Charles L. Fontenay 26 min read

Stubborn Dutchman Jan van Artevelde wrestles his groundcar across the tumbled terrain of Den Hoorn into the teeth of a howling Venusian gale, puffing his clay pipe against a wind that can kill.

Charles L. Fontenay's 1957 story is a taut, atmospheric colonization and hard-SF tale. Vivid, gripping golden-age SF. Read it for a well-crafted survival story of a lone colonist battling the murderous winds of Venus on a desperate errand, rich with sensory detail and stubborn courage, in a well-turned golden-age piece about grit against a lethal alien environment.

In its time

Published in 1957, during the 1950s, post-war optimism meets cold war anxiety.

Reading it

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