Overview

H.G. Wells has been called the father of science fiction, and with genre-defining classics like The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine, it’s obvious why. The War of the Worlds is as vivid and powerful today as the day it was written. In this collection, which also includes the full text of The War of the Worlds, fourteen of science fiction’s greatest talents come together to discuss, with insight and humor, one of science fiction’s most important works. Essays include: • “H. G. Wells’ Enduring Mythos of Mars,” in which Stephen Baxter provides the history of man’s investigators of Mars and explains why Wells was right after all • “Just Who Were Those Martians, Anyway?” in which Lawrence Watt-Evans explains how ridiculously incompetent the Martians were as interplanetary invaders, and why • “In Working’s Image,” in which Mercedes Lackey takes us to a different alien world: Wells’ hometown of Working during the late 19th century • “The Tiniest Assassins,” in which Mike Resnick suggests that Wells gets one tiny thing wrong • The Hugo-winning “The Soul Selects Her Own Society” (the only reprint in this anthology), in which Connie Willis describes the unfortunate encounter between Emily Dickinson and Wells’ Martians

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9781932100556

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H.G. Wells was born in Bromley, Kent, in 1866. After an education repeatedly interrupted by his family's financial problems, he eventually found work as a teacher at a succession of schools, where he began to write his first stories. Wells became a prolific writer with a diverse output, of which the famous works are his science fiction novels. These are some of the earliest and most influential examples of the genre, and include classics such as The Time Machine and The War of the Worlds. Most of his books very well-received, and had a huge influence on many younger writers, including George Orwell and Isaac Asimov. Wells also wrote many popular non-fiction books, and used his writing to support the wide range of political and social causes in which he had an interest, although these became increasingly eccentric towards the end of his life. Twice-married, Wells had many affairs, including a ten-year liaison with Rebecca West that produced a son. He died in London in 1946.

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