Science-fiction

H. G. Wells (1866-1946) was a prolific author in many diverse domains (novels, short stories, social commentary, history, satire and biography) and a very engaged social commentator and critic. He was nominated four times for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
But he is best remembered today for his pioneering works of science fiction, The Time Machine (1895) , The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897), and The War of the Worlds (1898), that established him — with his (…)

This was, we do believe, the first novel on the theme of conflict with alien civilisations in the history of literature.
It has remained justly famous for its dramatic story line — the invading Martians have superior tecHnology and are more advanced scientifically than mankind — and its introduction of such novel concepts as interplanetary rocketry, chemical and biological warfare, heat rays and robot-like giant machines that wreaked havoc upon London, the greatest city on Earth at the (…)

We found this imaginative and rather charming story by the author of Farewell to the Master (The Day the Earth Stood Still), about one personable and very resourceful scientist’s encounter with the emissary of a surprisingly-advanced civilization that requires his services for an unnamed but really pretty basic function, in one of the — and one of the best ever — major anthologies of science-fiction stories and novellas: the remarkable 1000-page "Adventures in Time and Space", edited by (…)

The greatest scientist the world has ever had has invented an extraordinary new means of exploring the world of the infinitely small, and sends his devoted assistant on a mind-boggling series of adventures exploring the infinite series of concentric universes contained within the most minute particle (!), thus providing the scope and scale of one of the most ambitious and wide-ranging and thought-provoking science-fiction stories ever.
This powerful saga was first published in the August (…)

A scientific expedition in Antarctica discovers the remnants of an alien spaceship that had crashed there millions of years ago, and decides – unwisely – to melt the frozen remnants of one of the forms found nearby. When the alien being revives and reveals incredible shape-changing abilities and other stupendous powers, the race is on not only to save themselves but also and especially to save the whole human race from destruction.
First published in the August 1938 issue of Astounding (…)

First published in the October 1940 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, this ambitious story became the basis of one of the most highly-regarded science-fiction films of its time and even all time, the quite wonderful "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951), the title under which this thoughtful, well-paced and very ambitious story has been known ever since.
(16,000 words)
We have included here the several original – and most worthwhile – 1940 Astounding illustrations by Kramer.
An (…)

An advanced civilization on a dying planet mobilizes all its resources to build and send out a hundred spaceships, each with a thousand volunteers on board, to find new worlds on which they could ensure the survival of their race. This is the tragic story of the one that landed on Earth.
This terrific golden-age sci-fi story by the English author John Wyndham was first published in the March 1941 issue of the American monthly magazine Amazing Stories as “Phoney Meteor” under the pen-name (…)

This quite wonderful exploration of man-woman relationships by an enormously superior being from another dimension of space-time will for sure have you chuckling and nodding in agreement throughout, and admiring the skill and talent of Theodore Sturgeon in his initial and possibly most creative period in the early forties, just before taking a break of several years before embarking on other s-f directions.
This clever, amusing, quite timeless little masterpiece was sort of hidden away (…)

Featuring a genial German rocket scientist – ah, if only they had all been as good-natured and likable and well-intentioned as him! – and his charming and soon-to-be-super-intelligent mouse neighbour, with whom he has struck up a warm and talkative and very cheese-based relationship, that he sends out on the first-ever space mission in the history of mankind (we are in 1942), this inventive story about very-hard-to forget mice and men cannot fail to leave you with a smile on your lips and (…)

Kerry and Martha have bought a modern radio console without realising that although it has the look and feel of a modern-forties appliance, it had just been made by a time-warped and very expert worker from another dimension according to the standards of that mysterious time-space.
Boy, are they (and we) in for a surprise!
The Twonky was first published in the September 1942 issue of Astounding Science Fiction under the pen-name of Lewis Padgett, which was used by the prolific (…)