The Merchants of Venus

Heechee Saga #0.5

by Frederik Pohl, Duncan Lunan, Piers Anthony

A novella by Frederik Pohl featuring the first appearance of the Heechee, published in Worlds of If Science Fiction series.

This novella can be also found in the short stories collection: The Gateway Trip, the 5th book in the Heechee series.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Novella, Space Opera, Science Fiction Fantasy

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Frederik George Pohl, Jr. was an American science fiction writer, editor and fan, with a career spanning over seventy years. From about 1959 until 1969, Pohl edited Galaxy magazine and its sister magazine IF winning the Hugo for IF three years in a row. His writing also won him three Hugos and multiple Nebula Awards. He became a Nebula Grand Master in 1993.

Reviews

[Paul Bryant · Rating 3 out of 5]

TEN SHORT SF NOVELS NO. 2

THE MERCHANTS OF VENUS

A guy works on Venus, taking rich types to do some amateur exploring of old Heechee tunnels. The Heechee were an alien race who came & did their thing millions of years ago & no one knows what they did or why or anything. This wasn’t the most riveting sf novel ever, being about the tourist industry, and I think you could shave away the sciency stuff and reset the whole thing in Mexico without too much trouble, and I don’t like sf stories that are kind of just ordinary blah stories only set on Planet Gleeglebox or in the year 2525; but at least this wasn’t about a war between the Pan Galactic Overlords and the dreadful Schnuggenbulbles from Dimension Z, which no one can look at without tearing their own head off. Fred Pohl was one of the great sf writers, he had a sense of humour, which I appreciate. My cats seem to have lost their sense of humour, being both middle aged now. They used to be funny, now they’re just surly. Either that or they play the “I’m just a helpless animal O human, gateway to the Palace of Food” card all the time. Which gets awful tired. I know, that has got nothing to do with The Merchants of Venus. I’m just padding out this review. But for all anyone knows cats are Heechees that figured out an easier gig than drilling endless mines on Venus.

[hotsake (André Troesch) · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting story and I might've liked it a bit more if it was fleshed out but it wasn't so I didn't.
3/5

[J.j. Metsavana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lühiromaani peategelaseks on Veenusel tegutsev aardekütt-giid, kes viib kopsaka tasu eest rikkaid turiste kohtadesse, kus võib leida kunagi ammu planeedil tegutsenud tulnukatest mahajäänud tunneleid (ja kui väga veab siis ka mingeid esemeid). Kuigi summad mis seal äris liiguvad on suured pole ka kulud sugugi väikesed ning mehel on parasjagu hädasti uut tööotsa vaja, sest tema maks kipub otsi andma (mitte joomisest vaid Veenuse keskkonna eripäradest) ning parasjagu saabubki planeedile tuntud rahatuus, kes on valmis käima välja suuri summasid kohalikule kes suudab ta juhatada seni läbiuurimata tunnelini.

Nii naljakas kui see ka pole meeldib mulle selle jutu puhul tema aeglane kulg. Pohl ei kiirusta vaid ehitab maailma, küünilis-iroonilise peategelase, kõrvaltegelased ning neile elementidele püstitatud konflikti äärmiselt põhjalikult ning läbimõeldult kokku ja tulemuseks on puhas lugemisrõõm. Ning kuigi tekst tundus aeglane ei oska ma tagantjärgi mõeldes sealt midagi ülearust esile tuua. Isegi maapinna sondeerimise kirjeldused olid huvitavad-vajalikud.

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pohl, Frederik. The Merchants of Venus. Worlds of If, January 1972.

Frederik Pohl had his first success as a novelist in The Space Merchants, his 1952 collaboration with Cyril Kornbluth. Twenty years later, it seemed like a good idea to echo the title in The Merchants of Venus, the first story to mention the Heechee, the vanished aliens featured in six more books published from 1977 to 2004. The Heechee left scraps of their technology in tunnels on Venus. Pohl’s Venus is not the tropical jungle that earlier science fiction writers hoped for, but its ecology is not as inhospitable as we now know it to be. On his Venus, an explorer requires air and minimal temperature control.

Venus is a frontier tourist trap. The military has roped off areas looking for super weapons in volcanic caves, but fly-by-night guides can take gullible tourists on treasure hunts. Audee Walthers is more honest than most of the guides. He has done some research and hopes to find a rich tourist client to finance an expedition. He just needs to uncover enough gadgets to buy a new liver. Note: Just five years after the first heart transplant, science fiction writers like Pohl and Larry Niven envisioned worlds with thriving black-market organ banks.

Stories like Merchants of Venus are why, in those bygone days, I bought magazines like Worlds of If.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, old-school SF from 1972.

[Tonya · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a reread for me. I last read this in 2014, and enjoyed it then. still a fun read, but it's hard to believe that sci fi authors thought it reasonable to have their characters smoking in spaceships! I liked that the author depicts women in professional roles.

I decided to reread the Heechee books, as I really enjoyed them before. Fun escapism sci fi reads.

[Marco · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this novella right after Gateway and I really enjoyed it, more of the same thrilling prospecting danger. Despite the short length, it manages to flash out the characters quite well. Very enjoyable all in all. The main downside for me was the missing opportunity of some exciting exploration at the very end of the story: the main characters discover a new Heechee tunnel complex, but, being at their limits and lacking equipment, they can only get a glimpse of the marvels there, leaving the reader a bit frustrated.

[Michael McCormack · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first in the Hechee Saga.

Honestly I don’t remember if I read this when I was a kid, but Gateway remains my favorite sci-fi novel, so I reread it.

On the brink of death Audee takes on a contract to guide a rich tourist on a Heechee dig. The heechee, if you don’t know, are a mysterious race of aliens who abandoned their works across our solar system and left behind some miscellaneous junk. Earth is overpopulated, and medical care is reserved for the extremely wealthy. Food is grown on oil and they look back on the halcyon days of the past when you could burn hydrocarbons for transportation as the good old days.

The world is split into the fabulously wealthy and those who are soon to be broke. If you’re on Venus that also means soon to be dead.

Indiana Jones in space? Ehh a little. The socio-economic backdrop is even more realistic today than it was when I read this the first time. Dystopia capitalism at its finest.

[Pete · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Merchants of Venus (1972) by Frederik Pohl is a clever tale set on a habited Venus where the Heechee, an alien race who were on Venus until a quarter of a million years ago have left artifacts that the humans now there sometimes find.

The economy of Venus is like a wild west, with many people getting to Venus only to find they can't afford it. The hero, a guide who takes rich people on prospecting tours, has a failing kidney. He meets an old rich man and his wife and takes them prospecting.

It's a good short story and nicely set ups the later Gateway book. It's worth a read for fans of Frederik Pohl.

[Srikanth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a novelette. Nothing particularly great. Old time Sf set on Venus. There was an alien race which scattered mysterious gadgets and tunnels, but body has seen them and nobody knows where they are.
The protagonist is a tourist agency in search of desperate cash. He finds a rich customer who he thinks will alleviate his problems. Of course things don’t go on plan.
There is some description on the atmosphere of Venus and the resulting engineering problems.

Just a short time-pass.

[Pedro L. Fragoso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Desperate people, often cruel by necessity, except the billionaire who is evil as a given and as usual, impossible health costs, cold, margin obsessed corporate logic, some glimpses of human solidarity. And to think that the United States is actually, in all these regards, much worse than in the seventies... I guess Pohl's got it all depressingly right, but it doesn't do for pleasant reading. I'm still reading Gateway and it's much the same. Well, adult reading, that's for sure.

[Paul Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fairly entertaining read but you'll probably not think much about it after you've finished. Mostly interesting in that it's a Gateway novel set before the Gateway was discovered. It creates a nice prelude to the first book, but if you've already read the first book, it's pretty nonessential to go back for this one.

[Durval Menezes · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read it as Part Two of The Gateway Trip (Book 5 of the Heechee Saga.

Good story, and can be easily and profitably read out of order like I did (that is, not as the first one in the series).

My rating is exactly 3 stars, no rounding up or down necessary.

[Crowfood · Rating 3 out of 5]

A neat novella that sets up the Heechee universe for the later Gateway.

[Gr1972 · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 out of 5

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad read but don't set your expectations up too high. Classic SF fare with a strong dose of capitalism.

[Nippy Katz · Rating 3 out of 5]

OK, but below Pohl's quality baseline.