Hunt the red roe by John Jakes
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Hunt the red roe by John Jakes is a science fiction short story written in the mid-20th century. It centers on a Venus-based big-game hunter pressed to kill a sacred animal, exploring the clash between sport, greed, and a stirring sense of reverence and conscience. Regan, a down-on-his-luck Terran hunter on Venus, is hired by the wealthy, thrill-seeking Mrs. Holloway to guide her into a native Preserve and kill the red roebuck,
an animal holy to the Venusians. Warned by a blind native beggar and shamed by his young Venusian assistant, Karal, Regan goes anyway, driven by need. In the Preserve, Mrs. Holloway turns her rifle on him, demanding he shoot the tame roebuck for her amusement. As Regan sights the animal, its calm, gold-flecked gaze overwhelms him with a sense of sacredness; he refuses, and when she wounds him, he kills her in self-defense. The roebuck escapes; back in the village, Regan is absolved by an inquiry and visited by Holloway’s estranged husband, who confirms her instability. Selling a spare rifle for passage, Regan departs for Mars with Karal, carrying a new, indelible moral compass shaped by the moment he could not bring himself to kill the creature whose eye felt like the eye of God. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Author | Jakes, John, 1932-2023 |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | Manso, Leo, 1914-1993 |
| Illustrator | McCann, Gerald, 1916-1995 |
| Title | Hunt the red roe |
| Original Publication | New York: Stratford Novels Inc., 1953. |
| Series Title | Produced from Avon Science Fiction and Fantasy Reader, April 1953 (Vol. 1, no. 2). |
| Credits | Tom Trussel (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Science fiction |
| Subject | Short stories |
| Subject | Hunting stories |
| Subject | Venus (Planet) -- Fiction |
| Subject | Hunters -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 78910 |
| Release Date | Jun 21, 2026 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 948 downloads in the last 30 days. |
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