Читать онлайн «Old Venus»
Автор Джордж Мартин
Copyright © 2015 by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois
Introduction copyright © 2015 by Gardner Dozois
Story copyrights appear on this page
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States of America by Bantam Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Random House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.
Title page illustration by Stephen Youll
BANTAM BOOKS and the HOUSE colophon are registered trademarks of Random House LLC.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Old Venus / edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois.
pages cm
ISBN 978-0-345-53728-7
eBook ISBN 978-0-8041-7985-0
1. Science fiction. I. Martin, George R. R. , editor. II.
Dozois, Gardner R. , editor.PN6071. S33O43 2015
808. 83’8762—dc23 2014020453
Jacket design: David G. Stevenson
Jacket illustrations: © Stephen Youll
v3. 1
Introduction: Return to Venusport
FROGHEADS
THE DROWNED CELESTIAL
PLANET OF FEAR
GREEVES AND THE EVENING STAR
A PLANET CALLED DESIRE
LIVING HELL
BONES OF AIR, BONES OF STONE
RUINS
THE TUMBLEDOWNS OF CLEOPATRA ABYSS
BY FROGSLED AND LIZARDBACK TO OUTCAST VENUSIAN LEPERS
THE SUNSET OF TIME
PALE BLUE MEMORIES
THE HEART’S FILTHY LESSON
THE WIZARD OF THE TREES
THE GODSTONE OF VENUS
BOTANICA VENERIS: THIRTEEN PAPERCUTS BY IDA COUNTESS RATHANGAN
Return to Venusport
BY GARDNER DOZOIS
DAWN ON VENUS:
The sleek, furry heads of the web-footed amphibious Venusians break water near one of the rare archipelagos in the world-girdling ocean. Nearby, the toothy head and long, snaky neck of a Plesiosaur-like sea creature momentarily rears above the waves. Elsewhere, vast swamps are pocked and shimmered by the ceaseless, unending rain, while immense dinosaurian shapes grunt and wallow in the mud. Elsewhere, tall, spindly people in elaborate headdresses and jewel-encrusted robes walk across rope bridges strung between huge trees, bigger by far than any Terrestrial Redwood or Sequoia, and the spreading ashen light reveals that there’s an entire city up there, up in the trees. Elsewhere, shining silver rockets are landing at the spaceport at Venusport. Still elsewhere, the thick, fetid, steamy jungle is ripped asunder by a dinosaur-like beast, reminiscent of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, who emerges from the dripping vegetation and opens his massive, dagger-studded mouth to roar defiance at the morning.
