Scientific and Horrific Stories is a collection of short fiction by H. G. Wells. Despite his humble beginnings as the son of English servants, H. G. Wells would become one of the most revered writers of his day.
His stories of adventure, utopia, and terror inspired such vastly different figures as Vladimir Nabokov, Winston Churchill, Jorge Luis Borges, and Sinclair Lewis. Many of his novels have been adapted for film, theater, radio, and television, including The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), and The War of the Worlds (1898).
Scientific and Horrific Stories includes twenty-six tales from across Wells career. The Chronic Argonauts, written while Wells was recuperating from an illness with friends in Stoke-on-Trent, is a story of time travel set in rural Wales that predates his beloved The Time Machine by seven years. Æpyornis Island is a terrifying tale of greed and survival that originally appeared in an 1894 issue of the Pall Mall Budget. Tasked with finding rare Aepyornis eggs, a rugged Englishman named Butcher ventures to a remote swamp on the island of Madagascar. When one of the eggs unexpectedly hatches, he is left stranded and at the mercy of a vicious creature that was believed to be extinct. In The Diamond Maker, which also appeared in the Pall Mall Budget, a destitute man tells a wealthy businessman about his years as a maker of artificial diamonds, a time of great promise that ultimately led to his downfall.
With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of H. G. Wells Scientific and Horrific Stories is a classic of English literature reimagined for modern readers.
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7 | (20) |
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27 | (6) |
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33 | (10) |
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43 | (7) |
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The Flowering of the Strange Orchid |
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50 | (7) |
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57 | (6) |
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63 | (8) |
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71 | (11) |
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82 | (10) |
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92 | (9) |
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Pollock and the Porroh Man |
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101 | (14) |
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115 | (7) |
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122 | (14) |
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136 | (9) |
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The Story of the Late Mr. Elvesham |
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145 | (15) |
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160 | (12) |
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172 | (15) |
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187 | (10) |
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197 | (14) |
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A Story of the Days to Come |
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211 | (77) |
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288 | (24) |
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312 | (13) |
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The Story of the Inexperienced Ghost |
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325 | (12) |
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337 | (10) |
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347 | (15) |
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362 | |
H. G. Wells (1866-1946) was an English novelist, short story writer, and social critic. Born in Kent, he was raised in a working-class family alongside three siblings. In 1874, he broke his leg and was bedridden for months, generating a lifelong devotion to reading. He was educated at a local private school until a fractured thigh ended his fathers career on the professional cricket circuit. From 1880 to 1883 Wells worked as a drapers apprentice in Southsea, a grueling experience that would shape his outlook on society as well as inspire several of his novels. While his mother was employed as a ladys maid at Uppark, a country house in Sussex, Wells took full advantage of the estates library and found particular inspiration in such classics as Platos Republic and Thomas Mores Utopia. Determined to get an education, Wells won a prestigious scholarship to the Normal School of Science in London, where he studied biology under Thomas Henry Huxley. Upon leaving school he struggled to find work as a teacher and turned to writing articles to supplement his income. The most productive period of his career came in 1895 following his marriage to Amy Catherine Robbins. While living in Woking, Surrey, Wells completed or worked on some of his most celebrated works of fiction, including The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), and The War of the Worlds (1898). Alongside his French contemporary Jules Verne, Wells is considered one of the founding figures of modern science fiction for his tales of social unrest, utopia, time travel, alien invasion, and nuclear power. He was a committed socialist and a co-founder of The Diabetic Association, now known as Diabetes UK.
H. G. Wells (1866-1946) was an English novelist, short story writer, and social critic. Born in Kent, he was raised in a working-class family alongside three siblings. In 1874, he broke his leg and was bedridden for months, generating a lifelong devotion to reading. He was educated at a local private school until a fractured thigh ended his fathers career on the professional cricket circuit. From 1880 to 1883 Wells worked as a drapers apprentice in Southsea, a grueling experience that would shape his outlook on society as well as inspire several of his novels. While his mother was employed as a ladys maid at Uppark, a country house in Sussex, Wells took full advantage of the estates library and found particular inspiration in such classics as Platos Republic and Thomas Mores Utopia. Determined to get an education, Wells won a prestigious scholarship to the Normal School of Science in London, where he studied biology under Thomas Henry Huxley. Upon leaving school he struggled to find work as a teacher and turned to writing articles to supplement his income. The most productive period of his career came in 1895 following his marriage to Amy Catherine Robbins. While living in Woking, Surrey, Wells completed or worked on some of his most celebrated works of fiction, including The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), and The War of the Worlds (1898). Alongside his French contemporary Jules Verne, Wells is considered one of the founding figures of modern science fiction for his tales of social unrest, utopia, time travel, alien invasion, and nuclear power. He was a committed socialist and a co-founder of The Diabetic Association, now known as Diabetes UK.
