Best Science Fiction Stories of H. G. Wells

BEST STORIES OF H.G. WELLS by H.G. Wells (1970)

Well, read parts of it anyhow. Wells insistence on humans being a speck in the universe is not only refreshing, but timely given our recent discoveries of other planets...

This anthology of works by H.G. Wells includes the complete novel The Invisible Man along with 17 of his fantastic short stories. I read Invisible Man many years ago and I have also seen the movie version of it several times so I decided not to reread it. However, I did read all the other stories and was really pleasantly surprised by them. The stories were not all science fiction but included stories of fantasy as well. There were stories of inventions, biological beasts and monstrosities, travels in other dimensions, and mysteries from space. The stories were all originally published from the 1880s to the early 1900s. Many of them reminded me of pulp fiction from the early 20th century that was published in such pulp magazines as Weird Tales, Amazing Stories, or Argosy. I think some of the pulp authors such as H.P. Lovecraft were probably inspired by Wells stories.

I have read most of Wells' more famous science fiction novels including The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine but had never read any of his short stories. One story included in this volume was "The Crystal Egg" which I had heard about as a precursor to War of the Worlds. This was one of the motivations to read this anthology. The story tells of a shop owner who finds a strange crystal egg that serves as a window into the planet Mars. By looking into the egg using a beam of light, he could see the strange beings on Mars as well as the Martian landscape. And the Martians could also use this to look at Earth and its inhabitants. The story was written the same year in which Wells was serializing The War of the Worlds in Pearson's Magazine. Because of the vaguely similar descriptions of the Martians and their machines, the story is often considered a precursor to The War of the Worlds, as the Martian effort to observe and study humanity remotely might indicate their preparation for an eventual invasion. The story was later reprinted in Amazing Stories magazine.

Some of the other stories I enjoyed included these related to biological oddities or monstrosities:
"The Strange Orchid" about a rare orchid obtained from beneath a dead explorer who had died of blood loss. When the orchid is planted it puts off a strong perfume and grows tentacles to attack the orchid owner.
"The Apple" about a man who possesses "The Apple of the Tree of Knowledge." The apple was obtained from a remote valley in Armenia that was supposedly the site of the Garden of Eden. So what happens if you eat the apple?
"The Purple Pileus" about a man who ingests a weird purple toadstool. The mushroom changes his character from a weakling into an unafraid man who takes no guff. So was this a magic mushroom?
"Aepyornis Island" about a man looking for eggs of Aepyornis, an extinct flightless bird, passes two years alone on a small island with an Aepyornis that has hatched. So is he safe from the bird? This was very reminiscent of a Dodo Bird.

"In The Avu Observatory" about a man who is studying the stars at a remote observatory in Borneo when he is attacked by a large bat-like creature that flies in through the observatory hatchway.
"The Sea Raiders" about large octopus-like creatures with tentacles that attack the ships and shoreline of Southeast England.

Other stories:
"The Man Who Could Work Miracles" about a man who could make anything happen just by thinking it. He tells a local reverend about this who wants to change the world for the better but because he is running out of time, tells the man to stop the rotation of the earth which of course has unexpected dire results.
"The New Accelerator" about a man who develops a drug that increases man's abilities a thousand fold. This includes bodily functions, movement, etc. The result is that by moving so fast, others appear to be stopped.
"The Star" about a collision of Neptune and a passing celestial body. The result is a very bright star that is heading towards Earth resulting in very dire consequences.
"Filmer" about a man who invents a heavier than air flying machine but is then too cowardly to go up in it.

I really enjoyed this collection and I can definitely see how other writers were inspired by Wells writing. Another author that was probably inspired by Wells was John Wyndham in his novels such as Day of the Triffids where mankind is at peril from an extraterrestrial source. I know Wells wrote many other short stories and at some point I may seek out more of them.

Unfortunately had to give this one up because the library wanted it back. I like H.G. Wells style of writing very much (lot's of big words)

The Invisible Man was as fantastic as I remembered it, and there were one or two other stories that really stuck with me afterwards. The other stories in the book were just fair.

Read by Greg K.

Monsters from the deep terrorise the coast of Devon. HG Wells' adventure is read by Robert Bathurst.

This book is actually an edition of The Time Machine. However, this isn't visible anywhere on the cover/spine of the book.