"SOURCE: "The Vanishing Venusians" by Leigh Brackett (Planet Stories, Spring 1944)
DESCRIPTION: "...A slender, exquisite body moved forward from the shadows of the trees. Huge white blossoms gleamed against the curly blue that crowned the head. Luminous eyes glanced up at Harker, full of mockery and a subtle animation..." ("The Vanishing Venusians" by Leigh Brackett)
NOTES: The flower people look human but Harker, the earthman quickly realizes they have no souls, being vain, selfish and murderous. He is treated as a pet. The flower people live on a plateau above the subterranean lake where they trapped the flower hounds. They protect this area with their psychic abilities and control over the environment. They can control birds and plants, start fires with their minds and read thoughts. One of their nastiest weapon in a cloud of spores which consumes flesh. When old or damaged they are exiled to the Dying Place. "
4 out of 5
http://web.archive.org/web/20070212104207/www.gwthomas.org/flowerpeople.htm
Showing posts with label monster. Show all posts
Showing posts with label monster. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
De-Evolved Humans or the Beasts of Shanga - G. W. Thomas
"SOURCE: "The Beast-Jewel of Mars" by Leigh Brackett (Planet Stories, Winter 1948) and earlier stories
DESCRIPTION:"Shapeless, shambling, hairy brutes, deformed skulls and little red cunning eyes, bared teeth griing yellow. Things that even the anthopologists had never seen or dreamed of. Things that were not human, or ape, nor any form of life that had ever been classified..." ("The Beast-Jewel of Mars" by Leigh Brackett)
NOTES: The Shanga process de-evolves creatures with repeated exposure. The exposure has an addictive effect and is different for each species. Humans need many exposures to de-evolve while Martians do not. The hero sees ape-like creatures all the way to slimy things (see cover)."
4 out of 5
http://web.archive.org/web/20070212052733/http://www.gwthomas.org/devolvedhumans.htm
DESCRIPTION:"Shapeless, shambling, hairy brutes, deformed skulls and little red cunning eyes, bared teeth griing yellow. Things that even the anthopologists had never seen or dreamed of. Things that were not human, or ape, nor any form of life that had ever been classified..." ("The Beast-Jewel of Mars" by Leigh Brackett)
NOTES: The Shanga process de-evolves creatures with repeated exposure. The exposure has an addictive effect and is different for each species. Humans need many exposures to de-evolve while Martians do not. The hero sees ape-like creatures all the way to slimy things (see cover)."
4 out of 5
http://web.archive.org/web/20070212052733/http://www.gwthomas.org/devolvedhumans.htm
The Flower Hounds - Leigh Brackett
"SOURCE: "The Vanishing Venusians" by Leigh Brackett (Planet Stories, Spring 1944)
DESCRIPTION: "...They were not very large, the largest about the size of a twelve-year-old child. Their bodies were anthropoid but adapted top swimming with shimmering webs. They glowed with a golden light, phosphorescent like the lichens, and their eyes were lidless and black like one huge spreading pupil. Their faces were incredible. Harker could remember, faintly, the golden dandelions that grew on the lawn in summer. The heads and faces of the swimmers were like that, covered with streaming petals that seemed to have independent movements, as though they were sensory organs as well as decorations..." ("The Vanishing Venusians" by Leigh Brackett)
NOTES: The flower hounds resemble a cross between a walrus and a sunflower. They have sharp claws on their flippers and are carnivorous, even cannibalistic. When first encountered they are thought to be small (as quoted above) but these are only infants. The adults are three times larger than a man. These creatures once lived above ground but were trapped in a subterranean cavern with a lake by the Flower People. During this time their skin became white and unable to withstand bright sunlight. The flower hounds are plannies, plant animals.
HISTORY: These creatures are quite unique to Leigh Brackett."
http://web.archive.org/web/20070212052641/http://www.gwthomas.org/flowerhounds.htm
DESCRIPTION: "...They were not very large, the largest about the size of a twelve-year-old child. Their bodies were anthropoid but adapted top swimming with shimmering webs. They glowed with a golden light, phosphorescent like the lichens, and their eyes were lidless and black like one huge spreading pupil. Their faces were incredible. Harker could remember, faintly, the golden dandelions that grew on the lawn in summer. The heads and faces of the swimmers were like that, covered with streaming petals that seemed to have independent movements, as though they were sensory organs as well as decorations..." ("The Vanishing Venusians" by Leigh Brackett)
NOTES: The flower hounds resemble a cross between a walrus and a sunflower. They have sharp claws on their flippers and are carnivorous, even cannibalistic. When first encountered they are thought to be small (as quoted above) but these are only infants. The adults are three times larger than a man. These creatures once lived above ground but were trapped in a subterranean cavern with a lake by the Flower People. During this time their skin became white and unable to withstand bright sunlight. The flower hounds are plannies, plant animals.
HISTORY: These creatures are quite unique to Leigh Brackett."
http://web.archive.org/web/20070212052641/http://www.gwthomas.org/flowerhounds.htm
Martian Black Apes - G. W. Thomas
"SOURCE: The Nemesis From Terra by Leigh Brackett (1961)
DESCRIPTION: "Rick saw them clearly-- a black anthropoid from the sea-bottom pits, one of the queer inhabitants of an evolutionary blind alley you were always running into on Mars. Some said they had once been men, and degenerated in their isolated, barren villages. Others said they were neither man nor ape, just something that got off on a road that went nowhere...the black apes were trained now like hounds to course men for the press-gangs..." (The Nemesis From Terra by Leigh Brackett (1961)
NOTES: The black apes are used by the Terran Exploitation Company as bloodhounds for their mine slaves.
HISTORY: The obvious comparison is to the White Apes of Barsoom by Edgar Rice Burroughs. These apemen do not have four arms, nor are they so frequent though they may have villages, making them more intelligent."
4 out of 5
http://web.archive.org/web/20070217060538/http://www.gwthomas.org/martianapemen.htm
DESCRIPTION: "Rick saw them clearly-- a black anthropoid from the sea-bottom pits, one of the queer inhabitants of an evolutionary blind alley you were always running into on Mars. Some said they had once been men, and degenerated in their isolated, barren villages. Others said they were neither man nor ape, just something that got off on a road that went nowhere...the black apes were trained now like hounds to course men for the press-gangs..." (The Nemesis From Terra by Leigh Brackett (1961)
NOTES: The black apes are used by the Terran Exploitation Company as bloodhounds for their mine slaves.
HISTORY: The obvious comparison is to the White Apes of Barsoom by Edgar Rice Burroughs. These apemen do not have four arms, nor are they so frequent though they may have villages, making them more intelligent."
4 out of 5
http://web.archive.org/web/20070217060538/http://www.gwthomas.org/martianapemen.htm
Transuranae - G. W. Thomas
"SOURCE: The Big Jump by Leigh Brackett (Space Stories February 1953 )
DESCRIPTION: "In a cloud they came, whirling upward through the white aurora. And they were whiter; they were pure with primal radiance, and their raying arms were like the misty nebulae. Soaring they came, carried up on the waves of fire, and they paled it. Laughing they came, ad their laughter was the laughter of young things fresh and new from the hand of God, not knowing any darkness...The laughter was soundless, but it was there. It was in the way they moved and shone and gave forth...(The Big Jump by Leigh Brackett)
NOTES: The Transuranae are beings made of primal energy. They give off radiation which infuses humans with a strange energy, even moving the body in death. The effect is addictive, undeniable. The Transuranae live on the second planet in the system of Barnard's Star."
4 out of 5
http://web.archive.org/web/20070217060428/http://www.gwthomas.org/transuranae.htm
DESCRIPTION: "In a cloud they came, whirling upward through the white aurora. And they were whiter; they were pure with primal radiance, and their raying arms were like the misty nebulae. Soaring they came, carried up on the waves of fire, and they paled it. Laughing they came, ad their laughter was the laughter of young things fresh and new from the hand of God, not knowing any darkness...The laughter was soundless, but it was there. It was in the way they moved and shone and gave forth...(The Big Jump by Leigh Brackett)
NOTES: The Transuranae are beings made of primal energy. They give off radiation which infuses humans with a strange energy, even moving the body in death. The effect is addictive, undeniable. The Transuranae live on the second planet in the system of Barnard's Star."
4 out of 5
http://web.archive.org/web/20070217060428/http://www.gwthomas.org/transuranae.htm
Venusians - G. W. Thomas
"SOURCE: The Nemesis From Terra by Leigh Brackett (1961)
DESCRIPTION: "...It had been Jaffa Storm's idea to have an all-Venusian corps of Middle-Swampers for his stron-arm work. Being outlanders and fairly savage, they had interest in two things only--food and fighting..." (The Nemesis From Terra by Leigh Brackett)
NOTES: Leigh Brackett's Venusians are basically humans who have adapted to the conditions on Venus. They have green skin and no aversion to water.
HISTORY: Brackett's Venusians, Martians, Terrans and Mercurans are all basically human with small differences, largely culture and skin color."
4 out of 5
http://web.archive.org/web/20070218012444/http://www.gwthomas.org/venusians3.htm
DESCRIPTION: "...It had been Jaffa Storm's idea to have an all-Venusian corps of Middle-Swampers for his stron-arm work. Being outlanders and fairly savage, they had interest in two things only--food and fighting..." (The Nemesis From Terra by Leigh Brackett)
NOTES: Leigh Brackett's Venusians are basically humans who have adapted to the conditions on Venus. They have green skin and no aversion to water.
HISTORY: Brackett's Venusians, Martians, Terrans and Mercurans are all basically human with small differences, largely culture and skin color."
4 out of 5
http://web.archive.org/web/20070218012444/http://www.gwthomas.org/venusians3.htm
Astellarians - G. W. Thomas
"SOURCE: "The Veil of Astellar" by Leigh Brackett (Planet Stories, Spring 1944)
DESCRIPTION: "...Physically she was close enough to humanity. The differences in structure were none more subtle than mere shape. They were--well, they were right, and exotic, and beautiful in a way there aren't any words for. She, ad her race, had no need of clothing. Their lazy, sinuous bodies had a fleecy covering that wasn't fur or feathers or tendrils but something of all three. They had no true color. They changed according to light, in an endless spectrum of loveliness that went far beyond the range you humans know..." ("The Veil of Astellar" by Leigh Brackett)
NOTES: The race of Astellar came from another dimension or galaxy to prey upon humanity. They take humans with mind-control and suck out their living essense with the Veil of Astellar, a cloud generated by x-crystals. This life-force allows them to be immortal unless killed. Using their psychic powers they can travel through dimensions, wearing other beings bodies, experiencing their lives. Five humans were allowed to become Astellarians, acting as Judas goats, leading humans to the harvest. The Astellarians were destroyed when the Veil was sabotaged by one of these humans.
HISTORY: Brackett was obsessed with the theme of rays generated by a crystal or being that kill, mutant or change humans. She used it in "The Beast-Jewel of Mars", The Big Jump and "The Jewel of Bas" as well."
4 out of 5
http://web.archive.org/web/20070211124929/http://www.gwthomas.org/astellerans.htm
DESCRIPTION: "...Physically she was close enough to humanity. The differences in structure were none more subtle than mere shape. They were--well, they were right, and exotic, and beautiful in a way there aren't any words for. She, ad her race, had no need of clothing. Their lazy, sinuous bodies had a fleecy covering that wasn't fur or feathers or tendrils but something of all three. They had no true color. They changed according to light, in an endless spectrum of loveliness that went far beyond the range you humans know..." ("The Veil of Astellar" by Leigh Brackett)
NOTES: The race of Astellar came from another dimension or galaxy to prey upon humanity. They take humans with mind-control and suck out their living essense with the Veil of Astellar, a cloud generated by x-crystals. This life-force allows them to be immortal unless killed. Using their psychic powers they can travel through dimensions, wearing other beings bodies, experiencing their lives. Five humans were allowed to become Astellarians, acting as Judas goats, leading humans to the harvest. The Astellarians were destroyed when the Veil was sabotaged by one of these humans.
HISTORY: Brackett was obsessed with the theme of rays generated by a crystal or being that kill, mutant or change humans. She used it in "The Beast-Jewel of Mars", The Big Jump and "The Jewel of Bas" as well."
4 out of 5
http://web.archive.org/web/20070211124929/http://www.gwthomas.org/astellerans.htm
Plannies or Plant-Animals - G. W. Thomas
"SOURCE: "The Vanishing Venusians" by Leigh Brackett (Planet Stories, Spring 1944)
DESCRIPTION: "...The colonists had shortened plant-animal to planimal, and then just planny..." ("The Vanishing Venusians" by Leigh Brackett)
NOTES: Many of the life forms on Venus appear to be animal in nature but are actually plants who have mimicked animal mobility. These include the Flower People and the Flower Hounds."
4 out of 5
http://web.archive.org/web/20070212052410/http://www.gwthomas.org/plannies.htm
DESCRIPTION: "...The colonists had shortened plant-animal to planimal, and then just planny..." ("The Vanishing Venusians" by Leigh Brackett)
NOTES: Many of the life forms on Venus appear to be animal in nature but are actually plants who have mimicked animal mobility. These include the Flower People and the Flower Hounds."
4 out of 5
http://web.archive.org/web/20070212052410/http://www.gwthomas.org/plannies.htm
Thursday, March 4, 2010
The Cloud People of Venus - G. W. Thomas
"SOURCE: "The Vanishing Venusians" by Leigh Brackett (Planet Stories, Spring 1944)"
3.5 out of 5
http://web.archive.org/web/20070212052601/http://www.gwthomas.org/cloudpeople.htm
3.5 out of 5
http://web.archive.org/web/20070212052601/http://www.gwthomas.org/cloudpeople.htm
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