Book Review: Old Venus

Old Venus
George R. R. Martin, Gardner Dozois (editors)
Science fiction, anthology

The idea is a lot of fun: collect stories set on Venus the way it should have been--the lush jungle planet, steaming in the rain and teeming with life, of Golden Age science fiction.

The stories, regrettably, are not a lot of fun. In fact, the stories mostly range from mediocre on downward--boring, poorly structured, and unimaginative. There are only three that I'd recommend:

• "Frogheads", by Allen Steele, is competent.
• "Greaves and the Evening Star", by Matt Hughes, is a flat-out P. G. Wodehouse parody--a gimmick, but largely successful as such.
• "Botanica Veneris: Thirteen Papercuts by Ida Countess Rathangan", by Ian McDonald, is quite enjoyable to read. I found the ending a bit predictable, though.

To the other authors: You might want to consider the quaint tradition whereby your protagonist has some, you know, role to play. As in does something, or makes a decision, or has any function other than to wander around being a viewpoint. Also, there's this thing called a "climax" or "resolution" that you should maybe look into.