Vandals On Venus

“K.G. McAbee Does It Again! Top Notch and Thoroughly Exciting!”

SPACE 1889 & BEYOND #2 is a series I am not familiar with, but to my pleasure I was given the opportunity to read K.G. McAbee’s short novel, “Vandals On Venus”, and can assure the reader, this is a fantastic concept. Apparently, space travel has been achieved in the late 1800s in this alternate universe, and settlements are established on numerous planets and asteroids. For anyone who doesn’t know K.G. McAbee, I can also assure you, this lady has long been my favorite author of science fiction and fantasy. To be honest, she can write any genre, and one of her favorite areas is pulp. When she writes a Solomon Kane, she doesn’t just imitate Robert E. Howard, she becomes Howard. The same is true with Edgar Rice Burroughs. In “Vandals On Venus” I had to look several times to make sure I wasn’t reading a “lost” Burroughs story. Gail McAbee’s story captures the Pellucidar series perfectly, though it takes place in the jungles on Venus.

In “Vandals On Venus”, Professor Nathanial Stone, co-inventor of the aether propeller, has been requested to travel to Fort Collingwood, Her Majesty’s Royal Colony on Venus to assist Geoffrey Forbes-Hamilton in his experiments. To his chagrin, his ward, Annabelle Somerset insists on accompanying him to the dangerous planet. He just knows she will get into trouble – and so do we! This is a fun adventure right out of an Edgar Rice Burroughs pulp tale as only K.G. McAbee can write them! A giant warrior of a reptile race assists the folks, and there are dinosaur-like creatures populating the jungles. Then throw in some really bad Germans and an outlaw Irishman, and you’ve got enough action to satisfy any pulp lover.

These are a series of e-books containing a short novel each, and if the rest of the stories are as good as McAbee’s, I’ll want to read them all!