author
Charles Napier Richards
A little-known British writer, Charles Napier Richards imagined an audacious journey to Venus decades before space travel became a familiar science-fiction theme. His sole known novel blends antigravity technology, alien societies, political upheaval, and earnest questions about science and faith.
1 Audiobook
Atalanta : or, Twelve months in the evening star
by Charles Napier Richards
About the author
Very little is known about Richards’s life, and even his birth and death dates remain unrecorded in major reference sources. He is known primarily for Atalanta; Or, Twelve Months in the Evening Star, published in 1909 by H. & C. Treacher of Brighton.
The novel follows five travelers who build an advanced spacecraft and journey to Venus, where they encounter both gorilla-like subhumans and a scientifically developed human civilization. Alongside its interplanetary adventure, the book explores social order, religion, technological progress, and the limits of human knowledge, making Richards a distinctive—if obscure—figure in early British science fiction.