author
Percy Greg
1836–1889
Best remembered for the imaginative 1880 novel Across the Zodiac, this Victorian writer helped sketch one of the early paths toward modern planetary adventure fiction. He also worked as a journalist and wrote on politics and history, giving his books a strong, often argumentative voice.
1 Audiobook
Across the Zodiac The Story of a Wrecked Record
by Percy Greg
About the author
Born on 7 January 1836 in Bury, Percy Greg was an English writer and the son of essayist William Rathbone Greg. Contemporary biographical sources describe him as spending much of his career in journalism, contributing to papers including the Manchester Guardian, the Standard, and the Saturday Review.
He is now chiefly remembered for Across the Zodiac (1880), an early science-fiction novel about a journey to Mars. The book is often noted for its influence on later planetary adventure stories, and it remains the work most closely linked with his name.
Greg also wrote fiction, history, and political commentary. Later sources note that his historical and political writing could be sharply polemical, which helps explain the forceful tone that runs through much of his work. He died in London on 24 December 1889.