Stirling, S.M. The Lords of Creation
What if: 1960s space probes found that Venus and Mars were inhabited planets, just like in the old pulp sf stories.
Series note: Two-volume series, including The Sky People and In the Courts of the Crimson Kings.

Stirling, S.M. The Sky People
Summary: In the late 1990s, a team from the American base on Venus is dispatched to aid survivors of a Russian descender crash, but themselves get into trouble. Meanwhile, questions are raised by Venus's odd, dis-continuous fossil record and the high degree of similarity between many Venusian and Terran species, including humans.
Series note: First volume of The Lords of Creation.
Published: Tor 2006 (0765314886BUY), 2007 (0765353768BUY).

Stirling, S.M. In the Courts of the Crimson Kings
Series note: Second and concluding volume of The Lords of Creation.
Published: Tor 2008 (0765314894BUY).