The Wizard of Venus

by Edgar Rice Burroughs

*'"The Wizard of Venus"'. Carson Napier is trapped in the castle of an insane Venusian "wizard" who holds the local population in thrall through the use of hypnotic powers. Napier, who is possessed of comparable powers he has hitherto utilized solely to transmit his account of his Venusian adventures back to Earth, successfully counters the tyrant and frees his victims.

*'"Pirate Blood"'. Johnny LaFitte of Glenora, California, a 20th-century descendant of the New Orleans pirate Jean Lafitte, finds himself thrown by a bizarre set of events into his ancestor's profession. The author's depiction of modern-day piracy is quite unsavory, replete with cold-blooded murder and rapine, but overall the tale is a semi-serious takeoff on the hoary theory that heredity equals destiny.