all they can to stop him but his mighty muscles and quick reflexes might, just might get him through. Listen along and see. - Summary by phil chenevert

Shannon's Imperial Circus was a jinxed space-carny leased for a mysterious tour of the inner worlds. It made a one-night pitch on a Venusian swamp-town—to find that death stalked it from the jungle in a tiny ball of flame.

Lloyd Durham has already lost his footing once in the labyrinth of politics and intrigue that is The Hub, capital planet-city of the galactic federation. Now his second chance-- a seemingly simple errand involving switched destinations and the code-word 'darkbirds'-- is starting to look like a last call, as parties with varying agendas and no reluctance with weapons are closing in with a vengeance. The stakes are higher than Durham ever anticipated, and the flutter of wings in the shadows may portend more than even the Federation itself can handle! - Summary by EVKesserich

"An eerie story of a silver land beneath the black Venusian seas. A grim tale of brooding terror whirling out of space to drive men mad, of a menace without name or form, and of the man, Lundy, who fought the horror, his eyes blinded by his will. For to see the terror was to become its slave—a mindless automaton whose only wish was to see behind the shadowed mysterious eyelids of "IT". From the publishers blurb about this story in Planet Stories, 1944 where it was first given to the public. - Summary by Publisher

Published in Planet Stories in 1946, this story is a great mix of Golden Age Sci Fi and Swords & Sorcery. The first half was written by Brackett and when she was pulled away by other commitments the publisher gave it to a new writer, Ray Bradbury, to finish. It is a sort of prequel to the Stark character developed by Brackett where a weak puny man is transferred into the body of a Conan like superman and then cruses through adventure after adventure, always rescuing damsels who are tough and feisty...

"It was a Gypsy world, built of space flotsam, peopled with the few free races of the Solar System. Roy Campbell, outcast prey of the Coalition, entered its depths to seek haven for the Kraylens of Venus—only to find that it had become a slave trap from which there was no escape." - Summary by the publisher

In the wake of unexpected meteor activity, a wave of inexplicable madness sweeps the already strange and ill-charted world of Venus. Racing to locate the source of the disturbance, Lundy and his team from Tri-World Police, Special Branch quickly find that locating the problem isn't half so tough as transporting IT back to headquarters. Out of his depth metaphysically and quickly sinking into the black pit of a Venusian sea, Lundy is about to discover his own profound reserves of strength and pit them against that which lurks behind a veneer of beauty-- the Unknown. - Summary by EVKesserich

A true pulp science fiction from 1952 from the pen of Leigh Douglas Brackett. In the deep caves of Mars an alien race ruled and enslaved men and women with cruel and unfeeling desires. This was about the challenged by one weak man. He knew what he had to do and would die trying to do it. The question is, was he hurting or helping them? A cryptic summary because this is a cryptic story. What looks like a simple straightforward plot has layers of deception and subtle humor. Was he destroying the aliens, or were they just using him? Listen and find out. - Summary by phil c

Following the suspicious death of his girlfriend, Captain Burk Winters sets off down the dangerous path of a Martian vice called 'Shanga'-- the Going Back. What starts out as an effort to rescue Jill Leeland will pit the former starship captain against the dark underbelly of the canal cities, conspiracies of greed and, above all, the vengeance of a planet that will not bow to economic conquest without a fight. - Summary by EVKesserich

ENCHANTRESS OF VENUS: Laughing, she cast him down into the hideous depths, beneath the seas of flaming gas, to where dead blossoms swayed, whispering, over strangely jumbled ruins.... But there he found the secret of her power, and came surging back—up from the depths, up from the seas, the tortured swamps—to storm her forbidding shrine and seek her within, death like a gift in his hands. SHANNACH—THE LAST: Even in this grip of alien horror a man could not throw away his lifetime goal ...

This is the very first story with the Conan-like barbarian hero, Eric John Stark. There were more written by Brackett and all just as exciting so look for them if you like swashbuckling space stories. This is not the fantastical Mars of Burroughs, nor the hard science of a Bradbury with ray guns, but there are ancient alien civilizations all over the place reacting to the influx of humans. With a title like this, how can it not be a fabulous tale, eh? First published in Planet Stories 1949. - Summary by Phil Chenevert

Ray Starke, a small time criminal, crashes his shuttle while trying to escape pursuit after robbing a payroll worth millions of credits. When he comes to there is an alien woman telling him he's dying but she will put his consciousness in another body and help him escape using telepathy. - Summary by kirk202

This is a classic story from the early days of science fiction pulp magazines. Leigh Brackett, a female author who stood with the best of them during the period, always has a quirky way of examining human behavior whether on earth or a distant planet. A "tribe" composed of Hans, Officers and a Captain have been marooned on a strange place, out of touch with other humans for many generations. They have to eke out a living with great difficulties in a difficult and hostile environment. Does this sound sort of familiar? There are also really neat 'Piruts' in the story who always try to get the supposed benefit of living close to the Ship...

There was a boy-God, sleeping through eternity. And there were his "Stone of Life" and the androids he had created of matter and energy. And there was a world that was to die from the machinations of the androids' diabolic minds. There were Mouse and Ciaran to stem the death-flood—two mortals fighting the immortals' plans for conquest. [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Planet Stories Spring 1944. - Summary by Publisher

The French Foreign legion has been exported to Space as the Space foreign legion. They are fighting now on Jupiter and the natives, led by their Dragon Queen, are winning. Earth and Mars need places for people to live and grow food but Jupiter may be too hard a nut to crack. Will the Legion be able to hold off the hordes Beetle Bombs and venomous snakes until a relief column arrives? Or will they die in horrible pain like most of them already have? And then the Dragon Queen uses the ultimate weapon, a parasite that stops them from drinking any water. - Summary by phil chenevert

This gore drenched story finds Eric Stark, the barely civilized warrior raised on Mercury struggling to bring a dying Martian friend back to his home city in the North of Mars before he passes away. Unfortunately his friend does die on the way and lays a most unwanted last request on Stark before the end; to bring a precious stolen talisman back to the city. The journey there introduces the intimidating Black Amazon of Mars. "Grimly Eric John Stark slogged toward that ancient Martian city—with every step he cursed the talisman of Ban Cruach that flamed in his blood-stained belt...

In his final adventure on Mars, Eric John Stark acquires a relic of an ancient Martian hero, a gem or lens which is believed to be the key to the strength of Kushat, the city that guards the Gates of Death in the frozen north. A brief inspection of the artifact plunges Stark into the mind of its creator, where he sees, through those long-dead eyes, the unutterably ancient, beautiful, and evil Martian race who are imprisoned in the ice beyond the Gates of Death, alive and plotting to reclaim Mars for themselves and to extend the ice, their world, around the whole planet...