Spacewrecked on Venus

"Spacewrecked on Venus" by Neil R. Jones is a science fiction novel written in the early 20th century, likely during the 1930s. This engaging work explores themes of adventure and survival as a group of space explorers find themselves stranded on the harsh and treacherous landscape of Venus after their spacecraft, the "C-49", experiences a catastrophic failure during its descent. The story follows the crew and passengers of the "C-49" as they struggle for survival in an alien environment filled with dangerous creatures and treacherous landscapes. After the ship crashes, the captain, Cragley, leads a group of passengers, including Hantel and Chris Brady, to recover precious cargo—platinum—and find their way back to civilization. As they face challenges from both nature and human treachery—with mutineers attempting to sabotage their mission—the group learns that trust is fragile amidst fear and desperation. Brady’s clever maneuvering with the local troglodytes ultimately plays a pivotal role in their journey, revealing deeper undercurrents of loyalty and betrayal among the characters as they fight to reclaim their safety and cargo. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Neil Ronald Jones was an American writer who worked for the state of New York. His first story, "The Death's Head Meteor", was published in Air Wonder Stories in 1930, possibly recording the first use of "astronaut" in fiction. He also pioneered cyborg and robotic characters, and is credited with inspiring the modern idea of cryonics. Most of his stories fit into a "future history" like that of Robert A. Heinlein or Cordwainer Smith, well before either of them used this convention in their fiction.