She's got it…yeah, baby, she's got it

Hey it’s post number three. The book this time is Battle on Venus by William F. Temple. Temple was a Brit, most famous for The Four Sided Triangle, which was made into a film in 1953. His real claim to fame was that before World War II he shared a flat with Arthur C. Clarke. I wonder what that place was like on a Saturday night! Also he was a member of the British Interplanetary Society. Battle on Venus was published by Ace in 1963. Cover price: 40¢

Plot- 4 out of 10: Alright! Now we’ve got some straight up pulpy science fiction. Men go to Venus in a rocketship (with fins!) and land in the middle of a tank battle. Apparently in the 1960's there's breathable air on Venus. They are attacked by a variety of assailants and their ship is knocked over. Suddenly the tanks quit attacking and the Earthmen are given a chance to regroup. They discover that the tanks have no drivers! The captain goes exploring in a helicopter (that they brought disassembled on the ship) and hostile forces quickly shoot him down. He meets an attractive female (of course), and she accompanies him in his quest to find out who is responsible for the warring robot tanks and to discover a passage back to earth.

I really love it when problems in science fiction are solved in what I’m going to call a “lame dungeon master” method. Think of when you played D&D. Don’t pretend like you didn’t. Remember that DM who would make sure that whatever you needed was there, almost to the point of annoyance? Don’t speak the language? Oh, there’s an invention that they sent along with you that translates thought into understandable speech! Awesome! Need to figure out what sorts of traps were set on the door holding the elixir of immortality? Oh there’s a dude with psychic ability. (I’m not making this up!) Also there are some grammatically bizarre text passages. My favorite comes when our hero is returning to his ship with his new found Venus-babe:

Mara consoled him with a kiss. They hugged for a while. Then George returned his attention to the landscape ahead. Almost immediately: “Good grief!”

Cover- 7 out of 10: Here we go. Giant metallic discs chasing a man in a space suit. Oh yeah. That’s what I like. The best thing about this book is the best thing about the cover. Giant spinning robot metal discs that will totally cut you. There is no cover artist accredited, but according to the Ace people, it was Ed Valigursky. Also you may notice that there’s no back cover here. If you haven’t figured it out, I’ll explain on my next post.

What Battle on Venus taught me about the future: We will have devices that can translate our thoughts into speech, but the most sophisticated weapons we will have to take with us to Venus will be bazookas. Otherwise stuff seems like the same as today, except the insects on Mars.