Kevin's Watch

Wells is regarded as the father of sci-fi. Certainly, he is my favourite author besides Jane Austen. What do other watchers think of his work? War of the Worlds is a classic, but I think The First Men in the Moon stands as a champion of imaginative sci-fi in terms of a believable alien race.

I haven't read anything of his yet other than War of the Worlds (I must have been in middle school at the time). The resolution of that book left quite an impression on me. When I get some free time, I'm going to read The Invisible Man - there have been many take-offs of this idea, many of which have probably missed what Wells was getting at, so I want to see what the original was all about.

The Invisible Man is the one Wells classic that I have yet to read - even though I own it.

If you like H.G. Wells, also check out Jules Verne.

At the risk of another accusation of heresy I'll repeat that, although both Verne and Wells were indeed fathers of modern Sci-Fi, there books just don't really do it for me anymore.

It's sort of like watching an old movie, which you enjoyed when young, and then seeing it in the context of what is available now.

Not that I didn't enjoy a lot of Verne, and some Wells, long ago, its just that they sometimes seem difficult and contrived today.

--Avatar

i know Wells primarily from his short stories, and can only say: it´s brilliant stuff. one has to give those classics a chance. same for Verne of course.

I attended a 5-week course in SF last spring. Among other novels The Time Machine was among the course litterature. I found it rather different I must say - It was not so much SF as a bitter satire (not sure that is the right word, but something close to satire) of Wells own time. I could not follow all the "hidden messages" (onions have layers you know), mostly I think because I am not familiar enough with the late 1800s.

I red The Invisible Man a few years back and it was quite different from what I had expected it to be. The invisible man himself is so enormously unpleasent and as a reader you really dislike him. I don't recall ever feeling sorry for him...

chedck out Alan Moore's graphic novels the League of Extraordinary Gentlemen volume I & II for a nice portrait of the Invisible Man.

Ylva Kresh wrote:I attended a 5-week course in SF last spring. Among other novels The Time Machine was among the course litterature. I found it rather different I must say - It was not so much SF as a bitter satire (not sure that is the right word, but something close to satire) of Wells own time. I could not follow all the "hidden messages" (onions have layers you know), mostly I think because I am not familiar enough with the late 1800s.

The School of Lore is running late 1800 courses soon.

Loremaster wrote:Wells is regarded as the father of sci-fi. Certainly, he is my favourite author besides Jane Austen. What do other watchers think of his work? War of the Worlds is a classic, but I think The First Men in the Moon stands as a champion of imaginative sci-fi in terms of a believable alien race.

I have to disagree with you here. The father of science fiction is disputed, but the best arguments I've heard are the following. Hugo Gernsback, in 1912, published Ralph 124C 41+. Although not exactly an outstanding work in terms of storyline, it's the first science fiction novel I know of which is meticulous in its technical knowledge and is more importantly the first which was published as a science fiction book.

If what the book is labelled as doesn't strike you as important, than Frankenstein is the first science fiction work I know of, predating Wells by over a half century, and the father is in fact a mother. Score one for women!

Anyway, nitpicky asshole whining concludes here. Wells isn't my favorite but he does rock pretty hard.

My favorite Wells novel is "The Time Machine". My fav Wells short story, and quite possibly most fav short story of any of the Classic Sci Fi authors, is "A Story of Days to Come." It's a haunting and beautifully written story about a mans sleeping dream of the future that eventually over takes his real life. Wells is a prophet in this story, too with his vision of Airplane battles in the sky, a world war, alliances, etc.

Of course, like perhaps most of his stories, it's influenced by his political beliefs which I don't agree with, but it's a damn good story if you ignore that part.

Kil Tyme wrote:My favorite Wells novel is "The Time Machine". My fav Wells short story, and quite possibly most fav short story of any of the Classic Sci Fi authors, is "A Story of Days to Come." It's a haunting and beautifully written story about a mans sleeping dream of the future that eventually over takes his real life. Wells is a prophet in this story, too with his vision of Airplane battles in the sky, a world war, alliances, etc.

Of course, like perhaps most of his stories, it's influenced by his political beliefs which I don't agree with, but it's a damn good story if you ignore that part.

The Time Machine is a masterpiece. I own The Shape of Things to Come, and as I understand it, the book is inspired by someone who actually predicted that through dreams. So the book is semi-mystical.