The Life of H.G. Wells

"Quite simply, [H.G. Wells] is to science fiction what Albert Einstein is to modern physics, or Pablo Picasso to modern art." -W. Warren Wagar ("H.G. Wells")

Perhaps the most apt title for H.G. Wells would be: "History's Most Underrated Author." Wells is hardly ever mentioned in the same breath as such literary greats as William Shakespeare or Charles Dickens, yet, in his career, Wells composed more pieces than both combined ("H.G. Wells"). Not only did he amass a great amount of work during his time, his diversity of subjects was unmatchable. Most notable of these subjects, though, was his work in the field of science fiction. Wells' uncanny ability to substantiate his story with scientific evidence and his brilliant imagination made him the greatest science fiction author of his time. H.G. Wells did not solely leave his mark on his contemporaneous period, but in fact, was the most influential science fiction writer of literary history.

Herbert George Wells was born on September 21, 1866 (Young 225). His parents, Sarah and Joseph, had traveled from country to town, as did many other of their contemporaries, before Herbert George's birth (Martin 7). They finally settled in Bromley, England where his parents attempted to make a living by selling fine goods such as glassware and china. Later, they added cricket supplies and lessons in the field game to the catalog, along with the other fragile commodities. Their house was divided into three levels; the first floor was their kitchen and eating area, the second was their shop, and the third, their living and sleeping space.

Herbert or Bertie, as he was known within the family, was a small, frail child. There was a fear that he would die at a young age, exactly like his older sister Fanny (Foot 1-2). At the ripe age of ten, Bertie authored a war essay entitled "The Desert Daisy" which made him a favorite of his boarding school teacher, Mr. Morley (Boerst 16). It was also at an early age that Wells lost his faith in God; one night he dreamt of God torturing people on a wheel and realized God was responsible for all of the pain in the world (Boerst 17). This would seem to lend itself to a stronger interest in science, and eventually science fiction.

As Herbert aged, he began to study numerous science courses with Horace Byatt, his former Latin teacher. H.G. Wells' flight from his poverty stricken situation came with his application for scholarship to the Normal School of Science in South Kensington. He was, of course, accepted in 1884 (Boerst 23-25). The founder and dean of the school, T.H. Huxley, battled with the church over Darwin's On the Origin of Species in 1560 in the "Oxford Debate"; he challenged high ecclesiastical officials at a time when it was unheard of. It is believed that Wells was able to identify with Huxley's scientific subjugation of the church. In fact, it is said that Huxley compounded Wells' religious view and also set the framework for his political view later in life ("H.G. Wells"). Although the two never spoke, Wells saw Huxley as the greatest man he knew of. The two also shared a similar interest in global socialism, a social system in which the producers possess both political and the means of producing and distributing goods ("H.G. Wells"). When he was 21, H.G. Wells was expelled from the school of Normal Science for constant class disruption and low class grades. Wells questioned the action, and then reluctantly accepted it. It was then he began to turn his focus towards finding a source of income (Boerst 29-32).

Wells went on to teach in private schools in London in Wales after his expulsion in 1887 ("H.G. Wells"). In the same year, Wells was involved in an unlucky football accident, suffering a hemorrhage, and was severely injured for two-thirds of the year (Boerst 34-36). Because of his poor health, H.G. Wells was unable to return to teaching full-time. Instead, he received a degree from the University of London in 1889 and began tutoring students in biology ("H.G. Wells"). With his new financial security, Wells was able to marry his cousin, Isabel Mary Wells, in 1891 (Boerst 37).

Wells, poor of health since his early childhood, suffered another hemorrhage in 1893 and decided to renounce teaching. His medical problems were a result of tuberculosis. Before his retirement, Wells struck up a friendship with biology student Amy Catherine Robbins. An impulsive man, Wells was unable to resist her and asked for a divorce from his current wife, Isabel. Wells was granted the divorce and married Robbins, or "Jane" as she was known to her close friends, in the same year (Boerst 38-40).

Also in 1895, after being forced out of teaching, Wells began his fortuitous writing career with a few short magazine and newspaper publishings. These works were collected and entitled "Select Conversations With an Uncle, Now Extinct, and Two Other Reminiscences" and three years later, "Certain Personal Matters: A Collection of Material, Mainly Autobiographical." Wells then began to critique many English literary releases for the Saturday Review ("H.G. Wells"). Many years back, in 1888, when Wells had been teaching in Wales and London he had been working on a novel entitled The Chronic Argonauts. In 1895, he released it publicly to rave reviews. In fact, one reviewer praised that someone had finally written "a new thing under the sun" (Boerst 48). In the following year he authored The Island of Dr. Moreau and one year later he wrote The Invisible Man. The successive year he wrote his most noted novel, The War of the World (Young). It is quite amazing that he was able to produce his four most renowned works in such a short period of time. In four years, Wells was able to produce a set of standards for the science fiction genre for years to come.

On the home front, H.G. Wells and his wife Jane became involved in the Fabian Society, a group of socialists Wells learned of while at the Normal School. Following initiation, Wells began to branch his belief in socialism from a class-ordered aristocratic society to more of a system of belief relying on openness to the lower and middle classes. Wells was expelled from the Society due to his fervent disagreement with its hierarchy. Although H.G. Wells left the society, he did take a souvenir. His souvenir: the heart of a Fabian's daughter named Amber Reeves. The two had a child and Amber married another man her age. Jane continued to stay faithful to Wells (Boerst 52-58).

In 1900, at the age of thirty four, Wells had a house built in Kent. From 1901 to 1911, it was in this home that he published 12 works, including The First Men in the Moon in 1901, A Modern Utopia in 1905 and The New Machiavelli in 1911 (Boerst 60).

With the commencement of World War I, Wells' extra-marital relationship appetite reemerged as he became interested in fellow-author Rebecca West around 1913. The two had a baby but, again, Wells remained in wedlock with Robbins. During the war, Wells published numerous works including the novel The War in the Air and the pamphlet "The War That Will End All War." After the war, Wells became involved in the fledgling League of Nations. He wanted to eliminate the current individual nation with one complete world government. The members of the League wouldn't take the suggestion seriously and Wells replied with a near-propagandist book, The Outline of History, in 1920. It was an optimistic effort to coerce the masses into a single government; it sold well internationally (Boerst 66-72).

After the war, relations with Rebecca were strained as she set an ultimatum: marriage or separation. Wells chose the latter and insisted she leave him or improve her writing. After the two split in 1923, Wells wasted no time becoming involved with a new woman. This Australian woman became overwhelmingly infatuated with Wells yet he felt only slight affection for her. When H.G. Wells attempted to break off the relationship, she attempted to commit suicide in his house. Through all of these ordeals, Jane remained publicly supportive but privately detached. The following year Wells kept at his affairs, entering a relationship with the Swiss Odette Keun although the two were not in love. Wells was able to get a good amount of writing completed so he had a home built for the two in southern France in 1927 (Boerst 75-76).

In January of the same year, Jane died from cancer. Although it was an unconventional marriage, it had lasted nearly thirty five years. Two years later, in 1929, Wells appeared on the British Broadcasting Company radio show and continued to do so as a guest. In 1931, when H.G. Wells reached the ripe age of sixty one, he was diagnosed with a mild case of diabetes. He left France and Odette in 1933 for a new love, Russian Moura Budberg. She was worldly and mysterious, yet Wells wanted to marry her. With the undeniable feeling of distrust, H.G. Wells decided the two should just be close friends (Boerst 80-86).

Wells' life took a sadly pessimistic turn as the second World War began. His belief that humanity was doomed dominated his mind until his death on August 13, 1946. He died alone in his sleep after he had nearly successfully attempted to reconcile with his estranged children; the only child left no accepting was his daughter, Amber Reeves (Boerst 89-91.)

Herbert George Wells wrote many of his works during the Victorian era, a period during the reign of Queen Victoria, which lasted from 1837 to 1901. This stage of English literature was marked with a necessity for writers to take stances on the issues of society because of a few upsetting social occurrences. In writing many of his books, Wells' main interest was the improvement of society. Realism, an attempt to describe human behavior and surroundings or to represent figures and objects exactly as they act or appear in life, intensified as pens began to write of the world in a critically creative way. Wells was one of the authors behind these pens; his books could be seen as more analytical of the social evils plaguing his modern life rather than narrative-based.

H.G. Wells helped popularized the science fiction genre. A lot of his ideas were supported in some way by scientific principles. The three most popular novels from Wells' "scientific period" are The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The War of the Worlds. The Time Machine is said to be one of Wells' best works. The most compelling feature of this novel is its realism. It contains specific details and persuasive explanations that sometimes do not supply authenticity; but do provide the reader with certain levels of plausibility. In the text, the Time Traveler (who is never named) presents a theory regarding time as the fourth dimension. This idea is later brought up in some of Einstein's studies. Wells uses certain ideas in science as premises for the theories in his books. Once the reader accepts the premise, the rest of the action in the book seems believable (McEwen).

Another popular novel in Wells' "scientific period" is The Invisible Man. In this book, a scientist named Griffin discovers how to make himself invisible. The premise of invisibility is based on a known phenomenon: the refraction of light. This book is characterized by its detailed and vivid descriptions. This is especially effective when Wells describes Griffin's dead body in the end: "his crushed chest...the dim outline of his drawn and battered features...there lay, naked and pitiful on the ground, the bruised and broken body of a young man about thirty" (McEwen).

In Wells' novel The War of the Worlds, he outlines a story of Martian invasion. This story came at a time when people were more interested in science than ever before. Around the same time of the novel's release, indentations that resembled canals were discovered on Mars. This speculated the idea that there could be life on the Red Planet. In the book, the Martians have trouble moving around because the gravitational pull on earth is much stronger than the pull on their planet. Wells uses more scientific facts to set the tone for his ideas in this book. The vivid imagery and scientific premises made the story almost believable to people living in Wells' time (McEwen).

Another unique quality of The War of the Worlds is its special genre: the invasion story. Sir George Chesney used the same style in his novel Battle of Dorking. It was a story that described a British invasion of Prussia. Different variations of this theme were published during the late Victorian era. They were used to warn people of the dangers that Britain posed. Wells took the same literary form and used a different variation of it: the enemy is from a different world. In this variation, Wells carefully described the scenery to give his story conviction. He used great detail when describing the Martian attack on the London suburbs. This is a familiar method Wells used called "domesticating the impossible" (Martin 45).

The War of the Worlds also demonstrates Wells' interest in stories of violence and destruction. When describing the hysterical crowds fleeing London during the invasion, Wells borrowed techniques from Daniel Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year. This story recorded another mass exodus from London in 1665. The War of the Worldscan also be seen as a myth with different messages and themes. One of those themes was Wells' belief that humankind was becoming too confident about the future. He thought that we needed a Martian invasion to reveal our weaknesses. Wells also pointed out mankind's harsh treatments of other animals on Earth. Before humans judge the Martians too harshly they "must remember what ruthless and utter destruction our own species has wrought upon animals, such as the vanished bison and dodo." The Martians being destroyed by the lowliest organism on the planet gives humankind a second chance to be more humble about their presence on earth (Martin 45-48).

Wells also liked to predict the future in his novels. In his book, When the Sleeper Wakes (1899), Wells tells the story of an Englishman falling into a deep trance and waking two hundred years later. After the sleeper wakes up, he discovers that civilization has transformed into the "super city" or "megalopolis." In the story, London is made up of towering buildings covered by a giant glass dome. The rich and powerful people live high up near the light, and the working class suffers in the "glaring labyrinth" below. Wells also describes moving roadways, videotape machines, and air service to Paris in his story. All of the "modern marvels" that Wells described became reality in the future (Martin 53-54).

The First Men on the Moon(1901) was Wells' last important scientific novel. For this story, Wells copied the idea behind the "super terrestrial voyage" story. Wells also drew inspiration from the latest scientific papers in creating his own lunar journey sixty-nine years before men actually stepped onto the moon. In the novel, travelers Bedford and Cavor cross-space in a sphere coated with antigravity material. The moon is hollow and contains an advanced civilization of Selenites led by the Grand Lunar. The story contains some of Wells' best creative descriptions. On the moon, Wells described a lunar sunrise that melts the frozen ground and covers the surface with vegetation (Martin 54). When the Sleeper Wakes and The First Men on the Moonare two excellent examples of Wells' ability to predict the future in his scientific romances.

Two other phases in H.G. Wells' career were the comic novels and the idea novels. His comic novels, Love and Mr. Lewisham,The Wheels of Chance,Kipps and The History of Mr. Polly, were all based upon his early days as a lower middle-class, oppressed suburbanite. Wells detested that time in his life and, therefore, created the main characters or heroes of the novel in his own image, an adornment to the fact that Wells was able to rise above the hardships and conquer through his enthusiasm to learn. The delightful and funny novel The History of Mr. Polly, considered the most successful critiquing of his culture, is based on the insufficiencies of education (Allen). The tale follows Mr. Polly, an imaginative and language-knowledgeable man, as he burns down his shop in order to be liberated. Kippsobserves the way life can be turned upside because of money when a lowly draper's assistant inherits a large amount of riches. Love and Mr. Lewisham details the life of a fraught teacher ("Wells").

Considerable literary experimentations in the field of science fiction can be seen in many of H.G. Wells' later short story works. When the Sleeper Wakes, written in 1899, satirized the idea of inheritance of the Victorian era to try to reform the mind of the reader. In 1901, The First Men in the Moonused coherent and incoherent narration to imitate the thought process. Straying away from the norm in 1904, The Food of the Godsshifted sympathy to characters that would usually be considered the villain in other pieces (Scheick).

Wells modified and attempted to engender styles of science fiction. The boundaries of the Victorian suspense novel were expanded with In the Days of the Comet, published in 1906, about a large mobilization of military that is halted by the advent of a comet. Star Begotten, an extraterrestrial-cast account of the birth of Jesus, was Wells' way of expressing that science fiction had an infinite realm of capability in expressing human possibilities (Scheick).

There are also many underappreciated works that showcase Wells' abilities in the art of science fiction. In representing the intermediary condition of human perception in the turn of the century, Wells used a bathysphere portal in "In The Abyss", a window in "The Plattner Story", a viewing device in "The Crystal Egg" and a doorway in "The Remarkable Case of Davidson's Eyes" (Scheick).

Experiment in Autobiography was written in 1934 about himself, his contemporaries and their times ("Wells"). In Experiment in Autobiography, Wells renounced his title of novelist by saying, "I would rather be regarded as a journalist." Over the years, Herbert had come to view the novel as a channel through which to exhibit his ideas, thus the naming for his "idea novel phase". Tono-Bungay, one of his most flourishing pieces, shows signs in the transformations of styles; ideas are apparent through the characters while their actions demonstrate the criticisms of the time (Allen). The book, written in 1908, is given from the perspective of George Ponderevo who helps his chemist uncle develop his patent medicine, Tono-Bungay ("Wells"). Tono-Bungaycomments on the unreliability and wastefulness of capitalism. Character and plot development seem to disappear thoroughly, however, from the priorities of Wells after Tono-Bungay. Published in 1911, The New Machiavelli, a story of a corrupt politician, starts to show the deterioration of his creativity. This is extremely obvious in The World of William Clissold, Mr. Britling Sees It Through and Babes in the Darkling Wood (Allen).

Nevertheless, H.G. Wells continued to connect with a massive audience in his last 30 years. The Bulpington of Blurp, written in 1931, is an enjoyable and electrifying spoof on the penalties of pursuing an entirely artistic attitude to life in general (Allen). The Outline of History,A Short History of the World and The Shape of Things to Come, published in 1920, 1922 and 1933 respectively, broadened the outlook of readers with its scientific and political theories ("Wells").

Five years before the death of Wells in 1941, George Orwell suggested: "Thinking people who were born about the beginning of this century are in some sense Well's own creation. I doubt whether anyone writing books between 1900 and 1920, at any rate, in the English language, influenced the young so much. The minds of all of us, and therefore the physical world, would be perceptively different if Wells had never existed." (Murray 1-2)

At the apex of H.G. Well's literary career in the 1920's, he was considered one of Great Britain's most significant authors and was grouped with such names as Rudyard Kipling and George Bernard Shaw. Brian Murray argues that neither of the two matched Wells in notoriety and influence. Wells' works ignited discussions and debates that shaped the attitudes of the time on subjects such as the role of women (Murray 1). Whether sympathetic or unsympathetic to H.G. Wells' work, his influence on other authors can be notably found in works within the genre of science fiction. For at least twenty years after his death, Wells' scientific romances were the key factors in the inspiration for the field (Scheick). Literature was not the only component of culture affected; H.G. Wells also had an effect on the media, most particularly radio and film.

Aldous Huxley, a British writer of the 1920's and 1930's, was the grandson of one of H.G. Wells' idols and mentors, Thomas Henry Huxley. This did not stop Aldous from writing his satirical novel, entitled Brave New World, in response to Wells' Men Like Gods. Published nine years before Brave New World, Men Like Gods is Wells' depiction of his utopian fantasy. Brave New World challenged this prophetical outlook by describing the future as a place where individual freedom is nonexistent, replaced by a total centralized government (Coren 174-175). In Brave New World, Huxley also tested the technique of using science fiction romance as a way of expressing societal criticism, a method that Wells helped lay the groundwork for. Aldous Huxley's satire remains one of the most influential science fiction novels of today (Chapman). Huxley's Crome Yellow, published in 1921, and Island, published in 1962, were also in response to Wells' writing (Scheick 14).

George Orwell was a British writer of the mid 1900's that was not ashamed to admit he was an avid reader of the writings of H.G. Wells (Foot 290). Orwell admired Wells; in Keep the Aspidistra Flying and Coming Up the Air, two of Orwell's own novels, you can identify the influence of Wells' Kipps and The History of Mr. Polly (Murray 149). George Orwell's The Animal Farm also implemented the parodying practice seen in Huxley's Brave New World by mocking the Communist philosophy ("George"). After Wells returned from a trip to America in 1940, though, Orwell and H.G. began a bitter battle of words, stemming from a few choice statements Wells made in regards to Adolph Hitler (Foot 290). Considered one of Orwell's best attempts at an essay on literature, "The Rediscovery of Europe" attacked Wells for not caring about anything happening outside the modern English scene, paying too much attention to the past, and not having a sense of history (Foot 290-292).

Jorge Luis Borges, an Argentinean writer that lived from 1899 to 1986, was a diligent reader of H.G. Wells' work although he generally despised science fiction. His disdain for the genre kept him from writing many science fiction pieces himself but he still made his enjoyment of Wells known (Stavans) In 1946, Borges expressed his undying appreciation for Wells' scientific romances in an essay entitled "The First Wells". "The First Wells" praised the novels as universal in appeal (Murray 152). One of his only futuristic type writings, "Utopia of a Tired Man" from The Book of Sand, reveals Well's inspiration on Jorge. In "Utopia of a Tired Man", a Buenos Aires individual travels into the future much in the same way as The Time Machine's main character (Stavans).

Arthur C. Clarke, a British writer of the mid-twentieth century that dealt with both science fiction and science, had began reading H.G. Wells at the age of twelve. In his own career, he took up Wells' mission of educating the intellectual reader. Clarke's first success in the novel world was Childhood's End, published in 1953. Childhood's End was a philosophical novel that provided ideas on human-to-alien contact Clarke admits the influence of Wells on this piece (Zebrowski). Clarke also wrote the introduction to the 1994 new edition of Wells' The War of the Worlds (Foot 289).

H.G. Wells' influence on other writers that tried to modify or rebut his ideas can be detected throughout the 1900's; Joseph Conrad with The Inheritors in 1903 and The Secret Agent in 1907, Edwin Lester Arnold with Lieut. Gulliver Jones, His Vacations in 1905, Dorothy Richardson with Pilgrimage in 1915, and William Golding with Pincher Martin in 1956 are all examples of this. Others that have been influenced by Wells reads like a "who's who" of literature or more specifically, science fiction: Yevgenii Zamyatin, Victor Rousseau Emmanuel, Rebecca West, Sinclair Lewis and John Osborne. When C.S. Lewis and Vladimir Nabokov admitted that they too admired H.G., they opened themselves up for critiques with the intent of finding Wells' inspirations. It was finally uncovered in the 1970's with Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet, published in 1938, and Nabokov's 1938 Invitation to a Beheading (Scheick 14).

Detections of his influence did not end there. The 1970's marked the peak of these findings. Specifically, the sightings included George Gissing's The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft (1903), E. M. Forster's The Machine Shops (1908), Ford Maddox's Mr. Apollo (1908), Yuri Olesha's Zavist (1928), W. Somerset Maugham's Cakes and Ale (1930), Evelyn Waugh's Love Among the Ruins (1953), L. P. Hartley's Facial Justice (1960), and V. S. Naipaul's The House of Mr. Biswas (1961) (Scheick 14).

In the 1980's, Wells' impact could be seen in Fedor Sologub's Legend in Creation (1907), Sinclair Lewis' Our Mr. Wrenn (1914), D. H. Lawrence's Women in Love ( 1921), F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby (1925), Adolfo Bioy Casares' La Invencion de Morel (1953), J. R. R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings ( 1954-55), Jack Williamson's science fiction stories and Saul Bellow's Mr. Sammler's Planet (1970) (Scheick).

H.G. Wells' science fiction romances have had impact on people's lives throughout history. The War of the Worlds is one of the best examples of this. It has been made into a movie several times. In 1938, the most influential recreation of The War of the Worlds was broadcast on CBS Radio throughout the country. On October 30, CBS Radio was broadcasting the music of Ramon Raquello and his orchestra live from New York. Suddenly, a reporter from Intercontinental Radio News interrupted this performance. The reporter told the listening audience that astronomers had just detected large blue flames shooting up from the surface of Mars. The reporter interrupted the broadcast later that evening with more news. This time, he told the listeners that a meteor had fallen to the earth near the New Jersey town of Grovers Mill. An on-site reporter described the ominous scene ("War of Worlds").

This was the beginning of the radio recreation of Wells' The War of the Worlds. In honor of Halloween, the weekly broadcast of Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre acted out the story ("Orson"). Despite the warnings that the broadcast was merely a play, people from all over the country started a widespread panic. Hadley Cantril, a professor at Princeton University who directed a study of the occurrence said "never had so many people in all walks of life and in all parts of the country became so suddenly and so intensely disturbed as they did on this night" (Murray 81). People left their homes and caused large traffic jams. Others armed themselves with weapons and patrolled the streets looking for alien life forms ("Orson"). This was the first radio recreation of Wells' science fiction masterpiece, but certainly not the last. In 1944, a broadcast in Santiago, Chile caused a similar panic. Another incident occurred in 1949 when an angry mob surrounded a radio station in Quito, Ecuador because of a similar broadcast. These three radio broadcasts showed how Wells' stories affected people's lives. His ideas reflected the thoughts and fears of society. Many people have tried to use those ideas to get a similar response from the populace ("War of Worlds").

H.G. Wells' novel was also made into a movie in 1953. Producer George Pal tried to update the novel, placing it in the current time period. Pal decided to replace Wells' alien tripod machines with flying saucers as well. Being one of the most influential figures in the 1950's science fiction movement, Pal was very successful in recreating Wells' novel (Jarrett). The movie itself won an Oscar in 1953 for special effects (The War of the Worlds). When the movie was released on videotape, it quickly became one of the top 20 in sales. Pal's version of The War of the Worlds has turned into a cult classic in the science fiction genre. It even brought about a "War of the Worlds" television series in 1988 (McCabe).

Another one of Well's novels that was made into a movie was The Time Machine. George Pal, the same man that remade The War of the Worlds, released another H.G. Wells classic in 1960. The Time Machine was an extremely inspirational movie. Producer David Valdes said this about the movie: "I can vividly remember going to see George Pal's 'The Time Machine' when it was first released. It was everything you wanted in a movie as a kid, and I must have seen it three times that first week. The whole concept of traveling through time was so fascinating, and it turned me on to science fiction as a genre. I can honestly say it was one of maybe three films that propelled me ultimately to become a motion picture producer." ("Then and Now")

Wells' masterpiece was recreated once more in 2002. His very own great-grandson, Simon Wells, directed this modern version of the novel. This remake of the novel had a few changes in it. First of all, the time traveler was given a name: Alexander Hartdegen. Alexander's motivation to make time travel possible comes from his wife-to-be, Emma. A tragedy involving Emma consumes Alexander. He wants to create a time machine so that he can travel back to the day of the tragedy to alter the past. This contemporary version of The Time Machine may not be completely accurate to Wells' original story; but it does show just how much Wells' ideas inspired people that were working in the science fiction genre. His stories laid the foundation for future writers, directors, and producers in science fiction.

Godfrey Smith, on the twentieth anniversary of Wells' death, said that H.G. was a significant figure on our "literate subconscious"; an abundant of readers have encountered his writings either directly or in creations inspired or replying to his works (Scheick). The more we delve into the text of science fiction authors, the more we find touches of Wells' writing style and spirit; the influence is not limited to well-known writers. In fact, as William Scheick comments, "to point to works by Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, and Jorge Luis Borges is not even to glimpse the proverbial tip of the iceberg of his influence" (Scheick). The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds and The Invisible Man continue to sell copies throughout the world today and entertain film lovers. His other works, like Tono-Bungay and The Kipps, also remain in print. The New Machiavelli and some of his other less notable works have been reissued in paperback. Thus, Wells' imagination, narrative skills and ability to combine humor with suspense continue to reach younger generations (Murray 157). The future will tell whether Wells is able to brand his mark on their fresh literary minds. W. Warren Wagar comments in the third edition of the St. James Guide to Science Fiction Writers: "One may wonder if even one significant writer in the genre anywhere in the world in this century has missed reading H.G. Wells" (Scheick).

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