The War of the Worlds

The War of the Worlds is a science fiction novel by English author H.G. Wells first serialized in 1897 in the United Kingdom by Pearson’s Magazine and in the United States by Cosmopolitan Magazine. The novel’s first appearance in hardcover was in 1898 from publisher William Heinemann of London. Written between 1895-1897, it is one of the earliest stories detailing a conflict between mankind and an extraterrestrial race. The novel is the first-person narrative of both an unnamed protagonist in Surrey and of his younger brother in London as southern England is invaded by Martians. The novel is one of the most commented-on works in the science fiction canon.

    The plot has been related to invasion literature of the time. The novel has been variously interpreted as a commentary on evolutionary theory, British imperialism, and generally Victorian superstitions, fears, and prejudices. At the time of publication, it was classified as a scientific romance, like Wells’s earlier novel The Time Machine. The War of the Worlds has been both popular (never out of print) and influential, spawning half a dozen feature films, radio dramas, a record album, various comic book adaptations, a television series, and sequels or parallel stories by other authors. It has even influenced the work of scientists, notably Robert Goddard, who (inspired by the book) invented both the liquid fueled rocket and multi-stage rocket, which resulted in the Apollo 11 moon landing seventy-one years later.

The Time Machine

The Time Machine is a science fiction novel by H.G. Wells published in 1895. Wells is generally credited with the popularization of the concept of time travel by using a vehicle allowing an operator to travel purposely and selectively forwards or backwards in time. The term “time machine,” coined by Wells, is now almost universally used to refer to such a vehicle.

    The Time Machine has since been adapted into three feature films of the same name, as well as two television versions, and a large number of comic book adaptations. It has also indirectly inspired many more works of fiction.

The Invisible Man

The Invisible Man is a science fiction novel by H.G. Wells. Originally serialized in Pearson’s Weekly in 1897, it was published as a novel the same year. The invisible man of the title is Griffin, a scientist who devotes himself to research into optics, inventing a way to change a body’s refractive index to air so the body neither absorbs nor reflects light, thus becoming invisible. He successfully carries out this procedure on himself, but fails in his attempt to reverse it.

    While its predecessors, The Time Machine and The Island of Doctor Moreau, were written using first-person narrators, Wells adopts a third-person objective point of view in The Invisible Man.

The Island of Doctor Moreau

The Island of Doctor Moreau is an 1896 science fiction novel by English author H.G. Wells. The text of the novel is the narration of Edward Prendick, a shipwrecked man rescued by a passing boat who is left on the island home of Doctor Moreau, who creates human-like hybrid beings from animals via vivisection. The novel deals with a number of philosophical themes, including pain and cruelty, moral responsibility, human identity, and human interference with nature. Wells described the novel as “an exercise in youthful blasphemy.”

     The Island of Doctor Moreau is a classic of early science fiction and remains one of Wells’ best-known books; it has been adapted to film and other media on many occasions.