Search results for ""Author H.G. Wells""

Describe una invasión marciana en la Tierra. Wells cuestiona la fe del hombre en su superioridad y la vanidad de creerse el único habitante del universo. A fines del siglo XIX, en pleno auge del positivismo, había una fe ciega en la ciencia y en los científicos. El hombre pensaba que era el único ser viviente en el universo, pero no era así: desde Marte, nuestros vecinos miraban el planeta Tierra con ojos codiciosos. Ellos habían entrado en la etapa del enfriamiento, y ya no tenían animales, ni plantas ni diferencia en las estaciones. Nosotros teníamos todo eso, y lo que no sabíamos era que ellos poseían una Inteligencia superior a la nuestra. Después de observarnos a diario, decidieron llevar a la práctica sus planes: comienza la invasión con el lanzamiento de extraños cilindros que parecen estrellas fugaces en el cielo. Vienen por nuestro planeta, vienen po

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When a diplomat dies in the 1930s, he leaves behind a book of 'dream visions' he has been experiencing, detailing events that will occur on Earth for the next two hundred years. This fictional 'account of the future' (similar to LAST AND FIRST MEN by Olaf Stapledon) proved prescient in many ways, as Wells predicts events such as the Second World War, the rise of chemical warfare and climate change.

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Edward Prendick is shipwrecked and finds himself stranded on an island in the Pacific. Here he meets the sinister Dr Moreau, a vivisectionst driven out of Britain in disgrace. And soon strange events cause Prendick to uncover the full horror of Dr Moreau's activities on the island.THE ISLAND OF DR MOREAU mixes discussion on the divide between humans and the animal kingdom and chilling macabre horror in an unrivalled fashion. Its question on how far science should go is one that rings true today as it did when it was first published.

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'As we saw it first it was the wildest and most desolate of scenes. We were in an enormous amphitheatre, a vast circular plain, the floor of the giant crater. Its cliff-like wall closed us in on every side¿'Thanks to the discovery of an anti-gravity metal, Cavorite, two Victorian Englishman decide to tackle the most prestigious goal - space travel. They construct a sphere that will ultimately take them to the moon. On landing, they encounter what seems like an utterly barren landscape but they soon find signs that the planet was once very much alive. Then they hear curious hammering sounds from beneath the surface, and come face to face with the Selenites, a race of insect-like aliens living in a rigidly organised hive society.

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When an army of invading Martians lands in England, panic and terror seize the population. As the aliens traverse the country in huge three-legged machines, incinerating all in their path with a heat ray and spreading noxious toxic gases, the people of the Earth must come to terms with the prospect of the end of human civilization and the beginning of Martian rule. Inspiring films, radio dramas, comic-book adaptations, television series and sequels, The War of the Worlds is a prototypical work of science fiction which has influenced every alien story that has come since, and is unsurpassed in its ability to thrill, well over a century since it was first published.

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A Victorian scientist and inventor creates a machine for propelling himself through time, and voyages to the year AD 802701, where he discovers a race of humanoids called the Eloi. Their gently indolent way of life, set in a decaying cityscape, leads the scientist to believe that they are the remnants of a once great civilization. He is forced to revise this assessment when he comes across the cave dwellings of threatening ape-like creatures known as Morlocks, whose dark underground world he must explore to discover the terrible secrets of this fractured society, and the means of getting back to his own time. A biting critique of class and social equality as well as an innovative and much imitated piece of science fiction which introduced the idea of time travel into the popular consciousness, The Time Machine is a profound and extraordinarily prescient novel.

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A man is discovered adrift in the wreckage of a boat, babbling of horrors scarcely imaginable...this is his story. They say that terror is a disease...A shipwrecked man finds himself, after various twists of Fate, on a lonely tropical island. From a locked enclosure the cries of animals in pain can be heard, and there is a stink of chemicals in the air. Bestial faces stare out of the forests and grotesque, misshaped creatures move in the gloom. In this island paradise, the horrific experiments of the infamous Doctor Moreau will reach their inevitable conclusion.

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'No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's...'So begins H. G. Wells' classic novel in which Martian lifeforms take over planet Earth. As the Martians emerge, they construct giant killing machines - armed with heatrays - that are impervious to attack. Advancing upon London they destroy everything in their path. Everything, except the few humans they collect in metal traps.Victorian England is a place in which the steam engine is state-of-the-art technology and powered flight is just a dream. Mankind is helpless against the killing machines from Mars, and soon the survivors are left living in a new stone age.

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Two scientists develop a foodstuff that causes unparalleled growth in animals and humans. The results of their experimentation lead to chaos and unforseen consequences throughout the land.THE FOOD OF THE GODS deals with many issues which are still present in science today and is a both witty and disturbing tale.

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H.G. Wells' great novel of the dangers of science describes a man cast out from society by his own terrifying discovery.THE INVISIBLE MAN tells the story of Griffin, a brilliant and obsessed scientist dedicated to achieving invisibility. Taking whatever action is necessary to keep his incredible discovery safe, he terrorises the local village where he has sought refuge. Wells skilfully weaves the themes of science, terror and pride as the invisible Griffin gradually loses his sanity and, ultimately, his humanity.

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After the Lady Vain is shipwrecked, Edward Prendick is plucked from the waves by a passing ship and deposited on a remote island. Here he is the guest of Dr Moreau, whose notorious scientific methods had caused an uproar that left him with no choice but to flee London. Disquieted and appalled by the pained cries of suffering animals, Edward soon realizes that the Doctor is continuing and developing his depraved experiments, and that he too is in great danger. Shocking and suffused with contemporary fears regarding the morality of the latest advances in science and their possible implications for religion, The Island of Dr Moreau is both a ruthless social satire and an exploration of human nature.

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Read this stunning Vintage Classics edition of the original story of alien invasion from the father of science fiction, H.G. Wells.No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied. Yet across the gulf of space, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.Then, late one night, in the middle of the English countryside, they landed.

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A cautionary horror story about the dangers of greed, isolation and a science without ethics, from the father of science fiction. The stranger arrives early in February, one wintry day, through a biting wind and a driving snow. He is wrapped up from head to foot, and the brim of his hat hides every inch of his face. Rude and rough, the stranger works with strange apparatus locked in his room all day and walks along lonely lanes at night, his bandaged face inspiring fear in children and dogs. Is he the mutilated victim of an accident? A criminal on the run? An eccentric genius? But no-one in the village comes close to guessing who has come amongst them, or what those bandages hide. ‘Wells was the founding father of science fiction, and in his utopian fantasy novels he was proved eerily correct’ Daily Telegraph

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Welcome to the Best of the Masterworks: a selection of the finest in science fictionWhen Edward Prendick is shipwrecked on a tropical island, he is surprised to find he has company in the form of Dr Moreau.Driven out of Britain in disgrace, Dr Moreau has decided to explore his science in peace and isolation.It isn't long before Prendick discovers the horrors it involves . . . Considered widely to be one of the fathers of science fiction, H.G. Wells' story of a mad scientist pushing the boundaries of humanity sits alongside Frankenstein and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in the annals of British classics. The novel has been adapted multiple times, and is referenced in many different media.'The most important of all nineteenth-century sf writers in the UK and in America' - The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'Short, cold, economic and totally unrelenting. An utterly terrifying book' - China Miéville'One of our bravest and most stimulating writers' - Telegraph

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This collection includes The Time Machine, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The War of the Worlds, The First Men in the Moon and The Invisible Man - all collected in a stunning leather-bound omnibus.Five of the best science fiction novels by the Grandfather of Science Fiction: unsurpassed in their timeless capacity to thrill and transfix, these are tales that reach to the heart of human ambition, fear, intelligence and hope.The Time Machine was Wells' first major piece of fiction: a haunting vision of a far future earth orbiting a sun cooling to extinction.The War of the Worlds: still considered by many to be the best novel of alien invasion ever written.The Island of Doctor Moreau: with its terrible creation The House of Pain, this tale anticipated our terror of genetic engineering.The Invisible Man: the classic study of scientific hubris.The First Men in the Moon: a Scientific Romance, a fantastical voyage a dystopian nightmare revealed.

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Dominoes is a full-colour, interactive readers series that offers students a fun reading experience while building their language skills. With integrated activities and on-page glossaries the new edition of the series makes reading motivating for learners. Each reader is carefully graded to ensure each student reads from the right level from the very beginning.

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H.G. Wells's genius is perfectly shown in this collection of his most famous and enduring stories. From the eerily prescient visions of the future in The Time Machine to the palpable fear and paranoia of an alien invasion in The War of the Worlds, each is a masterpiece in its own right. Whether for devoted Wells aficionados or readers discovering his work for the first time, this collection is an essential addition to the library of any science fiction fan.

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A masterful tale from the founding father of science fiction. An ingenious inventor creates a machine which can hurtle through time.With no idea what to expect, the time traveller sets out on an epic adventure into the unknown. On his first journey into the future of the human race, the traveller encounters the Eloi: an apathetic but carefree tribe, forming a close bond with the woman Weena. Less appealing however, are the bestial Morlocks who stalk the area at night, picking off the Eloi for food. When his time machine disappears, the time traveller is faced with no option but to confront the ape-like creatures, unwittingly starting a deadly battle in order to escape. FLAME TREE 451: From mystery to crime, supernatural to horror and fantasy to science fiction, Flame Tree 451 offers a healthy diet of werewolves and mechanical men, blood-lusty vampires, dastardly villains, mad scientists, secret worlds, lost civilizations and escapist fantasies. Discover a storehouse of tales gathered specifically for the reader of the fantastic. Each book features a brand new biography and glossary of Literary, Gothic and Victorian terms.

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Brilliantly imaginative fiction or the shape of things to come? H.G. Wells's masterpiece still retains its power to provoke and enthral.In the Time Traveller's miraculous new machine, we will be carried from a Victorian dinner table to 802,701 AD, when the Earth is divided between the gentle, ineffective Eloi, and the ape-like Morlocks; forward again by a million years or so to glimpse a dying world of blood-red beaches and menacing shapes; and on again to the last days of our planet, a remote twilight where nothing moves but darkness and a cold wind.

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A Victorian scientist develops a time machine and travels to the year 802,171 AD. There he finds the meek, child-like Eloi who live in fear of the underground-dwelling Morlocks. When his time machine goes missing, the Traveller faces a fight to enter the Morlocks' domain and return to his own time.THE TIME MACHINE remains one of the cornerstones of science-fiction literature and has proved hugely influential.

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Wells was interested in the implications of evolutionary theory on the future of human beings at the biological, sociological, and cultural levels, and The Time Machine, short and readable, draws on many of the social and scientific debates of the time. The Broadview edition of this science fiction classic includes extensive materials on Wells’s scientific and political influences.

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As George Orwell wrote in 1940, “Everyone who has ever read When the Sleeper Wakes remembers it.” Graham, the “sleeper” of the title, falls into a cataleptic trance in 1897. Graham will survive on life support for 203 years, suddenly waking in 2100. He wakes to a London encased in a glass dome, in which the Victorian class system has hardened into castes and a revolution is brewing. An important influence on later dystopian novels, Sleeper is a deeply pessimistic book, although Wells could not resist an ending ambiguous enough to permit the reader a faint gleam of optimism. The novel was re-written and published in 1908 as The Sleeper Awakes, but this edition preserves the original version. Historical appendices include contemporary reviews, Henri Lanos illustrations from The Graphic, and other utopian fiction from the period.

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In 1940 the Second World War continued to rage, and atrocities wreaked around the globe made international waves. Wells, a socialist and prominent political thinker as well as a first-rate novelist, set down in The Rights of Man a stirring manifesto, designed to instruct the international community on how best to safeguard human rights. The work gained traction, and was soon under discussion for becoming actual legislation. Although Wells didn't live to see it enacted, his words laid the groundwork for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which enshrined human rights in law for the first time, and was adopted by the United Nations in 1948, changing the course of history for ever and granting fundamental rights to billions.

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With an Introduction and Notes by Linda Dryden, Professor of English Literature at Edinburgh Napier University and the author of Joseph Conrad and H. G. Wells: The Fin-de Siecle-Literary Scene.At the end of the nineteenth century a stranger arrives in the Sussex countryside and mayhem ensues; in the sleepy county of Kent a miracle food brings biological chaos that engulfs and threatens the entire planet. H. G. Wells's fertile and mercurial imagination never brought us more bizarre and unsettling stories than those revealed in The Invisible Man (1897) and The Food of the Gods, and How It Came to Earth (1904). These are stories of extraordinary physical transformations and are at once extremely funny and richly imaginative. At the same time, Wells poses some very probing questions about the ethical dimensions to science and the human capacity for both pity and cruelty. Brought together for the first time in this new Wordsworth edition, The Invisible Man and The Food of the Gods are two of Wells's most entertaining and thought-provoking works.

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With an all-new illustrations, experience this classic pioneering tale of science fiction by H.G. Wells. West Sussex. A mysterious man in a long-sleeved trench coat, gloves, and a wide-brimmed hat arrives at Mr. and Mrs. Hall's inn. His face is almost entirely concealed (much like most of his personality and identity), except for a fake pink nose. He keeps to himself, working in his rooms during the day, only leaving at night. Griffin's peculiar habits quickly make him the talk of the town. After his landlady demands he pay his rent, he reveals his invisibility to her. In an altercation, the invisible man is forced out of the inn without his scientific equipment and notebooks. He sheds his clothing, but arms himself with an iron pipe. After being trailed by a stranger who accidentally pushes him into the bushes, the invisible man commits his first murder. Soon he meets Thomas Marvel and recruits him to be his assistant. But Marvel has other plans and reports Griffin to the police. Outcast and deranged, the invisible man takes shelter in the house of Dr. Kemp, a former acquaintance from medical school. There, he reveals his true identity, the origins of his invisibility, and his plot for revenge. Meanwhile, Kemp has already reported Griffin to the authorities, and tragedy ensues. Originally published in 1897, The Invisible Man is considered a landmark work of H.G. Wells and helped established him as the father of science fiction. Prepare to be captivated by the stunning new art by renowned illustrator, Howie Green, in this handsome new edition of a time-honored tale.

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The Invisible Man stands out as possessing one of the most complicated heroes, or perhaps anti-heroes, in literature. A thoroughly unlikeable character, the Invisible Man is defined by his arrogance, impulsiveness, rudeness, and, at times, violence. He is, however, a man of great genius; but, his genius is selfish—no one profits from his experiments, not even himself. The Invisible Man is not only a commentary on imagination and the great spirit of invention that elevated the nineteenth century but also a warning against the eugenic and self-interested policies that threatened the twentieth.This edition includes a valuable collection of the nineteenth-century narratives of invisibility that inspired Wells’s novel, as well as excerpts of Wells’s nonfiction writings on education and class. Additional appendices situate the novel in its late-Victorian scientific and technological contexts, including material on radio waves and x-rays.

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With an Introduction and Notes by Dr Andrew Frayn, Lecturer in Twentieth-Century Literature and Culture at Edinburgh Napier University.In these two compelling novels H.G. Wells imagines terrifying futures in which civilisation itself is threatened.The narrator of The War of the Worlds is quick to discover that what appeared to be a falling star was, in fact, a metallic cylinder landing from Mars. Six million people begin to flee London in panic as tentacled invaders emerge and overpower the city. With their heat-ray, killing machines, black gas, and a taste for fresh human blood, is there anything that can be done to stop the Martians?In The War in the Air, naive but resourceful Bert Smallways is thrilled by speed and fascinated by the new flying machines. His curiosity sweeps him away by accident into a German plan to conquer America, beginning with the destruction of New York. The ease of movement in aerial warfare means that nothing and nobody is safe as Total War erupts, civilisation crumbles, and Bert's hopes of getting back to London to marry his love seem impossibly distant.

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With an Introduction and Notes by Dr Emily Alder, Lecturer in Literature and Culture at Edinburgh Napier University 'Each time I dip a living creature into the bath of burning pain, I say: this time I will burn out all the animal, this time I will make a rational creature of my own!' declares Doctor Moreau to hapless narrator Edward Prendick. Moreau's highly controversial methods and ambitions conflict with the religious, moral and scientific norms of his day and Wells later called The Island of Doctor Moreau 'a youthful exercise in blasphemy'. Today his vivid depictions of the Beast People still strike modern readers with an uncanny glimpse of the animal in the human, while the behaviour of humans leave us wondering who is the most monstrous after all. This volume unites four of Wells' liveliest and most engaging tales of the strange evolution and behaviour of animals - including human beings. The Island of Doctor Moreau is followed by three fantastic yet chillingly plausible short stories of human-animal encounters. The Empire of the Ants is a darkly humorous account of intelligent Amazonian ants threatening to displace humans as 'the lords of the future and masters of the earth'. In The Sea Raiders, the south coast of England is terrorized by an unwelcome visit from deep-sea predator Haploteuthis ferox, while Æpyornis Island provides a marooned egg collector with an unusual companion.

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In these 'scientific romances' H. G. Wells sees the present reflected in the future and the future in the present. His aim is to provoke rather than predict. The Sleeper falls into a trance, waking up two centuries later as the richest man in a world of new technologies, power-greedy leaders, sensual elites, and brutalised industrial slaves. Arriving in the year 802,701, the Time-Traveller finds that humanity has evolved into two drastically different species; going farther still, he witnesses the ultimate fate of the solar system. The Chronic Argonauts, the original version of The Time Machine, pits a scientist with daring views of time and space against superstitious villagers. In all three works Wells laces vivid adventure stories with the latest ideas in biology and physics.

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