The War of the Worlds

Originally published in December 1897, ‘The War of the Worlds’ is an early thrilling science fiction novel by H.G. Wells, an English writer.

The novel begins with humans watching the skies closely, fascinated with the worlds beyond Earth’s atmosphere. As astronomers and scientists hone in on some bizarre occurrences on Mars, their observations soon become terrifying—humans are not the only intelligent beings, and those other beings are also curious about humans.

Alien spacecraft start crashing into England and as Martians emerge from the ships, they begin intimidating the Earth and bringing destruction with every step. Cities are burned, families are torn apart, and human military power proves weak in the face of an unknown enemy. This story is about surviving in the face of destruction, the human desire to protect one’s home and loved ones, and a fascinating glance at how a harmful alien invasion could play out on Earth.

Herbert George Wells was born in Bromley, Kent, England, on September 21, 1866. His father was a professional cricketer and sometime shopkeeper, his mother a former lady's maid. Although 'Bertie' left school at fourteen to become a draper's apprentice (a life he detested), he later won a scholarship to the Normal School of Science in London, where he studied with the famous Thomas Henry Huxley. He began to sell articles and short stories regularly in 1893. In 1895, his immediately successful novel rescued him from a life of penury on a schoolteacher's salary. His other 'scientific romances'—The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), The War of the Worlds (1898), The First Men in the Moon (1901), and The War in the Air (1908)—won him distinction as the father of science fiction.