Sunday, July 04, 2010

Venture SF

Venture SF was a series of adventure science fiction novels published by Arrow Books under the Hamlyn imprint in 1985-87. The series, with titles selected by Rog Peyton and Rod Milner, introduced itself thus:
Venture Science Fiction - a new publishing imprint to bring you the very best in adventure SF. Time travel, galactic empires, alien invasions - all the traditional elements that have made science fiction the most exciting form of literature of the 20th century. In Venture SF, we'll be bringing you novels of action adventure - no short stories, no fantasy, no boredom. If action adventure SF is your type of reading, then Venture SF is for you - every book published by us will be the first appearance in paperback in the UK. We'll be publishing one new book every month - Start collecting them now!
The series ran to 25 volumes, although they stopped appearing monthly quite quickly. They also just as speedily failed to live up to at least one of their promises. As David Langford pointed out in Ansible in May 1985, the third volume, David Drake's Hammer's Slammers, was a short story collection.

1 We All Died at Breakaway Station by Richard C. Meredith (Apr 1985)
2 Come, Hunt an Earthman by Philip E. High (Apr 1985)
3 Hammer's Slammers by David Drake (May 1985)
4 Interstellar Empire by John Brunner (Jun 1985)
5 The Starwolf Trilogy by Edmond Hamilton (Jul 1985)
6 Starhunt by David Gerrold (Aug 1985)
7 Sold - for a Spaceship by Philip E. High (Sep 1985)
8 Run, Come See Jerusalem! by Richard C. Meredith (Oct 1985)
9 Cross the Stars by David Drake (Nov 1985)
10 Chronicles of the Star Kings by Edmond Hamilton (Apr 1986)
11 The Blackcollar by Timothy Zahn (Jun 1986)
12 Space Skimmer by David Gerrold (Apr 1987)
13 Speaking of Dinosaurs by Philip E. High (Jun 1987)
14 The Timeliner Trilogy by Richard C. Meredith (Aug 1987)
15 Cobra by Timothy Zahn (Oct 1987)
16 Assault on the Gods by Stephen Goldin (Dec 1987)
17 Cobra Strike by Timothy Zahn (Feb 1988)
18 Hammer's Slammers: At Any Price by David Drake (Aug 1988)
19 The Backlash Mission by Timothy Zahn (Oct 1988)
20 The Sky is Filled with Ships by Richard C. Meredith (Nov 1988)
21 The Torch of Honor by Roger MacBride Allen (Jan 1989)
22 Victims of the Nova by John Brunner (Mar 1989)
23 Cobra Bargain by Timothy Zahn (May 1989)
24 Hammer's Slammers: Counting the Cost (Jul 1989)
25 Rogue Powers by Roger MacBride Allen (Sep 1989)

I don't have anything like a full run, but most of the covers of the titles I do have (illustrated here) were by Eddie Jones.

1 comment:

  1. I love that 'Hammer's Slammers' cover, particularly.
    Its like a cross between a interplanetary Stonehenge artwork and Dali's 'Persistence of Memory'

    ReplyDelete

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