Two exhausted spacemen gamble their lives on an impossible return from Venus while an isolated outpost waits for rescue that may never come. As Earth races closer by the second, one reckless landing idea stands between them and a fireball over the Pacific. Message from Venus by Russ Winterbotham. That’s next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast.
Although he isn’t remembered as a major contributor to science fiction Russ Winterbotham’s career lasted more than three decades. He wrote seven novels and more than 60 short stories beginning in 1935.
Winterbotham was paid $44.55 for the story back in 1941. Adjusted for inflation that would be about $570 today. How do we know how much he was paid? Comet magazine paid a penny per word for every story it published. Which may not seem like a lot but two competing science fiction magazines that got their start about the same time didn’t pay anything at all.
Those two magazines combined for only seven issues before they ceased publication. Russ Winterbotham’s story was published in the January 1941 issue of Comet magazine which lasted for only 5 issues. Turn to page 21, Message from Venus by Russ Winterbotham…
Next on The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, A reporter spends ten years chasing evidence that certain men do not stay dead, only to discover that every attempt to expose them pushes him closer to losing his own mind. When the last piece of proof vanishes before his eyes, Dane Phillips faces a far worse possibility than failure. Dead Ringer by Lester Del Rey.
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