Showing results by author "H.G. Wells" in All Categories

"This is a history and not a glorification of Mr. Polly, and I tell of things as they were with him.” So writes H.G Wells toward the end of his story of Mr. Polly, and indeed, the narrator’s voice throughout the book leaves us altogether ambivalent about his protagonist. The diminutive Everyman of the story is neither fully hero nor villain.

Tales of Space and Time is a fantasy and science fiction collection of short stories and novellas first published in 1899. They include "The Crystal Egg"; "The Star"; "A Story of the Stone Age"; "The Idler"; and A Story of the Days to Come.

A pair of casual paranormal researchers are experimenting with the idea of astral projection. One night, one of them inadvertently succeeds in projecting his spirit from his body, which is then taken possession of by a malevolent entity in his absence.

Presented as a miraculous cure-all, Tono-Bungay is in fact nothing other than a pleasant-tasting liquid with no positive effects. Nonetheless, when the young George Ponderevo is employed by his uncle Edward to help market this ineffective medicine, he finds his life overwhelmed by its sudden success. Soon the worthless substance is turned into a formidable fortune as society becomes convinced of the merits of Tono-Bungay through a combination of skilled advertising and public credulity.

The novel is the story of a scientist who, through the study of optics finds a way to make things invisible. In a desire for recognition, fame, and the advantages of being invisible, he subjects himself to the process. But being unseen isn't as positive as he had hoped, and he soon finds himself regretting his condition, and his mind also becomes warped. He becomes mentally unhinged. Later, he embraces his invisibility and begins to spiral into a lust for power and control, and he reveals a plan he has hatched to unleash his personal "terror" on the world.

A scientist invents a machine that carries him into the future.

Edward Prendick finds himself floating perilously in the ocean after having been shipwrecked. He is picked up and saved by the curious Dr. Montgomery, a medical man travelling with a cargo of various wild animals. Prendick soon finds himself once again adrift at sea after an argument with a hostile and drunken captain.

Professor Ogilvy spotted the projectiles as they were launched from the planet Mars. Even so, when they landed and the aliens emerged, mankind was not ready. Using superweapons and massive walking robots of war, the aliens trampled the forces arrayed against them and caused the rout of mankind. In this first-person narrative, one of the survivors who came face-to-face with the aliens tells his own true story.

In the 1950s, a British scientist is lost at sea. Once rescued, he finds himself on a mysterious island populated with strange, half-human, half animal creatures who are ruled over by a mysterious scientist and his assistant. This new full-cast audio adaptation of H. G. Wells' classic tale of the consequences of science without morality vividly re-creates the claustrophobic feel of the novel while bringing the setting forward to the fear and anxiety of the Atomic Age.

In the late 19th century, a cylinder crashes down near London. When George investigates, a Martian activates an evil machine and begins destroying everything in its path! George must find a way to survive a War of the Worlds.

In the design of this book, three primary themes interlace and pursue and develop each other. There is first, that invention and science have completely altered the material environment of human life. Next, that the disruptive driving force of an excess of bored and unemployed young men, which must in some manner find relief, will probably shatter human life altogether under the new conditions. And thirdly, that the existing mental organization of our species is entirely insufficient to control the present situation, which nevertheless might, with an adequate effort, be controlled.

Mr. Britling Sees It Through is H.G. Wells's "masterpiece of the wartime experience in south eastern England." The novel was published in September 1916. Mr. Britling Sees It Through tells the story of a renowned writer, Mr. Britling, a protagonist who is quite evidently an alter ego of the author. The garrulous, easy-going Mr. Britling lives with family and friends in the fictional village of Matching's Easy, located in the county of Essex, northeast of London. The novel is divided into three parts.

H.G. Wells, one of the most influential writers of science fiction and speculative fiction, has left an indelible mark on literature with his vast body of work. Wells's books, spanning across various genres, captivate people with their imaginative narratives, thought-provoking concepts, and insightful social commentary. His novels, such as "The Time Machine," "The War of the Worlds," and "The Invisible Man," have become iconic and have helped shape the science fiction genre as we know it today.

Technology worship is brought to a head when Azuma-zi’s head spins at the wonder of a humming, whirling, and buzzing electric dynamo. He prays for the dynamo to deliver him from his troubles, and make his life easier to bear. Apparently the dynamo demands a sacrifice....

Herbert George Wells (1866 - 1946) was a prolific English writer best known for his outstanding science fiction stories and novels. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature four times. 'The Crystal Egg' is a science fiction short story about an antiquarian dealer, Mr. Cave, who discovers that a crystal egg in his shop has strange properties. In certain light conditions it functions as a window on the planet Mars and he is able to observe the Martians and their bizarre cities and machines.

The Cone is a short story by H. G. Wells, first published in 1895 in Unicorn. It was intended to be "the opening chapter of a sensational novel set in the Five Towns", later abandoned. The story is set at an ironworks in Stoke-on-Trent, in Staffordshire. An artist is there to depict the industrial landscape; the manager of the ironworks discovers his affair with his wife, and takes him on a tour of the factory, where there are dangerous features.

What happens when science tampers with nature? A riveting, cautionary tale with disastrous results reveals the chilling answer. Hoping to create a new growth agent for food with beneficial uses to mankind, two scientists find that the spread of the material is uncontrollable. Giant chickens, rats, and insects run amok, and children given the food stuffs experience incredible growth--and serious illnesses. Over the years, people who have eaten these specially treated foods find themselves unable to fit into a society where ignorance and hypocrisy rule.

"The Star" is an 1897 apocalyptic short story by H.G. Wells. In January (about 1900, presumably), the people of Earth awaken to the notion that a strange luminous object has erupted, into the Solar System, after disturbing the normal orbit of the planet Neptune. Indeed, such object is a luminous celestial body, whose luminosity is distinguishable on the sky about the constellation of Leo.

One would think that after the momentous events of 1969 H.G Wells’ science fiction adventure The First Men in the Moon would have lost any fascination for the modern listener. Yet, of course, Wells is never concerned merely with the mechanics of science fiction. It is surely the human reaction to these events that grips us and causes us to return again and again to this story.

Voici les "11 nouvelles fantastiques" les plus célèbres d'HG Wells. Herbert George Wells est un écrivain britannique considéré comme le père de la science-fiction contemporaine. Cette nouvelle est issue d'un recueil d'histoires qui nous embarquent dans la quatrième dimension fantastique. "L'Étoile", le passage d'une étoile sème comme un vent de panique. "Dans l'abîme", une descente au fond de l'océan dans une sphère à la découverte d'êtres fantastiques.