Venus, the Evening Star, Venera, Al-Zuhara, ch'aska... the second planet of the Solar System. The Venus of myth, fable and fact has been a common setting in science fiction, and here are six more stories showing the many faces of the planet. From Heidi Kneale’s tale of homelessness and science to Lorraine Schein’s fable about female anarchists, from Deborah Walker’s poetic colonisation of the Evening Star to Erin Hartshorn’s story of a flight from war (Venus at least, it seems, accepts refugees), and from Rosie Oliver’s hard sf to EM Edward’s densely-written heartland science fiction. Half a dozen of the best contemporary science fiction has to offer about Venus.