Product Description

Famous for the mistaken panic that ensued from Orson Welles’s 1938 radio dramatization, The War of the Worlds remains one of the most influential of all science fiction works. The night after a shooting star is seen streaking through the sky from Mars, a cylinder is discovered on Horsell Common in London. Naïve locals approach the cylinder armed just with a white flag—only to be quickly killed by an all-destroying heat ray, as terrifying tentacled invaders emerge. Soon the whole of human civilization is under threat as powerful Martians build gigantic killing machines, destroying all life in their path with black gas and burning ray. The forces of Earth, however, may prove harder to beat than they appear.

-Includes a newly established text, a full biographical essay on Wells, a list of further reading, and detailed notes
-Brian Aldiss’s introduction considers the novel’s view of religion and society

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37322 in Books
• Published on: 2005-05-04
• Released on: 2005-05-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780141441030
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

About the Author
H.G. Wells (1866–1946) was a professional writer and journalist who published more than a hundred books, including novels, histories, essays, and programs for world regeneration.
Brian Aldiss was named Grand Master of Science Fiction by the Science Fiction Writers of America.
Andy Sawyer is a librarian at the University of Liverpool.
Patrick Parrinder has written on H. G. Wells, science fiction, and James Joyce.

Customer Reviews

A Wondrous Classic--"Across the gulf of space..." Read these lines!
Note: I made some Mormon reader angry over my negative reviews of books written by Mormons out to prove the Book of Mormon, and that person has been slamming my reviews.

Your "helpful" votes are appreciated. Thanks. It took some effort to type up the following wonderful lines from this story about an invasion from Mars. I hope you enjoy them.

"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 and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinized and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinize the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in the assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most, terrestrial men fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And early in the twentieth century came the great disillusionment."

Don't miss the other great novels by H.G. Wells--"The Time Machine" and "The Invisible Man." The wonderful opening lines of "War of the Worlds" are worth repeat readings--note the phrase "across the gulf of space."

Outstanding Penguin Edition for a Science Fiction Classic
H.G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds" is a straightforward, tightly-written, and innovative little novel (barely 200 pages of actual author text in most editions) that helped define Science Fiction as a genre. It also inspired a slew of imitators and is the subject of countless adaptations (with no fewer than three film versions in 2005 alone) Its standard-setting plot of alien invasion and conquest continues to drive its diverse progeny in their many forms. Nevertheless, the basic story at the heart of this multimedia frenzy remains fresh, exciting, relevant, and (for the most part) has barely aged a day since its original publication in 1898.

The 2005 Penguin Classics edition is a great way to experience Wells' original work first-hand. Between its elegantly designed covers, this edition includes two insightful -- and somewhat overlapping -- introductions from Patrick Parrinder and Brian Aldiss, generous annotations, and (most helpfully) a map with notes detailing the narrator's journey throughout the story. All of these features are immensely helpful to readers unfamiliar with the history of the novel, Wells, or the Victorian London portrayed in the story. Even long-time fans of the novel are likely to find some extra little detail that will broaden their appreciation for what Wells achieved with this early effort.

Way! Way! The Martians are coming
This book is the mother of all alien, evil empire, spiderman, extraterrestrial, science fiction stories and movies.
H.G. Wells created a most credible and down to earth (no special effects) picture of an invasion of our world by evil extraterrestrial conquerors. The outcome of the fight is determined by a brilliant idea.
Wells's story is mingled with horror elements (`they took the fresh, living blood of other creatures, and injected it into their own veins') and scenes worth a H. Bosch (`the windows in the white houses were like the eye sockets of skulls').

His view of mankind is rather bleak: `no proud dreams and no proud lusts. They just use to skedaddle of to work. And on Sundays - fear of the hereafter.'
The second Estate (the clergy) is forcefully attacked with their `stupid rigidity of mind'. `We have sinned. There was poverty, sorrow; the poor were trodden in the dust, and I held my peace. I preached folly. Oppression of the poor and needy. The wine press of God.'

This real and formidable classic is a must read for all those interested in world literature and science fiction.