Interesting collection. I came for the Jeeves parody (Matthew Hughes's "Greeves and the Morning Star"), and stayed for the Nazis on Venus (Tobias Buckell's "Pale Blue Memories"). ( )

Not too bad, some storys were a bit dry, Actually got it just to read Martins short story, A not too bad not too great compilation ( )

I admit I waffled a bit over reading the George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois edited anthologies, Old Mars and Old Venus. These were put together as a nostalgic celebration of the Planetary Romance era of science fiction from the 1930s through the '50s. Mr. Martin and Mr. Dozois grew up on that work, it forms the deep core of their love of SF, and it's rather delightful how delighted they are to harken back to those times.

But I have no nostalgia for Planetary Romance. It's not the SF I grew up on. I'm not intrinsically inclined to like these stories simply because they remind me of the bygone good old days.

I didn't need them to be nostalgic, I just needed them to be good stories.

I admit, as well, that I was somewhat cautious about the premise of these anthologies: stories set on the versions of Mars and Venus we imagined before probes and exploration taught us otherwise—the canaled Mars of Burroughs and Bradbury; the hot, wet, jungle and watery Venus of Leigh Brackett and Roger Zelazny. I was skeptical of a premise that requires both authors and readers to ignore everything that science has taught us about these planets in the intervening 50 years.

Both Mr. Martin and Mr. Gardner voice impassioned and persuasive arguments in their introductions which address this very issue. They point out that science fiction has always been a subset of fantasy (i.e.—fantastical) and romance (in the Ivanhoe / swashbuckling meaning of the term) has always been essential... etc., etc. Points well taken but I still contend the "science" part remains important.

Science fiction—even from the Planetary Romance era—begins with science. We start with what we know now and extrapolate possibilities from there. Discount the science too much, and the work ceases to be science fiction.

Back to the point—the essential questions for me regarding these two anthologies are:

1) Are these stories good?
2) Are these stories viable science fiction?

I'll start by answering question #2—yes. I found my concerns over the scientifically regressive premise entirely irrelevant to my enjoyment of the work. To be honest, it doesn't really matter if these planets are Mars or Venus—the point is to try and imagine the kinds of alien worlds that we used to imagine back in the era of high Planetary Romance. These stories do that. If you need a defensible scientific basis for these settings, it's easy enough to forget that they're supposed to be Mars or Venus and instead picture them as other alien worlds, or alternate Universes with different versions of our solar system. If nothing else, you can pretend you're reading classic SF rather than new work.

It should also be noted that a few of the stories in these volumes trend more toward fantasy than science fiction.

These stories are compelling not because they're set on Mars or Venus per se but because they're set on worlds of the authors' imaginations. The concept of these anthologies works because it's fascinating to see how different authors imagine different worlds within the same set of basic parameters.

On this score, Old Mars makes a stronger showing than Old Venus. I'm surprised at how scientifically plausible many of the settings in Old Mars are. These authors mine some solid science here, and the Mars in many of these stories is similar enough to the planet of dust we know it to be in real life that I didn't find the environments too dissonant. The settings in Old Venus require notably more suspension of disbelief.

So, the science isn't really a problem.

Which brings us to the most important question: Are these stories good?

Sure. I suppose. As with all anthologies, some stories are better than others. Neither of these anthologies ranks as high as I would expect from editors of this caliber. A few of the stories are excellent and some are obviously not the authors' best work. More disappointingly, a scant handful feel as though they were written to spec, to fit the theme.

Once again, Old Mars fares better on this score than Old Venus does. Neither anthology is quite good enough to earn my unreserved accolades, but the stories in Old Mars are generally better.

These anthologies are worth reading as collections of fairly entertaining and fairly imaginative stories from some exceptional authors. They're fun reads. But they're not great, overall, and there's nothing very innovative or cutting edge to be found within these covers.

For those readers who do have nostalgia for the golden days of Planetary Romance, Old Mars and Old Venus may contain satisfactions that are lost on me. ( )

Some good, some ok

The solar system would probably be a lot more fun had Venus turned out to be the world of old science fiction. This anthology has some really interesting stories and a couple that were rather slow. I'll let you decide which is which. ( )

Introduction: Return to Venusport by Gardner Dozois

*** "Frogheads" by Allen M. Steele
Reminded me quite a lot of Phyllis Gotlieb's 'Lyhhrt' trilogy, with its amphibious aliens as enslaved workers, and the human investigator that gets involved - but this is a much simpler and more conventional story.

*** "The Drowned Celestial" by Lavie Tidhar
Tidhar took the theme of this anthology seriously. This is an homage to the old pulp adventure stories, and a faithful re-creation of one. It might even pass as one, if not for the many, many call-outs to authors and tales from those days. (I 'got' a lot of them; but I'm sure that there were more that I missed, as well.)
An adventurer and gambling man gets involved in a shootout on Venus - and before he knows it, finds himself shanghaied into a treasure hunt at the site of a ruined temple of an ancient god...

*** "Planet of Fear" by Paul McAuley
A Russian scientist assigned to a Naval, military team isn't getting much respect, regardless of her expertise in exobiology. The captain in charge is convinced that everything that goes wrong - and then some - must be the fault of those dastardly Americans who are competing with them for resources and territory on Venus. But when a distress call comes in, screaming something about being 'attacked by monsters' - she might be the only one who can figure out what's actually happening.

** "Greeves and the Evening Star" by Matthew Hughes
This is a case of humor not hitting its mark, with me. If you are tickled up front by the idea of a butler named Greeves and a character named Slithey Tove-Whippley then you may get more of a kick out of this than I. On Venus, a herpetologist who's studied all there is to study regarding newts develops a consuming obsession with a newt-like species - particularly one specific female of the species. Is the happy matrimony he envisions in his future?

**** "A Planet Called Desire" by Gwyneth Jones
This one does a great job updating some of the old tropes with new life. A rough-and-tumble billionaire adventurer, sick to death of how Earth is being destroyed environmentally and tamed socially, volunteers for an experimental time-travel/teleportation experiment to visit Venus' past. Once there, he nearly dies, but is rescued and nursed back to health by an alien but oddly alluring woman... Of course, our protagonist makes any number of assumptions about the situation - which we, as readers, might also make. But there's more to come in this story...
My one complaint is that the ending (although I loved what happened) felt a bit too abrupt.

*** "Living Hell" by Joe Haldeman
Good, old-fashioned action story. After a solar flare on Venus, a solo pilot must go on a daring mission to rescue a team from the wreckage of a downed space elevator. Technological malfunctions and inimical fauna must be battled to complete the job - which will culminate in the discovery of something weirder than anyone guessed.

***** "Bones of Air, Bones of Stone" by Stephen Leigh
A man returns to Venus to find his ex-lover, whom he's heard is planning another attempt at the expedition they previously assayed together. She's one of those people who's always been driven to conquer unconquered peaks - and in this, case, the unplumbed depths. A rift under the seas of Venus has deep ritual significance to the native Venusians, and it's usually off limits to humans. A special permit has been granted for this expedition. But last time, our protagonist nearly didn't return. Are the stories told of this mystery mere superstition - or something more?
Loved this one - I thought the characters, the relationship, and the situation were all beautifully done.

**** "Ruins" by Eleanor Arnason
Since all of Earth's megafauna are extinct, National Geographic now has to go farther afield for their stories. A Venusian colony founded by Russia is ailing, and when NatGeo arrives wanting to hire locals, they don't have any trouble getting them to agree. It only makes sense that local commercial photographer Ash would recommend her friend Arkady, who runs tourist safaris. But Arkady seems to have his own agenda, as he leads the team into an area marked as off-limits by the American CIA. There are some humorous jabs here at a variety of targets, but first and foremost this is just a good story.

"The Tumbledowns of Cleopatra Abyss" by David Brin
"By Frogsled and Lizardback to Outcast Venusian Lepers" by Garth Nix
"The Sunset of Time" by Michael Cassutt
"Pale Blue Memories" by Tobias S. Buckell
"The Heart's Filthy Lesson" by Elizabeth Bear
"The Wizard of the Trees" by Joe R. Lansdale
"The Godstone of Venus" by Mike Resnick
"Botanica Veneris: Thirteen Papercuts by Ida Countess Rathangan" by Ian McDonald
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