Conan T. Troy 45 min read

The rainy Venusian city comes at Johnson from all directions, and so does the wild rhumba of the dive, where his trained senses read the emotions thick in the smoke: hate, fear, but mostly love.

Conan T. Troy's 1952 story is an atmospheric colonization and psi-powers tale set on a lush, decadent Venus. Vivid, moody golden-age pulp. Read it for a rain-soaked, sensuous story where a man attuned to others' emotions moves through a Venusian pleasure-den, and the conjurer's dangerous game begins.

In its time

Published in 1952, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

45 min read (a novelette, room for a turn or two).

Illustrated by

Kelly Freas