The Jungle
David Drake
Tom Doherty Associates
<p>The planet Venus, after the terraformers finished work and life on Earth ended, was a hell of aggressive mutations, the land and seas turgid with ragingly lethal lifeforms. Humankind lives in domed undersea Keeps--and only the mercenary naval troops called Free Companies venture to the surface to wage the Keeps' proxy wars.</p><p>Ensign Brainard and his men, their flitterboat wrecked by a dreadnought's main-gun salvo, are about to face the worst enemy on the planet--The Jungle.</p><p>Written in the universe created by Henry Kuttner in Clash By Night.</p><p>**</p>From Publishers Weekly<p>Drake ( Surface Action ) enters a future originally mapped by SF master Henry Kuttner in "Clash by Night," a 1943 novella-length story that is also printed here. earth having become a radioactive cinder, humanity has fled to a "terraformed" Venus, where people live under the oceans in Keeps that battle one another with mercenary fleets. Drake writes of one small but fatally significant incident in one battle: Their torpedoboat wrecked, Commanding Officer Brainard and Officer-Trainee Wilding must move their men through a jungle to safety. Each officer, almost paralyzed with fear, misinterprets lucky breaks as bold and calculated moves on the other's part. Short scenes and discontinuous flashbacks create a stroboscopic effect that interferes with the story. After almost 50 years, Kuttner's "Clash" still provides a much better read. <br>
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p>From Library Journal<p>





</p><p>Human colonies exist in civilized decadence beneath the seas of Venus, while mercenary "Free Companies" wage their petty wars on the planet's surface, a jungle inhospitable to human life. Set in the same world as Henry Kuttner's 1943 short story "Clash by Night" (also included in this volume), Drake's tribute to one of sf's seminal writers demonstrates the author's own mastery of sf military adventure. An optional purchase.<br>
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p></br></br>