If you missed Plant Monsters in Weird Tales (now expanded) go here…
Hugo Gernsback’s Plant Monsters begin even before Science Fiction had a name. He peppered his non-fiction magazine Science and Invention with stories, three that were about plants. When he moved on to an all-Science Fiction (what he called “Scientifiction”) magazine, Amazing Stories, he reprinted some great plant monster tales by Murray Leinster and T. S. Stribling. Soon, he was producing new fiction from authors like A. Hyatt Verrill and David H. Keller. Even the monumentally important novel, The Skylark of Space, the first Space Opera novel, had a plant monster. (And all the imitators do, too.)
Hugo went through a few titles (not always by choice) but finally settled on Wonder Stories, where for six years he provided plant creatures on a regular basis. In 1936, Hugo sold off his SF Pulps and moved on. Wonder Stories became Thrilling Wonder and a whole new chapter in SF (and plants!) was born.
Science and Invention
“The Secret of Life” by Clement Fezandié (Science and Invention, July 1922)
“The Great Food Panic” by Burnie L. Bevill (Science and Invention, June 1923)
“The Living Death” by John Martin Leahy (Science and Invention, October 1924-June 1925)
Amazing Stories
“The Mad Planet” by Murray Leinster (Amazing Stories, November 1926) was reprinted from Argosy. Burl lives in a world of giant plants and insects. The descendant of a spacewreck, his primitive life is all about survival.
“Through the Crater’s Rim” by A. Hyatt Verrill (Amazing Stories, December 1926) has an aviator exploring ruined cities in the jungles of Panama. There he must evade the walking trees with their grabbing branches. For a look at all of A. Hyatt Verrill’s stories go here.
“The Red Dust” by Murray Leinster (Amazing Stories, January 1927) was reprinted from Argosy. Burl must deal with the red dust, spores from fungus that kills.
“The Green Splotches” by T. S. Stribling (Amazing Stories, March 1927) has an American expedition in Peru encounter some strange creatures that bleed green blood. These plant men are building a rocket! This story was reprinted from Adventure.
“The Malignant Flower” by Anthos (Amazing Stories, September 1927) has explorers in the Himalayas encounter a giant plant. The author of this story is a bit of a mystery. “Anthos” is Greek for “Flower”. The story may have been translated from German.
“The Yeast Men” by David H. Keller (Amazing Stories, April 1928) has an army of yeasties produced then sent into enemy territory. The yeast men don’t kill but they stink very badly when they rot. Keller wrote a good number of plant stories (for Gernsback and other editors). Read about them here.
The Skylark of Space by Lee Hawkins Garby & E. E. “Doc” Smith & (Amazing Stories, August September October 1928) is the first novel of Space Opera. In the long tale the explorers seek a copper-bearing planet and find a primitive world where the trees try to eat the tigers and crocodiles.
“The Murgatroyd Experiment”by Capt. S. P. Meeks (Amazing Stories Quarterly, Winter 1929) has doctors creating chlorophyl-based men who revolt, of course, in Dr. Moreau style.
Science Wonder Stories
“The Evening Star” by David H. Keller (Science Wonder Stories, April 1930) is a two-part tale of Venus. In one chapter, a hero must save a heroine from a plant monster, a giant man-eater. It’s not all that important to the over-all story.
Wonder Stories
“Marooned in Andromeda” by Clark Ashton Smith (Wonder Stories, October 1930) has Captain Volmar lead an expedition to Andromeda where strange aliens, including killer flowers, take out crew members. Clark Ashton Smith produced several SF tales for Gernsback until an editing disagreement. More here.
“The Air-Plant Men” by Roger Wulfres (Wonder Stories, December 1930) has balloon-like aliens armed with the terrible “Death Lily”. The weird flying octopoids need the weed-like lily to survive.
“The Red Spot of Jupiter” by Dennis McDermott ( Walter Dennis, Paul McDermott and P. Schuyler Miller) (Wonder Stories, July 1931) has a man crash land on Jupiter, in the Red Spot. Carnivorous plants live there. They eat all the bad guys.
“Twelve Hours to Live” by Jack Williamson (Wonder Stories, August 1931) has a killer fungus and a pirate that uses it to trap his victims.
“The Planet Entity” by Clark Ashton Smith (Wonder Stories Quarterly, Fall 1931) has a gigantic single plant take over the world and rule the pesky humans. Brian Aldiss’s Hothouse owes something to this story.
“The Emperors of Space” by Jerome Gross and R. Penny (Wonder Stories, November 1931) is a Yellow Peril story in every sense. The Chinese have devised a killer fungus called the Yellow Rot. The heroes travel in time to save the world. For more on Yellow Peril SF, go here.
“The Martian Nemesis” by Geroge B. Beattie (Wonder Stories Quarterly, Winter 1931) has the polar ice caps on Mars melt and water a race of man-eating plants. Now we know what happened to the Martians! More on George Beatty go here.
“The Immortals of Mercury” by Clark Ashton Smith (Science Fiction Series #16, 1932) has a mysterious plant called the Roccalim, which the Mercutians use for a strange ritual. This tale was one of the booklets Hugo sold as promotion for his Pulps.
“Vanguard to Neptune” by J. M. Walsh (Wonder Stories Quarterly, Spring 1932) is another epic novel with multiple visits to planets, one inhabited by plant men. They are intelligent and probably came from outside our solar system.
“Flight Into Super-Time” by Clark Ashton Smith (Wonder Stories, August 1932) begins with a maverick scientist inventing a drive that separates time and space. Hurtling through space, he ends up on a planet with giant man-eating plants. The human-like aliens there are in a war with the plants. That’s all before the giant killer robots….
“In Martian Depths” by Henrik Dahl Juve (Wonder Stories, September 1932) has another trip to Mars where giant carnivorous plants bear poisonous spines.
“Red Flame of Venus” by P. Schuyler Miller (Wonder Stories, September 1932) has a patrolman in the Laxa province of Venus involved with a cult that worships a giant flower called the Flame Flower.
“Guardians of the Void” by Arthur K. Barnes (Wonder Stories Quarterly, Fall 1932) has a caste system of plant-men Venusians, with the higher ones closer to humans. The lower caste are the prey of slavers and called “Greenies”.
“Men of the Dark Comet” by Festus Pragnell (Wonder Stories, June 1933) features a spaceship to Ganymede discovering a race of plant men living inside a hollowed out comet. The plant men continue onto Earth, helping the humans in a war against Mars.
“Spheres of Hell” by John Beynon Harris (Wonder Stories, October 1933) has giant puffballs. Harris was later known by the far more famous name of John Wyndham. This story was a dry-run for The Day of the Triffids. For more on his early stories go here.
“Evolution Satellite” by J. Harvey Haggard (Wonder Stories, December 1933 January 1934) has Earthmen investigate the satellites of Uranus. They encounter man-eating plants, of course! These plants even steal their ship. Later mushroom people will evolve. For more on J. Harvey Haggard go here.
“The Moon Plague” by Raymond Z. Gallun (Wonder Stories, January 1934) has the Moon inhabited by eighteen-foot tall plant men. They communicate using lights. If that wasn’t enough, there is also a fungal blight that causes humans to go insane. For a complete bibliography of Raymond Z. Gallun, go here.
“Exile of the Skies” by Richard Vaughn (Wonder Stories, January February March 1934) is a space travel novel heavily based on E. E. Doc Smith. The travelers go to many asteroids and planets, including Merinoe, which has carnivorous plants.
“The Spore Doom” by Eando Binder (Wonder Stories, February 1934) has a war in which the losing side releases a fungus that makes all plants hostile and poisonous. For more on Earl and Otto Binder go here.
“The Menace From Space” by John Edwards (Wonder Stories, April 1934) has Venus bombarding Earth with seed spores that create a poisonous gas. This turns out to be a good thing…
“A Martian Odyssey” by Stanley G. Weinbaum (Wonder Stories, July 1934) is the superstar performance from an SF great. The hero, Jarvis, and his bird-like Martian buddy encounter a plant that can conjure up your wildest dreams, before it eats you. For more on Stanley G. Weinbaum, go here.
“A Visit to Venus” by Festus Pragnell (Wonder Stories, August 1934) has Earth seeking a vitamin from Venus to stop degeneration in humans. Two men go to Venus and have the usual encounter with carnivorous plants.
“The Tree of Evil” by David H. Keller (Wonder Stories, September 1934) has a plant that humans take the sap from and drink to make them evil.
“The Valley of Dreams” by Stanley G. Weinbaum (Wonder Stories, November 1934) is the sequel to “A Martian Odyssey”, where Jarvis learns that Tweel, his bird-friend, is probably a vegetable.
“The Moaning Lily” by Emma Vanne (Wonder Stories, May 1935) has Karl Brense, a dying botanist, graft himself into a carnivorous plant. The thing moans as it dies.
“Seeds From Space” by Laurence Manning (Wonder Stories, June 1935) has an alcoholic raise three seeds from space. These creatures learn all about space and the universe and are poised to take over the world. But the man gets them drunk and then destroys them. Invasion adverted.
“The Perfect World” by Benson Herbert (Wonder Stories, October November-December 1935) begins with a rocket going to the planet Arion and discovers a solitary plant alien. He is in charge of Arion, which is actually a space station, not a planet.
Conclusion: Science Fiction Plus
Hugo Gernsback’s Plant Monsters continued after 1935. The editor made a short return in 1953 with Science Fiction Plus. That pulp had stories and articles (“Rapid Wonder Plants”, March 1953) with plants such as the Babu plant from Clifford D. Simak’s “Retrograde Evolution” (April 1953), but more importantly, Murray Leinster’s “The Nightmare Planet” (June 1953). This was the final segment of the fix-up novel of the same name. This is the ending to two stories he had written for Argosy back in 1920, “The Mad Planet” and “The Red Dust” (which Gernsback had reprinted). Hugo’s last gift to Science Fiction was this finale to a great book by one of SF’s top writers.
Next time… Astounding Plant Monsters!
