Paperback, 174 pages
English language
Published May 19, 1978 by Fawcett Crest.
Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus is the third novel in the Lucky Starr series, six juvenile science fiction novels by Isaac Asimov that originally appeared under the pseudonym Paul French. The novel was first published by Doubleday & Company in 1954. Since 1972, reprints have included a foreword by Asimov explaining that advancing knowledge of conditions on Venus have rendered the novel's descriptions of that world inaccurate. In his 1979 autobiography In Memory Yet Green, Asimov notes that his original version of the novel was rejected by Doubleday and had to be extensively revised before it was accepted:
On the whole, Doubleday was justified, for Lucky Starr, in this particular adventure, was needlessly close-mouthed, allowing his sidekick to think he was an utter bastard, when I was merely trying to keep things from the reader. I had to rewrite in such a way as to keep things from …
Lucky Starr and the Oceans of Venus is the third novel in the Lucky Starr series, six juvenile science fiction novels by Isaac Asimov that originally appeared under the pseudonym Paul French. The novel was first published by Doubleday & Company in 1954. Since 1972, reprints have included a foreword by Asimov explaining that advancing knowledge of conditions on Venus have rendered the novel's descriptions of that world inaccurate. In his 1979 autobiography In Memory Yet Green, Asimov notes that his original version of the novel was rejected by Doubleday and had to be extensively revised before it was accepted:
On the whole, Doubleday was justified, for Lucky Starr, in this particular adventure, was needlessly close-mouthed, allowing his sidekick to think he was an utter bastard, when I was merely trying to keep things from the reader. I had to rewrite in such a way as to keep things from the reader in a subtler fashion and more in keeping with Lucky's character.
Other than the completely implausible setting - we now know there aren't any oceans on Venus - this was an entertaining and intriguing mystery story. It got me out of a reading slump and I happily finished the book within a few hours.
