Tales of Space and Time Annotated

by H.G. Wells

These are the stories contained in this collection showing the periodicals in which they were first published:
The Crystal Egg/short story, The New Review, 5/1897
The Star/short story, The Graphic, 12/1897
A Story of the Stone Age/novella, The Idler, 5-9/1897 comprising: Ugh-Lomi & Uya, The Cave Bear, The First Horseman,
Uya the Lion, The Fight in the Lion’s Thicket
A Story of the Days To Come/novella, The Pall Mall Magazine, 6-10/1897 comprising: The Cure for Love, The Vacant Country, The Ways of the City, Underneath, Bindon Intervenes
The Man Who Could Work Miracles/short story, Illustrated London News, 7/1898

Genres: Science Fiction, Classics, Fiction, Short Stories, Fantasy, Time Travel, Speculative Fiction

244 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1899

About the author

Herbert George Wells was born to a working class family in Kent, England. Young Wells received a spotty education, interrupted by several illnesses and family difficulties, and became a draper's apprentice as a teenager. The headmaster of Midhurst Grammar School, where he had spent a year, arranged for him to return as an "usher," or student teacher. Wells earned a government scholarship in 1884, to study biology under Thomas Henry Huxley at the Normal School of Science. Wells earned his bachelor of science and doctor of science degrees at the University of London. After marrying his cousin, Isabel, Wells began to supplement his teaching salary with short stories and freelance articles, then books, including The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War of the Worlds (1898).

Wells created a mild scandal when he divorced his cousin to marry one of his best students, Amy Catherine Robbins. Although his second marriage was lasting and produced two sons, Wells was an unabashed advocate of free (as opposed to "indiscriminate") love. He continued to openly have extra-marital liaisons, most famously with Margaret Sanger, and a ten-year relationship with the author Rebecca West, who had one of his two out-of-wedlock children. A one-time member of the Fabian Society, Wells sought active change. His 100 books included many novels, as well as nonfiction, such as A Modern Utopia (1905), The Outline of History (1920), A Short History of the World (1922), The Shape of Things to Come (1933), and The Work, Wealth and Happiness of Mankind (1932). One of his booklets was Crux Ansata, An Indictment of the Roman Catholic Church. Although Wells toyed briefly with the idea of a "divine will" in his book, God the Invisible King (1917), it was a temporary aberration. Wells used his international fame to promote his favorite causes, including the prevention of war, and was received by government officials around the world. He is best-remembered as an early writer of science fiction and futurism.

He was also an outspoken socialist. Wells and Jules Verne are each sometimes referred to as "The Fathers of Science Fiction". D. 1946.

More: http://philosopedia.org/index.php/H._...

http://www.online-literature.com/well...

http://www.hgwellsusa.50megs.com/

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/t...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H._G._Wells

Reviews

[George K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Έκτο βιβλίο του Χ. Τζ. Γουέλς που διαβάζω, ήταν και αυτό εξαιρετικά ενδιαφέρον, καλογραμμένο και ψυχαγωγικό. Έχουμε να κάνουμε με μια συλλογή ιστοριών, μιας και το βιβλίο περιέχει τρία διηγήματα και δυο μεγαλούτσικες νουβέλες. Αν μη τι άλλο, πολύ... χορταστικό περιεχόμενο, και εξαιρετικά ποιοτικό. Τα τρία διηγήματα ("Το κρυστάλλινο αυγό", "Το Αστέρι" και "Ο άνθρωπος που μπορούσε να κάνει θαύματα") τα βρήκα πάρα πολύ ωραία, καλογραμμένα και σπιρτόζικα, με ενδιαφέρουσες ιδέες, υποδόρια ειρωνεία και πολύ καλή αίσθηση του χιούμορ, σίγουρα διαβάζοντάς τα ο αναγνώστης θα περάσει ιδιαίτερα ευχάριστα την ώρα του. Όσον αφορά το... κυρίως πιάτο, δηλαδή τις δυο νουβέλες, με τους τίτλους "Μια ιστορία της Λίθινης Εποχής" και "Η ιστορία των ημερών που έρχονται" μου φάνηκαν αμφότερες πραγματικά εξαιρετικές, ωραία γραμμένες και με ιντριγκαδόρικες ιδέες, με την πρώτη νουβέλα να διαδραματίζεται στο μακρινό παρελθόν και τη δεύτερη στο σχετικά κοντινό μέλλον (ο συγγραφέας βρήκε την ευκαιρία να θίξει διάφορα ζητήματα για την ανθρώπινη φύση και την κοινωνία, ειδικά με τη δεύτερη νουβέλα). Είναι από τις φορές που πραγματικά απόλαυσα εξίσου όλες τις ιστορίες μιας συλλογής, αν και όσο να 'ναι, λόγω μεγέθους μάλλον, βρήκα ανώτερες τις δυο νουβέλες σε σχέση με τα (πολύ καλά) διηγήματα.

[Wanda Pedersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ever since I catalogued a big collection of H.G. Wells' work for the library I worked at, I have been meaning to read more of his fiction. He was a prolific writer, interested in many things and thoughtful about their meaning. As I am experiencing some disruption in my ability to concentrate, I opted for a collection of short fiction.

I was struck by his story The Star, about a comet impacting Neptune. It made me think back to 1992, when Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 slammed into Jupiter. Just as in this story, both the astronomical and popular press were excited and entranced by the event. Thankfully it had far less effect on Earth than in this fiction. Nevertheless, I noted that many people of Wells' story try to deny expert opinion and seem to think that refusing to believe the science will somehow spare them from danger, much like folk today refuse to believe in climate change despite floods, forest fires, destructive hail storms, stronger hurricanes and tornadoes. Wells understood human nature quite clearly. He also anticipated a worry which the astronomical community has today, the possible impact of Earth by an asteroid or comet.

The tales varied from one about human ancestors (A Story of the Stone Age) to people of the future (A Story of the Days to Come) . The prehistoric people were depicted as well able to deal with the world around them, while the very urban people of the future have highly romantic and unrealistic ideas of rural life. Denton and Elizabeth are clueless about weather, animals, and how to support themselves outside the city. I thought it was interesting that Wells' future included huge corporations and unrecognizable ultra-processed food. He didn't envision a cashless society, as they still worry about money and find it to be a limiting factor in their lives. Wells' socialist leanings are on clear display as he critiques the capitalist system that cuts his future society off from nature, crowds them into cities, feeds them unidentifiable foodstuffs, and still limits their dreams. I also thought I glimpsed some of the thought that later produced The Time Machine.

The final story (The Man Who Could Perform Miracles) explores the plight of a skeptic who suddenly finds himself possessed of miraculous powers. Wells explores the morality of tinkering with other people's lives and the dangers of not fully thinking through the results of certain miracles. It seemed to me to have a similar flavour to Ursula K. Le Guin's The Lathe of Heaven, with the “whole miraculous manipulation of the world” aspect.

There are good reasons that we still read H.G. Wells. He was an influential and progressive thinker. Although his writing style is slow and wordy compared to modern science fiction, he is still fairly easy to read. I bet he would love to see where the modern genre has gone and that we are still exploring many of the same issues.

[Antony Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been re-disovering H. G. Wells lately, and this collection of short stories is bursting with imagination and entertainment :

THE CRYSTAL EGG - I loved the concept of the crystal egg itself, and the slow reveal of what the egg is holds the attention throughout the story. Towards the end, I thought we were heading towards a potential alien invasion as the pay off, but the story had a much less "pat" ending I'm glad to say.

THE STAR - almost like a modern disaster movie, or the opening scenes of one at any rate. Very effective, and the inclusion of Ogilvy the astronomer and the martians provided a neat link with The War of the Worlds.

A STORY OF THE STONE AGE - this one didn't appeal to me. The setting just didn't grab me, and ok maybe I didn't try hard enough but I gave up after a couple of pages and flicked to the next story.

A STORY OF THE DAYS TO COME - a love story in the 22nd century, in a future imagined by Wells from a Victorian perspective. Some of the predictions are interestingly accurate, the removal of the population from the countryside (now deserted) into over-populated, sky-scrapered cities rings true. And even the inaccurate predictions make for entertaining reading. I particularly liked the wildly colourful and "pneumatic" fashions that he describes.

THE MAN WHO COULD WORK MIRACLES - a short, witty and entertaining story to finish about the power of working miracles, granted to a small unassuming man.

[Cecily]

Contains:
"The Crystal Egg"
"The Star"
"A Story of the Stone Age"
"A Story of the Days To Come"
"The Man Who Could Work Miracles" - see my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

All five are free on Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/27365/...

[Sheldon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent collection of short stories and novellas. The two novellas, A Story of the Stone Age, and A Story of the Days to Come were my favourite of the collection, both excellent and interesting.

[Saskia · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Chrystal Egg 4/5
The Star 3/5
A Story of the Stone Age 3.5/5
A Story of the Days to Come* 4/5
The Man Who Could Work Miracles 4.5/5

Alles in allem bin ich mit dieser Kurzgeschichtensammlung sehr zufrieden, wobei ich erst gegen Ende erkannt habe, wie toll sie doch ist! Man muss sich die Zeit nehmen, denn ich fand es nicht immer leicht sie zu lesen. Mit der Zeit bekommt man aber ein Gefühl für HG Wells' Art zu erzählen. Vor allem bei den Novellen hat es mir geholfen, als ich raus gefunden haben, dass es viel leichter ist sie zu lesen, wenn man jedes Kapitel als eigene Geschichte liest.
Mir haben vor allem seine wirklich ausgefallenen Ideen gefallen und auch seine Bemühungen einen gewisse wissenschaftliche Grundlage zu schaffen. Zum Beispiel hätte ich nicht damit gerechnet, dass man Menschen auf einem anderen Planeten beobachtet oder gar eine Steinzeitgeschichte hat.

*Hier hat mir vor allem gefallen, dass die Geschichte in der Zukunft spielt, in der die Protagonisten auf das aktuelle Zeitgeschehen zurück blicken und erkennen, dass alles seine Zeit hat. In allen Geschichten sind wirklich tolle, weise Botschaften zu finden.

[Manjot Singh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stories

The man who could work miracles 5/5
The star 4/5
The crystal egg. 4/5
The story of the stone age 3/5
The story of the days to come 3/5

[Vaiva Sapetkaitė · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is interesting to see how people from the past imagined the future. You get a feeling that many alternative scenarios could have evolved and we live just in one of them :)
And, you know, science can be quite entertaining :))

[John Majerle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm starting to enjoy reading science fiction short stories from 1895. Of course Victorian science fiction authors get many predictions wrong but then again modern day authors have the same problem so I try not to let that get in the way of a good story.

With this particular anthology, Wells makes the case that humanity is much the same across time: distance past, present, and future. Superficially we will wear different clothing, pursuing different ways of making a living, etc. But at a fundamental cultural level humans are more alike than different over time. Its an interesting hypothesis. However, the idea may tell us more about layman Victorian beliefs than it does about historical theories.

[Riddhiman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is sort of a mixed bag consisting of 3 short stories and 2 novellas. The first story 'The Crystal Egg' is an imaginative science fiction. The next one is a disaster genre story depicting the collision of an asteroid with earth. The two novellas or tales that follow are based on stone age and a fictionalized distant future respectively. They are good in parts but drag at times. The book ends with a brilliant magical realist short story 'The Man Who Could Work Miracles'. This is clearly the best of the lot.

[Christine Kayser · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know what I was expecting, but this wasn't it. It has an intriguing start, with a sci-fi spacey concept...but then just kind of meanders through time without connection or plot between the time frames. I kept at it, assuming it would go somewhere...but no.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting stories that span humanity's dawn in prehistory (with a suite of tales) to a novella set in the future that deals with class struggle and social commentary.

[Alfredo Sirica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Una raccolta di racconti con cui Wells crea tra i più sfruttati topos della narrativa fantascientifica odierna

[Kadir Baytimur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hikayeler ortalamaydı ve pek heyecanlandırmadı.

[Natasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

The crystal egg - tells of a loadstone with a view to a Martian world, there is no explicit point or description of the actual plot. You are introduced to details and visuals to focus on and gain an interpretation of the characters' lives and without explicitly being told that they are poor for instance, you figure it our through details. which is more or less the point of the egg giving glimpses into another world. It plays with space and time in a way the writing does, a reflection of imagination in the tale itself, open to interpretation. The narrative serves the same function as the egg, to give insight into another world and Wells plays on this idea of translocational worldviews in this piece and how this is explored through fiction and it should be read as such, this is made obvious in the last two paragraphs.

The star - tells of the view of disaster relative to perspective. The impending danger is first identified, and a vague awareness is documented, dismissed, and viewed through the lenses of those who experience them in their respective world views. The danger comes ravages and passes. We see this then as a Martian world view which again serves the function of an outsider's interpretation. A distant view that shows that even though tragedies come and pass in light of perspective they may not be as terrible as they seem from the outside even though they decimate and destroy when closer to the nexus. Everything is relative to experience and closeness to events. 'how small the vastness of human catastrophes may seem, at a distance of a few million miles'.

These collections of tales are explorations of thought into the relative space and time of human experiences. The point of these short stories is always summarised in the last sentences and paragraphs of each tale respectively as to whether the plots are crafted well enough with respect to the writing, I think they could be better but the general idea is there.

Does what it says on the tin. Wish there was more intrigue and mystery there, something to unravel, quite obvious in writing. The plot could do with some work, writing is an exercise in creative description.

A story of the stone age - basically what it says on the tin. There is a young girl who is within a patriarchal tribe, she and a young man of the trib break away, and there is war between the men over dominance and the right to breed. They break away and live alone for a while then war with some bears and kill the male bear leaving a female where the story ends. Basically, an explanation of evolution in demonstrating the pairs move away from the generation that came before and the interaction with the bears serves to reinforce the idea of the evolutionary difference between man and beast in terms of intelligence. I did not like this story, may have been because we know more about evolution now but even as a basic descriptive story I am not entirely convinced that it wasn't just down to poor execution considering there would have been a good 40 years since the discovery of darwins theory of evolution and neanderthals at the time of Wells writing this.

I gave up on this book, it was too dull and emotionally exhausting to commit the time to read so much so that I just gave up on reading altogether just in the name of completion. (i could not start something new without finishing this but it is so bad I just cannot. There are better things than this book). I have tried many times to try again but honestly, no.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of vivid and descriptive tales that takes you to the ends of the universe and to the beginning and end of time. Wells has created (and recreated) different places within the universe and takes the reader back to man's beginning and forward to a world within the city limits.

The Crystal Egg - this tale follows Mr Cave as he becomes obsessed with a crystal egg he picked up, which allows some to view other worlds and their inhabitants. But as his obsession grows, so does the malevolence of those other beings.
The Star - this tells of the death of Neptune and its 'descent' into the Sun and its impact on Earth, which to mankind seems catastrophic but to external eyes appears minor in its effects on Earth itself.
A Story of the Stone Age - following the story of Ugh-lomi and Uya as they leave their tribe and try and survive in the Stone Age world, facing bears, lions and their own kind.
A Story of the Days to Come - this tells of the future world of Earth and how lives of its inhabitants have changed, becoming tied less to the Earth and more to the megacities of man's creation.
The Man Who Could Work Miracles - a short story on how the ability to perform 'miracles' is not quite as beneficial as it seems.

[Krystelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wells has such an inimitable style, and this collection is no exception. Again, however, it lacks a little of the pizazz that his other work has, and I hoped for a little more from it. The stories are good, but nothing too special- I think they just needed a little more from them. With that said, they’re by no means bad- they’re just not enough.

[Sanjeev Kumar · Rating 5 out of 5]

HG Wells had a unique imagination and way to capture readers so that they remained enthralled on the meandering yet purposeful journeys he took them on. This collection of stories stands the test of time and excitement and will continue to do so for many generations to come.

The Crystal Egg is the first of the five stories. It revolves around a mesmerising ornament desired by all by understood by only a few from a far away place and time. This is literally a gem of a story and the perfect opening instalment.

The Star has been retold many times since it was written. A new star appears in the night sky. It brings wonder and hope until people realise what is actually means and the consequences it brings.

Then come the two powerhouse stories - A Story of the Stone Age and A Story of the Days to Come - separated by eons but so closely interwoven that time becomes irrelevant. The Stone Age story was harder to read but once you realise that it is setting up the following instalment, its themes of conquest, wonder, technology, environment, society and conflict become brutally apparent.

Days to Come story is classic Wells. A gaze into the 22nd century. Whilst environmental, societal and technological constructs are different humanity still grapples with the same themes of wonder, conflict and conquest. Packed with so much depth and imagination this is a must read.

Finally, The Man Who Could Work Miracles is another gem close the book. The ability to produces miracles is both a blessing and a curse only the scales are much bigger than anyone could imagine.

This was so much fun.

Enjoy!

[SierraKiloBravo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Link to my review: https://sierrakilobravo.wordpress.com...

On my iPad I use an app called Aldiko for my ebooks. Along with the app came a number of free books, and among them was Tales of Space and Time by H.G. Wells, published in 1899. I’ve read a number of science fiction books from the 1800s and early 1900s, but had never come across this one so loaded it up.

It is a collection of three short stories, and two novellas. Apart from the first two short stories that had a wonderful Jules Verne feel about them, I really did not enjoy the rest of it. I just found that I could not get into the other stories, and in the end I even gave up halfway through the final novella.

It’s a shame because when I read The War of the Worlds (also by Wells) a number of years ago, I absolutely loved it. I guess I was hoping for the same feeling I got when I read that, but it just never came. I can’t quite put my finger on it to be honest.

There are however a number of other free books included with Aldiko, so hopefully I will have some more luck with some of those.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite an interesting collection!
I found the 3 short stories to be more interesting - they tend to be built around a great idea and move toward a resolution promptly, leaving much for the reader's imagination to build on. In contrast the short stories spend a lot more time on character development, and draw out their long-term development in an era of the past or future.

Considering the time that Wells wrote these stories, he can certainly be considered innovative for his era and foundational to eras to come.

His first short story about a crystal egg from Mars reminds me of the Palantir "seeing stones" of Middle Earth. The story about the planetary collision and subsequent effects on earth reminds me of stories of Nemesis/Nibiru. And the story of the miracle worker certainly grips the imagination.
The novellas are about life in England in prehistoric times and future centuries, closely following the lives of a couple main characters.

[Al Lock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite its age, this is an excellent little collection. It consists of 5 stories. The Crystal Egg is a story about a device that lets someone observe somewhere else. Sort of an interplanetary CCTV camera. The Star is about a near miss of an interplanetary body, a star, which is a sort of a disaster story but is much too conservative (pretty sure if what is described actually happened, the Earth would be no more). The next two stories are linked - A Story of the Stone Age is a bit of historical fiction - similar to Clan of the Cave Bear type writing, while A Story of the Days to Come is a story about a futuristic society in the same location. Together they are attempting to push Wells' socialist view of how humans should change. The last story, the Man Who Could Work Miracles, is a bit of time travel in a way.

All noticeably dated, but still a good read.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book of short stories, Wells uses physical concepts of his time to craft delightful stories! Not just fantastical science fiction, but the science he presents really does hold up. The allusion to quantum entanglement in "The Crystal Egg" was a beautiful point, as well as the note of inertial reference frames in "The Man who Could Work Miracles". (Note is quite the understatement!) Some of his allusions to what life would be like 80 or so years from now were great, some bits flights of fancy even for our time, some startlingly accurate, such as the widened gap in income inequality and airplanes! Oh he put airplanes into his story, different than ours but still!
This is a book I'd recommend to anyone interested in hard sciences with enthusiasm, and none the less, would recommend to anyone who likes historical fiction, sci-fi, or speculative fiction.

[Tony · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Crystal Egg
Delightful mostly low key sci-fi that feels like it must have been way ahead of its time. My only issue is it feels like the intriguing start of something.

The Star
Peppered with some dodgy of the period racism and sexism but a stunning imagining of an object giving us a near pass.

A Story of the Stone Age
Interminable caveman story with all the problematic issues of the time but also some bloody awful storytelling.

A Story of Days to Come
Quite fun for the speculations at the future - very much extrapolation from the Victorian era - but far too long and unfocused.

The Man Who Could World Miracles
A fun, light conclusion that's mostly an excuse to explore one idea.

[Rob · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some of these stories are two-star stories. The long ones dragged a bit. Themes included curiosity, human struggles, competition, forbidden romance, social classes, and magical powers. Wells gives a nod to the rise of (the authority of) science and the fragility of social classes in "A Story of the Days to Come." The latter story resembles the social structure of the future in The Time Machine, with lower classes under the earth or in dark recesses and higher classes in bright, beautiful places above the ground. Wells's portrays religion in that story as a thing of the past; but our toil and suffering remains.

[Tugbadursun · Rating 1 out of 5]

Kitap çok başarısız ya da şöyle diyeyim her zamanki Wells değil. Baştaki ilk üç öykü (Kristal Yumurta, Yıldız ve Mucizeler Yaratabilen Adam) eser miktarda bilim kurgu içeriyor. Kitabın devamındaki Taş Devrinden bir Hikaye ve Gelecek Günlerden bir Hikaye de hem gereksiz uzun hem de hiç bilim kurgu içermiyor bana göre. Romantikler evet ama dediğim gibi her zaman okuyup sevdiğimiz H.G.Wells'i bu kitapta bulamadım.

[Kevin Gøhler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories, of varying quality and lenght. I'm always amazed, reading old science fiction, how clever the author have been, and what foresight they have had - while at the same time lacking any kind of imagination, in relation to certain aspects of life/society. That is, of course, easy to see in retrospect. 😊 Worth a read, but it might not be equally exciting all the way through.

[Jeff Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. It was an impulse buy and those usually don't turn out all that well for me. It's a handful of short stories from Wells that all take place in or around London at different times (stone age, future, 1900's, etc.). It was an easy and quick read. Probably would be a good book to take on a summer vacation.

[Christa]

Heb alleen het eerste verhaal gelezen omdat de vertaling in "Oud-Nederlands" was, waarschijnlijk representatief voor het "Oud-Engels" waarin de roman geschreven was, maar hierdoor voelde lezen in dit boek als lezen in een taal die je net niet goed beheerst. Wel weer een prachtig verhaal, heel typisch voor H.G. Wells.

[Lectora de la tierra media · Rating 3 out of 5]

De esta recopilación de relatos sólo leí uno:

"La Estrella" es un cuento corto escrito por el renombrado autor H.G. Wells, publicado originalmente en 1897. Es muy corto y se lee de una sentada así que no diré nada más que me encanta como escribe este autor y que en pocas páginas logra intrigarte y hasta estresarte pensando qué harías tu en ese caso.

[Sara Best · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed some stories more than others. I especially liked 'A Story of the Days to Come' as it gave a very interesting interpretation of what the future would be like. It is set ahead of our time but with enough insight to extrapolate what he imagined our times would have been like.