Rog Phillips’ Secret of the Flaming Ring

Rog Phillips’ novella Secret of the Flaming Ring (written under the name P.F. Costello) was published in Fantastic Adventures in March 1951. Rog Phillips (1909-1960) was a prolific American writer of mostly short fiction who enjoyed modest success during his lifetime.

In 1951 the idea that other planets in our solar system might be habitable, and might even be inhabited, still had just enough scientific plausibility to allow science fiction writers to use Mars and Venus as settings. By the mid-60s unmanned space probes had reached both planets and we knew the bad news, that both planets were hostile and uninhabitable. Science fiction writers therefore switched their attention to interstellar spaceflight.

This novella assumes that by the early 21st century we will have colonies on Venus (I miss the starry-eyed technological optimism of 1950s science fiction). That’s where this story takes place. Joe Grimm runs a casino on Venus.

Joe had suffered horrific injuries in a spacecraft accident. He now has a huge metal plate on his forehead with one artificial eye. He can see just fine but his problem is that no-one can bear to see him - he is now a partial cyborg and looks monstrous.

That’s why he doesn’t dare to tell Diana that he loves her. Diana is one of the strippers working in his joint.

Everyone on Venus knows that Venus was once inhabited. Huge hoards of coins and artifacts have been found. It is obvious that the planet was once home to an advanced technological civilisation. No trace remains of that civilisation. The artifacts are now just ruined pieces of junk. The native Venusians are extinct. At least that’s what everybody assumes.

What intrigues Joe is that some guy named Murdock has been passing Venusian coins in his casino. They are obviously genuine but there is something wrong. Joe has had them analysed and they’re just not old enough.

Venus has very little to offer its colonists but it does hold out one tantalising promise. If a person could find intact Venusian technology it would mean fame and riches for that person. And finding evidence of actual living Venusians would mean even greater fame and fortune. Joe Grimm is wondering if these coins might lead him to such a discovery.

Then Diana disappears, without any explanation. Now Joe has two things for which to search - Diana and evidence that living Venusians exist.

What we finds is not what he expected. It’s much stranger. And it has extraordinary implications for our understanding of the whole of human history and mythology. Has he discovered Venusians or gods?

And what of Diana? She fits into this picture somehow but Joe is not sure how.

Joe has a part to play in a cosmic power struggle. He doesn’t fully understand it. The risks are great. But the rewards are tempting.

The ideas in this story are crazy and far-fetched but they’re certainly intriguing. This is more science fantasy than hard science fiction. The author has zero interest in scientific plausibility. I have no problems with that. I can enjoy science fiction that aims for scientific plausibility and I can enjoy science fiction that simply ignores such things.

The plot would have benefited from a few more twists and a greater sense of urgency.

Secret of the Flaming Ring is competent pulp sci-fi and it’s moderately enjoyable. Worth a look.

Armchair Fiction have paired this novella with Jack Sharkey’s The Secret Martians in a two-novel paperback edition.

I’ve reviewed another Rog Phillips novel, World of If, which is OK with some interesting ideas but suffers from heavy-handed messaging.