Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Voodoo Planet
    Voodoo Planet
    Voodoo Planet
    Ebook99 pages1 hour

    Voodoo Planet

    By Andre Norton

    3.5/5

    ()

    Switch to audiobook
    Read preview

    About this ebook

    A gripping story of otherworldly mystery and magic from an acclaimed Grand Master of Fantasy.

    When Captain Jellico and the crew of the interstellar tramp freighter Solar Queen are invited to visit the planet Khatka by Chief Ranger Asaki, they anticipate a brief respite from the boredom of their mail route. But there is more danger on the verdant jungle world than they know.
     
    Founded as a refuge by Earth Africans, Khatka is a global safari where hunters pay big money to pursue the biggest game. But lately Asaki’s battle against ruthless poachers has been undermined by a vicious witch doctor, Lumbrilo, who takes a mortal dislike to the captain and his men.
     
    And when their craft crashes while over wild country, Jellico, Asaki and their friends soon find themselves not only hunted by Khatka’s lethal fauna, but by Lumbrilo, who sees his chance to get rid of his enemies once and for all . . .

    Voodoo Planet is the third book in the Solar Queen Series, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Media
    Release dateAug 29, 2017
    ISBN9781504045247
    Author

    Andre Norton

    For well over a half century, Andre Norton was one of the most popular science fiction and fantasy authors in the world. Since her first SF novels were published in the 1940s, her adventure SF has enthralled readers young and old. With series such as Time Traders, Solar Queen, Forerunner, Beast Master, Crosstime, and Janus, as well as many stand-alone novels, her tales of action and adventure throughout the galaxy have drawn countless readers to science fiction. Her fantasy, including the best-selling Witch World series, her "Magic" series, and many other unrelated novels, has been popular with readers for decades. Lauded as a Grand Master by the Science Fiction Writers of America, she is the recipient of a Life Achievement Award from the World Fantasy Convention. Not only have her books been enormously popular; she also has inspired several generations of SF and fantasy writers, especially many talented women writers who have followed in her footsteps. In the past two decades she worked with other writers on a number of novels. Most notable among these were collaborations with Mercedes Lackey, the Halfblood Chronicles, as well as collaborations with A.C. Crispin (in the Witch World series) and Sherwood Smith (in the Time Traders and Solar Queen series). Andre Norton passed away in 2005.

    Read more from Andre Norton

    Related to Voodoo Planet

    Titles in the series (3)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Classics For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Rock Hard

      Sep 10, 2020

      Rock Hard
      7 min read

    • Article

      Town & Country Notebook

      Mar 3, 2021

      1) On what musical instrument would a nocturne typically be played? 2) Who was the last monarch before The Queen to have a Diamond Jubilee? 3) Complete the title of the 1990 British film starring Alan Rickman and Juliet Stevenson: Truly, Madly… wha

      1 min read

    • Article

      In Search Of ...

      Apr 1, 2019

      Fifteen-year-old Tay lives on Rannoch, a distant planet covered with water, where undersea pods or living chambers provide life support for up to three people—usually two adults and one child. Tay learns that her parents are expecting another child a

      8 min read

    • Article

      Tempting Fate

      May 11, 2023

      Read about sailing all your life and you won’t find another book quite like Bound for Cape Horn, with its interesting subtitle Skills for Expedition Cruising. Any suggestion this might be yet another text book on how to do it is dissipated in the ope

      7 min read

    • Article

      In Search Of . . .

      Feb 1, 2019

      In Search Of . . .
      7 min read

    • Article

      Rats Aweigh

      Jul 24, 2019

      Rats Aweigh
      4 min read

    • Article

      Time Out

      Jun 5, 2020

      Time Out
      5 min read

    • Article

      Time Out

      Jun 5, 2020

      Time Out
      5 min read

    • Article

      The great White South

      May 19, 2023

      The great White South
      11 min read

    • Article

      Tom Cunliffe

      Nov 6, 2020

      Tom Cunliffe
      5 min read

    • Article

      Tom Cunliffe

      Nov 6, 2020

      Tom Cunliffe
      5 min read

    • Article

      Weird World Ahoy there!

      Jul 13, 2023

      Weird World Ahoy there!
      3 min read

    • Article

      McCARTHY AND THE MOUSE

      Nov 13, 2018

      McCARTHY AND THE MOUSE
      7 min read

    • Article

      Summer Reading Essentials

      Dec 18, 2022

      Ashipmate of mine calls the chandlery his ‘church.’ Right now, he’s no doubt making repeat reverential visits to prepare his boat for their summer cruise. Reminder to Gordon: you need to drop by a boating books shop as well, to stock up on those othe

      3 min read

    • Article

      Perfect Prose II

      May 15, 2020

      Perfect Prose II
      4 min read

    • Article

      Commonplace Book

      Dec 1, 2022

      Nothing is as important to our ability to survive as our ability to hurt. -Haider Warraich, The Song of Our Scars, 2022 In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy. Drive your cart and your plow over the bones of the dead. -William Blake, T

      4 min read

    • Article

      Crazy Times at Sea

      Feb 3, 2017

      A long time ago in an office far, far away, I received a typewritten manuscript that told a harrowing tale of a transatlantic voyage gone horribly wrong. The author and his girlfriend had answered a magazine advertisement for crew (yes, it was that l

      2 min read

    • Article

      Sailing Home

      Jan 14, 2022

      Sailing Home
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Outer Worlds

      Aug 27, 2019

      The Outer Worlds
      3 min read

    • Article

      Starshift

      Sep 9, 2019

      Starshift
      16 min read

    • Article

      Shattered Dreams

      Aug 30, 2019

      Raivavae (pronounced reh-vah-VYE) is one of the Austral Islands, part of French Polynesia, and it’s one of our favourite lesser-known stops. High and lush, it has an encircling reef that provides multiple safe anchorages, friendly people and low-key

      6 min read

    • Article

      Time Out

      Aug 30, 2019

      E.F Knight’s Cruise of the Alerte is one of those sailing books that has all the classic ingredients for a ripping yarn. A cruise in a small boat to an exotic location, a few rows along the way and a fruitless hunt for treasure at the end of it. Knig

      5 min read

    • Article

      Holy Belt And Braces

      Apr 13, 2023

      Flotsam and jetsam Sam Llewellyn writes nautical thrillers, edits The Marine Quarterly, and is perpetually patching up a 30ft ketch: samllewellyn.com Well, here we are, time to launch again. Antifouling on, everything varnishable varnished, survey su

      3 min read

    • Article

      Six Bestiary Poems

      Nov 1, 2020

      The world, is it finite? Pliny the Elderon what he saw and heard, 37 “books” toround that up, early C.E. as heproceeded to be infinite. His Naturalis. His Historia.First bestiary ever in Book 8. Land lifeand sea life and through-the-air and undergrou

      4 min read

    • Article

      Salty Cravings

      Jan 5, 2024

      Salty Cravings
      3 min read

    • Article

      Sometimes The Gods Can Be Cruel

      Oct 27, 2023

      Sometimes The Gods Can Be Cruel
      7 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Voodoo Planet

    3.5/5

    28 ratings3 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Two unrelated stories. Star Hunter is mildly interesting - a complex fraud, an alien planet that's more alien than expected, and then some interesting revelations about said fraud at the end. And a happy ending, of sorts. I think I've seen Ras Hume in another book - the name sounds familiar. That would be neat. The second story is a Solar Queen one - between Plague Ship and Postmarked the Stars. It's an interesting setup - 'native' magic and not-quite-the-same animal dangers (the lions are black and white!). Dane is largely an adjunct for this - the narrator, but the chief actor is Medic Tau. Which is nice, since his hobby of studying magic was established back in the first book. Nice, minor adventure for the Solar Queen's crew (or a limited selection of same - Dane, Tau, and Captain Jellico).
    • 5/5
      Both stories are fairly light and quick. They are YA, but that does not take away the enjoyment of curling up with them.
    • 4/5
      The first of these stories isn't, in fact, a Solar Queen novella but a stand alone story set futureward of the Solar Queen books. A plot is hatched to gain control of a lost fortune using a young man from the lower end of society. Brainwiped and reprogrammed, When a safari party goes to the world where this young man had been dumped, a plot of dark plans is put into action, But the plans of man aren't the only ones affecting the planet and those on its surface. In Voodoo Planet, the crew of the Queen have a rare holiday and Doctor Tau indulges his interest in witchcraft when he and other members of the crew are invited to the normally closed world of Khatka

    Book preview

    Voodoo Planet - Andre Norton

    Norton_SQ_Voodoo.jpg

    Voodoo Planet

    Andre Norton

    logo2

    CAST OF CHARACTERS

    Dane Thorson: He wanted to spend a short vacation on Khatka, not the rest of his life.

    Medic Tau: Was he physician or magician—or a little bit of both?

    Chief Ranger Asaki: Tracking the forests had taught him that mad animals—whether real or imaginary—were to be feared.

    Captain Jellico: Would his knowledge of alien life-forms help him in his fight against alien ghosts?

    Nymani: Not even this pilot’s most scientific skill could overcome a voodoo charm’s ground-drag.

    Lumbrilo: On his own planet he was a witch doctor; on Earth he’d have been a master politician.

    I

    TALK OF HEAT—OR BETTER not—on Xecho. This water-logged world combined all the most unattractive features of a steam bath and one could only dream of coolness, greenness—more land than a stingy string of islands.

    The young man on the promontory above the crash of the waves wore the winged cap of a spaceman with the insignia of a cargo-master and not much else, save a pair of very short shorts. He wiped one hand absently across his bare chest and brought it away damp as he studied, through protective sun goggles, the treacherous promise of the bright sea. One could swim—if he wanted to lose most of his skin. There were minute organisms in that liquid that smacked their lips—if they had lips—every time they thought of a Terran.

    Dane Thorson licked his own lips, tasting salt, and plodded back through the sand of the spaceport to the berth of the Solar Queen. This had been a long day, and one with more snarl-ups than he cared to count, keeping him on a constant, dogged trot between the ship and the fitting yard where riggers labored with the slowest motions possible to the human body—or so it seemed to the exasperated acting-Cargo-Master of the Free Trader. Captain Jellico had long ago taken refuge in his cabin to preserve the remnants of his temper. Dane had been allowed no such escape.

    The Queen had a schedule for refitting to serve as a mail ship, and that time allowance did not allow for humidity playing the devil with the innards of robot fitters. She had to be ready to lift when the Combine ship now plying that run set down and formally signed off in her favor. Luckily, most of the work was done and Dane had given a last searching inspection before signing the rigger’s book and reporting to his captain.

    The air-conditioned interior of the Queen comforted him as he climbed to his quarters. Ship air was flat, chemically pure but unappetizing stuff. Today it was a relief to breathe. Dane went on to the bather. At least there was no lack of water—with the local skinners filtered out. It was chill but relaxing on his gaunt young body.

    He was sealing on his lightest tunic when the ramp buzzer sounded. A visitor—oh, not the supervisor-rigger again! Dane went to answer with dragging feet. For the crew of the Queen at the moment numbered exactly four, with himself for general errand boy. Captain Jellico was in his quarters two levels above, Medic Tau was presumably overhauling his supplies, and Sindbad, ship’s cat, asleep in some empty cabin.

    Dane jerked his tunic into place, very much on his guard as he came to the head of the ramp. But it was not the supervisor-rigger. Dane, thoroughly used to unusual-appearing strangers, both human and alien, was impressed by this visitor.

    He was tall, this quiet man, his great height accented by a fit leanness, a narrowness of waist and hip, a length of leg and arm. His main article of clothing was the universal shorts of the Xecho settler. But, being fashioned of saffron yellow, they were the more brilliant because of his darkness of skin. For he was not the warm brown of the Terran Negroes Dane had served beside, though he shared their general features. His flesh was really black, black with an almost bluish sheen. Instead of shirt or tunic, his deep chest was crossed by two wide straps, the big medallion marking their intersection giving forth flashes of gem fire when he breathed. He wore at his belt not the standard stun gun of a spaceman, but a weapon which resembled the more deadly Patrol blaster, as well as a long knife housed in a jeweled and fringed sheath. To the eye he was an example of barbaric force tamed and trimmed to civilized efficiency.

    He saluted, palm out, and spoke Galactic Basic with only a suggestion of accent.

    I am Kort Asaki. I believe Captain Jellico expects me.

    Yes, sir! Dane snapped to attention. So this was the Chief Ranger from fabulous Khatka, Xecho’s sister planet.

    The other ascended the cat ladder easily, missing no detail of the ship’s interior as he passed. His expression was still one of polite interest as his guide rapped on the panel door of Jellico’s cabin. And a horrible screech from Queex, the captain’s pet hoobat, drowned out any immediate answer. Then followed that automatic thump on the floor of the blue-feathered, crab-parrot-toad’s cage, announcing that its master was in residence.

    Since the captain’s cordial welcome extended only to his guest, Dane regretfully descended to the mess cabin to make unskilled preparations for supper—though there was not much you could do to foul up concentrates in an automatic cooker.

    Company? Tau sat beyond the cooking unit nursing a mug of Terran coffee. "And do you have to serve music with the meals, especially that particular selection?"

    Dane flushed, stopped whistling in mid-note. Terra Bound was old and pretty well worn out; he didn’t know why he always unconsciously sounded off with that.

    A Chief Ranger from Khatka just came on board, he reported, carefully offhand, as he busied himself reading labels. He knew better than to serve fish or any of its derivatives in disguise again.

    Khatka! Tau sat up straighter. Now there’s a planet worth visiting.

    Not on a Free Trader’s pay, commented Dane.

    You can always hope to make a big strike, boy. But what I wouldn’t give to lift ship for there!

    Why? You’re no hunter. How come you want to heat jets for that port?

    Oh, I don’t care about the game preserves, though they’re worth seeing, too. It’s the people themselves—

    But they’re Terran settlers, or at least from Terran stock, aren’t they?

    Sure, Tau sipped his coffee slowly. But there are settlers and settlers, son. And a lot depends upon when they left Terra and why, and who they were—also what happened to them after they landed out here.

    And Khatkans are really special?

    "Well, they have an amazing history. The

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1