Tag Archives: H.G. Wells

The War of the Worlds as witnessed by Teddy Roosevelt

Posted on November 2, 2024 by smellincoffee

There came suddenly a blinding flash of flame from the pit, andanother and another, and the whole delegation met with a terrible instant death, forty souls in all. The fiery beam also ignited adjacent trees and brought down a portion … Continue reading →

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July 2023 in Review

Posted on July 31, 2023 by smellincoffee

While it’s conceivable that I could finish a book today (I’m halfway through The Last Republicans, and ditto for Off the Planet: Five Months on Mir), I doubt it. I spent the weekend saying goodbye to a friend: the Harmony … Continue reading →

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The Island of Doctor Moreau

Posted on June 17, 2023 by smellincoffee

“It was not in eating the apple that I sinned, but in overstepping the mark set for me. ” – Adam, Paradiso.   Adrift at sea,  a young biologist named Prendick – who had taken to natural history to relieve … Continue reading →

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It’s not so lonely out in space: three to celebrate Apollo 11

Posted on July 20, 2021 by smellincoffee

Fifty-two years ago, men from Earth touched down on the moon and inaugurated a new era in human exploration. I usually re-watch From the Earth to the Moon (a Tom Hanks docu-drama that is in my “Everything is burning but … Continue reading →

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The Wheels of Chance

Posted on February 23, 2017 by smellincoffee

The Wheels of Chance: A Bicycling Idyll© 1896 H.G. Wells193 pages What an odd little story! Begin with one J. Hoopdriver, a draper’s assistant who lives for nothing but spare opportunities to ride his bicycle — or rather, to crash … Continue reading →

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In the Days of the Comet

Posted on April 27, 2016 by smellincoffee

In the Days of the Comet© 1906 H.G. Wells276 pages Have you been cyanogened yet?  Carl Sagan delivered that preposterous line in the original Cosmos, reading the newspaper headlines of a century past. Then, as Halley’s Comet approached the Earth, … Continue reading →

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Reads to …er, Reels: War of the Worlds

Posted on April 10, 2016 by smellincoffee

“…coming this way, about twenty yards from my ri—” Tonight I turned off the lights and put on a recording of Orson Welles’ 1938 radio dramatization of H.G. Wells’ (confusing, that) The War of the Worlds.  According to a popular … Continue reading →

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The Invisible Man

Posted on April 5, 2016 by smellincoffee

The Invisible Man© 1897 H,G, Wells149 pages The Invisible Man opens with the arrival of a Mysterious Stranger to a country inn. He is covered from head to toe, and remains so even after he takes a room. The townsfolk don’t … Continue reading →

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The Outline of History

Posted on February 23, 2011 by smellincoffee

The Outline of History, Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind (Volume I)© 1920 H.G. Wells, revised edition by G.P. Wells and Raymond Postgate © 1970550 pages At the close of the Great War, people wondered how such a … Continue reading →

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The War of the Worlds

Posted on October 23, 2010 by smellincoffee

The War of the Worlds© 1898 H.G. Wellsfrom The War of the Worlds with The Time Machine and Selected Short Stories, collected 1963.303 pages “Don’t run! We are your friends!“ No one would have believed in the last years of … Continue reading →

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