What Do I Read Next?
If you're eager to explore more of Wells’s writings, you can find this novel along with First Men in the Moon (1901), The Invisible Man (1897), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896), The Time Machine (1895), and several of his science fiction short stories all compiled in a box set titled Science Fiction Classics of H. G. Wells (2001) from Dover Thrift Editions.
Prior to Wells, the French author Jules Verne was regarded as the leading science fiction writer of the nineteenth century. Verne’s novels have remained popular over the years. While The War of the Worlds is often considered the archetype for all science fiction involving alien invasions, Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) has inspired an entire genre of subterranean fiction.
Ray Bradbury’s 1950 novel The Martian Chronicles presents a contrasting narrative, where humans colonize Mars to escape a ravaged Earth and subsequently impose their ways on Martian society.
Wells’s life, which stretched from the Victorian era to World War II, is one of the most fascinating in twentieth-century literature. A highly recommended biography is H. G. Wells: Desperately Mortal (1986) by David C. Smith.
The H. G. Wells Scrapbook, edited by Peter Haining, is aptly named as it compiles various materials related to Wells’s life. This includes potential sources of inspiration, newspaper clippings, and artwork from and influenced by his books. It was published in 1978 by Clarkson N. Potter, Inc.
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