Expedition Venus

(PT - Missão Vénus)

Publishing details:

UK: Faber h/b, 1962, in print until about 1975.
UK: Faber Fanfare p/b, 1980. SBN 571-06001-3.
US: Criterion Books h/b, 1963.
PT: Galeria Panorama, 1969.

Synopsis:

An unmanned probe returning from Venus has crashed in a tropical jungle. A spore on board has germinated and the Earth is fast becoming covered in a grey mould, that chokes the life out of anything it touches.

The only solution is to send Chris, Morrey, Serge and Tony, and a scientist, Pierre, on a mission to Venus to attempt to find something that will destroy the fungus. Work on the Venus probe, being built on the new permanently manned moonbase, Lunaville, is accelerated and the launch is ahead of schedule. However, the plan to skim through the Venusian atmosphere to pick up samples fails and a landing has to be made! As the ship sinks into the Venusian surface, all fuel reserves are needed to take off again. The crew are heading for Earth - but will have no fuel left to decellerate when they arrive......

Commentary:

One of the best books in the series. The problems Earth faces, as refugees begin flooding into Britain to escape the mould, are frighteningly realistic, and the usual Walters technique of piling disaster on top of disaster was at its best.

Reviews:

Gulliver In Orbit EXPEDITION VENUS by Hugh Walters.-Faber, London. 17s. [..part of article omitted..] "EXPEDITION Venus" is also a sort of joke, this time on the reviewer. There is nothing on the cover, or in the publisher's blurb, to indicate that this is SF, for children, or a tot's guide to rocketry. Curiosity makes one read on, to discover what sort of ideas about outer space are being served up to the young. How comforting, then, to find that the ideals of "Boys' Own Annual" still find a place in a reeling universe. Here are still the same young chaps with healthy minds, healthy bodies and stiff upper lips, solving the problems of Earth in re- lation to its planetary neigh- bours. The heroes they look up to are ancient survivors of the Battle of Britain, with their bristling moustaches now, alas, turned white. The young chaps, with traditional gallantry, set off at half a million miles an hour for Venus, to find an antidote for a nasty sort of fungus brought back from the planet on a space probe, and now causing devastation on Earth. Needless to say, they succeed. Their only handicap appears to be a rather frail member of the party called Tony, whose upper lip at times (in spite of being British) tends to quiver. His character is perhaps best summed up in a few lines which deserve to be- come immortal: "The tears were gushing from Tony's eyes, and floating roung the cabin like little balls of silver, so great was the mechanic's relief at the news. No young man wants to die if he can help it." -MARGARET JONES The Sydney Morning Herald, 12th May, 1962

EXPEDITION VENUS In these days when space exploration is becoming almost an everyday occurrence, science fiction writers should be able to portray the unlikely in a  convincing manner, especially when writing for younger readers. Hugh Walters achieves this in his latest Chris Godfrey adventure, "Expedition Venus," Faber & Faber, 13s 6d. Chris and his friends are sent off to Venus to try and find an organism which will destroy a deadly fungus brought back to earth by a Venus space-probe. The future of man- kind depends on the success or failure of their mission, as all attempts to destroy the fungus have hailed. Mr. Walters' documentary style and degree of realism make this a book which any star-gazing schoolboy would like to read.                   J.S. The Belfast News-Letter, 7th March, 1962

AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING COMMISSION WOMEN'S SESSION BOOK REVIEW                                                 by Isabel Seddon "Expedition Venus" by Hugh Walters                      (Faber)      Another book for the addict of technical adventure is "Exploration Venus".  The scene is the future, a base has long since been establish- ed on the moon , the next step is to explore the planets, using the moon as a take-off point.  Suddenly the business of further exploration becomes urgent.  A probe has picked up some mould spores from the atmosphere around Venus, and brought them back to earth.  Starting in Africa the mould spreads like a bush fire, killing all living matter- nobody can find anything to stamp it out.  There's nothing for it but to have a manned rocket go to Venus and see what organism controls the mould in its native habitat.  With the mould multiplying like rabbits on earth, threatening to end human life, the five young men who take off for Venus must come back with the Venusian myxamytosis - or else. Well, of course they do, and you know they will.  But there's a great deal of carefully planned suspense, fuel running out, meteorites bunging holes in the side of the rocket, and so on.  "Exploration Venus" can't fail to grip teen-age boys, and it would be a particularly good choice for the boy who's not overfond of reading.  I gather that the copious stuff about rockets is accurate.  The characters, as often happens in this sort of book, are papier mache - but who cares? - - - - - -

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