“On the roofs were soldiers with aerial guns” and “We were launched into vacancy, sinking below the projectile.” Art by Wesso.
The illustrations are from “The Blue Barbarians” by Stanton A. Coblentz in “Amazing Stories Quarterly,” Vol. 4, No. 3 (Summer, 1931).
A satire on the American economic and political system as they existed in 1931, “The Blue Barbarians” was published in book form in 1958 by Avalon Books.
The Sun is fading and humanity needs a new home if it is to survive and Venus has been chosen for exploration. Seven expeditions have gone to Venus and vanished: now the eighth is leaving, led by physicist Erom Reve accompanied by self-styled poet Daolgi Kar who brings his little dog Tippy.
Reaching Venus, the men must bail out of their space car before meteors destroy it. They descend under electric parachutes and then make their way across the alien landscape until they come to a city, where they are captured and put into a zoo. Over several weeks they learn the rudiments of the Venusian language and convince the Venusians that they are not animals. The two men (with Tippy) are sent to prison for entering the nation of Wultho illegally. After a year, they are sent to work in a sawdust factory, which soon burns down due to Daolgi’s inattention to his job.
Green glass is the highest denomination of Venusian currency and Erom learns how to make a large quantity of it, becoming the richest and most powerful man on Venus. The Venusians greed for colored glass is exceeded only by their eagerness to slaughter each other. They use a newly invented death ray in an orgy of self-annihilation. The humans head back to Earth to prepare for humanity’s move to soon-to-be-depopulated Venus. [Synopsis courtesy of Wikipedia]
“On the roofs were soldiers with aerial guns” and “We were launched into vacancy, sinking below the projectile.” Art by Wesso.
The illustrations are from “The Blue Barbarians” by Stanton A. Coblentz in “Amazing Stories Quarterly,” Vol. 4, No. 3 (Summer, 1931).
A satire on the American economic and political system as they existed in 1931, “The Blue Barbarians” was published in book form in 1958 by Avalon Books.
The Sun is fading and humanity needs a new home if it is to survive and Venus has been chosen for exploration. Seven expeditions have gone to Venus and vanished: now the eighth is leaving, led by physicist Erom Reve accompanied by self-styled poet Daolgi Kar who brings his little dog Tippy.
Reaching Venus, the men must bail out of their space car before meteors destroy it. They descend under electric parachutes and then make their way across the alien landscape until they come to a city, where they are captured and put into a zoo. Over several weeks they learn the rudiments of the Venusian language and convince the Venusians that they are not animals. The two men (with Tippy) are sent to prison for entering the nation of Wultho illegally. After a year, they are sent to work in a sawdust factory, which soon burns down due to Daolgi’s inattention to his job.
Green glass is the highest denomination of Venusian currency and Erom learns how to make a large quantity of it, becoming the richest and most powerful man on Venus. The Venusians greed for colored glass is exceeded only by their eagerness to slaughter each other. They use a newly invented death ray in an orgy of self-annihilation. The humans head back to Earth to prepare for humanity’s move to soon-to-be-depopulated Venus. [Synopsis courtesy of Wikipedia]