One of my favourite discoveries of the past few years has been the Venture SF range. Published in the 1980s, the goal behind the series was to offer cheap paperback editions of science fiction books that didn’t already have a UK paperback release. The series also had a stated remit of adventurous science fiction. Space opera, military SF, and time travel. There were only twenty-six books published before the series folded, but in that time Venture SF published famous names such as Timothy Zahn, David Drake, and John Brunner. There were also authors I’d never heard of before coming to this series, including Richard C. Meredith, whose work I have greatly enjoyed so far. another unfamiliar name who features regularly in the Venture SF range is Philip E. High, whose three contributions to the series I’ll be looking at today.

I will say right off the bad that High is definitely the weakest part of the range that I’ve read so far. He has a knack for an interesting premise, a promising opening, and a fun adventure, let down by some truly atrocious writing and haphazard pacing. There are times throughout all three of these books that I felt like High had changed his ideas as to where to take the story in-between writing two paragraphs. These narrative swings feature plot shifts and perspective hopping that would make A.E. van Vogt dizzy with excitement. Van Vogt is about the only other author I can think of who can write books that are objectively badly written, yet also strangely endearing in their own special way.

Come, Hunt an Earthman gets us off to a great start. What if Earth was being used as a hunting reserve by powerful aliens. The first half of the book is brilliant, if pulpy, fun, as we follow the alien master of the hunt enforcing the rules over his alien charges, while also seeing how humans might resists this unusual form of alien invasion. If the book had kept to this, it would have been a lot stronger. Alas, High is not content to stay there, and soon spins off into a bizarre series of events concerning parallel universes and cosmic antibodies.

Then we have Sold-For a Spaceship. In theory, this is the strongest of the three books. Humanity emerges from bunkers after a global disaster and wages war for control of the surface. turns out rats and bees have hyper evolved in our absence.. But then there’s the humans who fled to space, who would quite like their planet back. The opening and denouement are both really good, evocative of an earlier time of science fiction, and quietly powerful. Unfortunately, the hundred and fifty pages connecting them are absolutely dire. Every character is a caricature, sometimes a slightly racist one, while the plotting itself is downright terrible. I’ve rarely seen such poor execution of an idea, which is all the more mystifying given the beginning and end being on another level altogether. As an aside, I also wonder if early protagonist Mark Clifton is named for the Hugo Award winning author.

Finally, there’s Speaking of Dinosaurs. The premise here is absurd. What if dinosaurs are the result of ancient aliens trying to genetically engineer the perfect soldier? There’s some strange stuff about humanity splitting into two new species, and an alien trial being held for Earth’s benefit, but frankly it’s hard to pay attention given High’s unique prose style jumping all over the place. At some point the book crosses the line into being so bad it’s enjoyable again, but that is a long way away from being good.

All multi-author endeavours will hit a stumbling block somewhere along the way, and hopefully this is the weakest that Venture SF have to offer. Make no mistake, these are not good books, but there is something charming about High’s eager delivery of every unhinged twist and turn. I’d recommend reading at least one so you can say you’ve had the experience. And if you’re a completionist like me, the Venture SF range has had remarkably few misses this far.