Venus Mons Iliad: Book Three

“Women – will men ever understand them? Maybe not, but like Ish we spend our life trying.”
- Edward Squires, Not Quite a Novella

“I was there along the sidelines, so I can attest the truth of Bill Burkett’s words,” says editor and anthologist Hollis George.

Like Homer’s Iliad, this too is an epic story, the recounting of a man’s journey, in this case through a life filled with a strange species called “woman.” The dedication, quoting the song To All the Girls I Loved Before, says it all. If men are from Mars and women from Venus, here is a sci-fi writer exploring the space between them. Like Moby Dick’s narrator, Ishmael tells of a search with an elusive goal, understanding the women in his life.

William R. Burkett, Jr. is an acclaimed sci-fi writer, listed in the Science Fiction Encyclopedia. But his “straight” writing is equally powerful. A product of Georgia and Florida, he now lives in the Pacific Northwest where he can enjoy the fishing and duck hunting. He was once described by author Frank G. Slaughter as a “natural-born storyteller.” After a Quixotic career in journalism and public relations, he’s now turning his attention back to his fascinating life.