Tales of Space and Time

H. G. Wells

Language: English

uri

Collection English Library - Science Fiction and Fantasy Project Gutenberg Science Fiction _bleiler _isfdb

Publisher: Harper & Brothers

Published: Jan 1, 1897

Page Count: 429

Description:

1897 The Crystal Egg
1897 The Star
1897 A Story of the Stone Age
1897 A Story of the Days to Come
1898 The Man who could Work Miracles

2334. TALES OF SPACE AND TIME. Harper; London, 1899. +Doubleday, McClure; New York, 1899. Short stories and a nouvelle, including 

[a] The Crystal Egg. (New Review, May 1897) The fading antique and curio dealer Cave bought an odd lot of material from another dealer, including a brilliantly polished egg-shaped crystal. At first it seemed only ornamental, but one day, when holding the crystal to the light, Cave discovered that he could see things in it. 
*  When he spends time gazing into the crystal, it becomes a bone of contention with his wife, and to stop her nagging, he tells her that he sold it, though he continues to use it. At one time he consults Wace, a science demonstrator, who cannot see what Cave does, but can corroborate Cave's account. 
*  Cave reports a strange landscape in which are visible flying creatures with tentacles below their heads. Since he sees two moons in the sky, he is probably looking at Mars. He also sees similar crystals set up on pillars, leading to the speculation that the Martians sent the crystal to earth as a viewing device. But Cave dies suddenly, and the crystal is lost. 
*  A pathetic story, only loosely connected with The War of the Worlds, 

[b] The Star. (The Graphic, Christmas Number, 1897) Catastrophe. Astronomers observe that a strange planetoid has entered the solar system and is about to collide with Neptune. The result of the collision is explosive incandescence, and a new, small sun rushes toward the old sun, and, incidentally, toward earth. As the flaming planetoid approaches, catastrophic geographical changes take place. Most of the lowlands of the world are flooded, and there are enormous volcanic outbursts, even though the planetoid does not strike the earth, as seemed likely for a time. 
*  Most of the human race is destroyed, but the remnant start to build a new, better society in an era of peace. 
*  Another instance of Wells's belief that catastrophism is needed to produce a better world. 

[c] A Story of the Days to Come. (Pall Mall Magazine, June-October 1899, as separate stories titled in sequence "The Cure for Love," "The Vacant Country," "The Ways of the City," "Underneath," and "The Magnanimity of the Man of Pleasure.") The periodical version dates the story as 2090-2097 A.D., but the book text places it about ten years later. The ambience is essentially that of When the Sleeper Wakes. 
*  The story line is fairly simple. ElizebeO Mwres and Denton are young lovers who want to marry, even though her wealthy father disapproves. The problem is survival, for Denton has no money, and it will be three years before ElizebeO will come of age and gain an inheritance. A temporary obstacle arises when Mwres has ElizebeO hypnotized against marrying Denton, but Denton learns of it and has the process reversed. 
*  The lovers decide to marry and live on small money that ElizebeO has. 
*  They manage well for a time, but the money drains away, the inheritance is lost, and there is a child. Their only recourse is to hire themselves out to the Labour Company, which amounts to near slavery. Their child is put into a creche, where it dies. 
*  ElizebeO at first adjusts reasonably to the blue uniform, but Denton has great difficulty, for as a former member of the upper classes he is taunted and abused by his fellow workers. 
*  Things grow worse and worse for the couple, and it seems as if they will break up, when they are saved by a deus ex machina. Although they had no suspicion of it, many of their difficulties had been engineered by a very wealthy, very powerful would-be lover of ElizebeO's from before her marriage. A suitor favored by her father, he had harassed the couple and alienated ElizebeO's inheritance. Now, under medical death sentence, before dashing off to the euthanasia chamber, he wills his enormous fortune to ElizebeO. 
*  The power of the story is not in the narrative, which is sometimes a little far-fetched for the milieu, but in the intense creation of the power state of the future, with stratified society, all-powerful wealth, mechanization, and countless propaganda devices. The weak ending can be forgiven. 

*  [a] and [c] are among the classics of science-fiction. 
*  Also present are "The Story of Ugh-Lomi," a prehistoric story that I would not consider science-fiction, and "The Man Who Could Work Miracles," which is essentially supernatural fiction.