Eve Of The War

Can anyone recomend any good sequels to WOTW?<br /><br />I have read Christopher Priest's THE SPACE MACHINE and enjoyed it. but there must be more out there.

Some suggest "When the Sleeper Wakes" is the ideological sequel to "Worlds," which may be true.<br /><br />Wells' Star Begotten is an extension of the Martian invasion theme...though invasion by other means, and very good. It has recently been reprinted, too.

Here are some books and novels that I'm aware of;<br /><br />Sherlock Holmes' War of the Worlds, by the father & son writing team of Manly W. Wellman & Wade Wellman, was first published in 1975. It doesn't contradict the events in Wells' novel, but instead presents the Martian invasion from Holmes' perspective, as he dodges heat rays, tries to discover if the aliens have any weaknesses, and deduces - long before it takes effect - that Earth's bacteria will be Mankind's salvation. The title object from Well's short story 'The Crystal Egg' (1897) makes an appearance, and amongst the supporting characters is another Arthur Conan Doyle creation, Professor Challenger. <br /><br />Holmes and Dr. Watson also turn up in The Second War of the Worlds by George H. Smith, first published in 1976. As the title suggests, it is intended to be the 'official' sequel to Well's book, but it's also part of Smith's 'Annwn' saga - a series of novels set on Annwn, an alternative version of Earth in a parallel dimension. In The Second War of the Worlds, it's revealed that Wells' aliens didn't actually come from Mars, but originate from Thor, the equivalent of Mars in the Annwn dimension. Having tried and failed to conquer Earth through a dimensional portal (as depicted in War of the Worlds), the aliens have learnt from their mistakes and now try to invade Annwn. However, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson travel through the portal from Earth, and together with Dylan McBride (the hero of the Annwn series) try to foil the invasion before it can get started.<br /><br />Second Invasion From Mars is an unofficial sequel by Russian authors Arkady Strugatsky & Boris Strugatsky. First published in 1968, it's apparently a satire on capitalism, with Well's Martians, having failed to conquer Earth by force, trying to buy the entire planet.<br /><br />You also might find of interest War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches, edited by Kevin J. Anderson. First published in 1996, it's an anthology of stories by various authors, concerning what was happening in the rest of the world during the events in England described by Wells. Various famous or notable late 19th century figures (both real and fictitious) appear in some of the tales. One of the more memorable stories is 'Mars: Home Front', featuring Edgar Rice Burroughs' Mars-based hero John Carter.<br /><br />There's also Famous Monsters, a collection of tales by author and film critic Kim Newman. The premise of the title story is that although the vast majority of Martians were killed by Earth's bacteria at the conclusion of Wells' War of the Worlds, a large number were naturally immune, but they immediately surrendered. Time passes, and the defeated Martians are gradually accepted into society, living and working alongside humans. The story is a first-person account, told by a Martian who became a Hollywood actor in the Thirties and Forties, but found (like other minority actors during that period) that he was forced to play demeaning, stereotypical roles in cheap B-movies. Eventually he becomes a washed-up has-been, his only claim to fame being as one of Lon Chaney Junior's drinking buddies.<br /><br />As for Wells' own work, his novel The War in the Air could be considered a follow-up to War of the Worlds, as he once again addresses the notion of total warfare using technologically advanced weaponry, and it's impact on human society.<br /><br />Aside from novels and prose stories, most the comic book series that Lee has featured on the Comics section of the website are sequels to War of the Worlds, and here's another: Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Missing Martian was a four part series published by Eternity Comics in 1990. It's premise is that after the War, the British government collected together all the Martian technology so it could be examined by the finest scientific minds in the British Empire. Set in May 1908, the story has Holmes trying to stop a group of master criminals who have managed to steal and reactivate a Martian tripod.<br /><br />Finally, a little known movie sequel: the Polish film Wojna Swiatow - Nastepne Stulecie (1981), written and directed by Piotr Szulkin and starring Roman Wilhelmi. Translated, the title is The War of the Worlds - Next Century, and it's credits apparently contain a dedication to H.G. Wells and Orson Welles. Set in Poland in 1999, the movie has the Martians launch a second invasion, one hundred years after their original attempt failed.

Wow, thank you, I have some catching up to do, haven't I? :unsure: <br />I think a trip to my local second-hand book shop is in order.<br /><br />I have some if not all of the Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Missing Martian, somwhere.<br />Thanks again.

I would love to see a sequel that incorperates Eastenders and WOTW.After a cylinder lands in albert square and slowly begins to unscrew you can imagine Alfie Moon saying..'i think that calls for a celebration over at the queen vic'.Once the lid has fell off the cylinder the Martians inside could become new residents on the square.I think even that character who no-ones ever seen(Mr Popadopalus.....who owns the launderette)would even show up for a nosey.And what about big Mo.'them bloody Martians,i'll smash their faces in(while having a celebratory drink in the queen vic i might add).While our Martian friends are settling in and getting to know the locals....Pat,Sam,etc,someone like Andy Hunter could perhaps rifle the cylinder and get off with a fighting machine....one of Ian Beales kids could get arrested for smoking the red weed......and the doctor(whoever is playing that part now)could have an episode all to him self as regards saving the new Martian family from cold flu's and the like!..I can see Big Mo in the queen vic speading the news(in a board cockney accent)...'stone the crows guvnor...its touch and go with Melvin Martian today,he's already had 5 pints of Tixylix and he's still screaming ooh er!'(sorry...ulla)

Sorry these people are all strangers to me, I have never watched Eastenders. I prefer happier, more Cheerful stories like, WOTW or just cutting my own wrists.

Yeah,Eastenders is such a happy show.It reminds me of watching a bulldog chewing wasps........

I understand they all shout a lot aswell

I thinks its just that boot Big Mo who does all the shartin

Den would father a martian love child....

Münchausen and the Martians, anyone?

Yeah and everyones blaming the Martians for killing Paul when really its one of Andy Hunters mates.Heres one for you to have a think about.Who would be the first member of the eastenders cast to have their blood drained.Who would you like to see 'get it first'.Obviously not Dot Cotton coz that bloody womans that pale that not even a Martian with a stolen Handling Machine would touch her.5 pints today Mr Martian Milkman...oo errrrrr!!!!!!!!!!

Out of print but findable on <a href='http://www.bookfinder.com' target='_blank'>bookfinder</a> is 'W G Grace's Last Case' by the late, great Willie Rushton. It's a rickety rackety comedy set in a post-war (of the worlds) London, as the great cricketer W G Grace teams up with Dr Watson (alone, Holmes having, as Grace puts it, 'gone over the Thingyback Falls' some years earlier) to solve A Dastardly Case. A galaxy of late Victorian stars appear, from the paranoid PM Lord Salisbury to the Marquis of Queeensbury, Sarah Bernhardt, Kaiser Wilhelm !!, Bertie Prince of Wales, Dr Jekyll (and his notorious alter ego), Will Bill Hickock, Oscar Wilde (in reality a butch British secret agent posing as an effete artistic queen), Jules Verne, H G Wells (yes!) and, of course, the Martians.<br /><br />Vastly silly, even more hugely entertaining, and illustrated with Willie's inimitably scratchy ink drawings.<br /><br />You'll laugh, you'll cry, it'll change your life...<br /><br />Pointless Trivia: Willie Rushton, a comic actor as well as writer, has another Wellsian connection. In the Ray Harryhausen 'First Men in the Moon', Peter Finch (then an international film star) cameoed as the local official presenting the summons to Bedford's fiance. He stepped in at the last minute as a favour to the director (a friend of his) when the actor who was to play the official failed to appear. That errant actor was Willie Rushton.

Thanks McTodd, sound good I will try and hunt it down, cheers

Eddison's Conquest of Mars, a delightfull little tale in which Thomas A. Eddison leads a counter-attack against the martians. Set after an Americanised version of the WotW in which the martians lauched a global invasion rather than just taking England, and their appearance was changed to a more humanoid form. Its nowhere near as interesting as the original book, lacking in any real attempt at social comentary, but it was the first sci-fi story to describe battles in space, and probaly the first "America Saves the World" story ever written.

Thanks for that 'Yuri2356' I shall add it to my wish list.
Welcome to the forum

No need, you can read it straight from the link I posted. (Click the title) Scroll arround half way down the page, and you'll see it nicely broken up into chapters.

Excellent, I shall do that. Thanks again

Try David Cian's Mega War of the Worlds coming out at the end of June. Earth is invaded a second time. Earthmen, having learned from the first invasion in 1901, have built gigantic robots to defend the Earth...yet they are not ready for some nasty new improvements that the Martians have developed over the last 100 years. This time, in 2001, no mere bacterium is going to stop them!

Thanks 'Xuxa' I shall keep an eye out for that

Global Dispatches is hard to get hold of. It got bad reviews too. What I don't like about what I know of it is it deals with the Martian Invasion elsewhere in the world, such as France and America. Yet the Martians only invade England. So it is more than a sequal it is a reworking of the origional story.

Right, Global Dispatches if what I was thinking of in the other thread. Has anyone thread any of these?

As I mentioned in the other sequel thread, "Mega War of the Worlds" has been bumped back in the schedule. It won't come out until November, so we'll be lucky to get copies of it in time for Christmas.

Yes, the stories are variable, some are good, some are indifferent. It's well worth getting, though.

It was inspired by 'The Night of the Cooters', which was a stand-alone short story by Howard Waldrop, and which features in the collection. This story is a wonderful fusion of Wells, Percival Lowell, and movie Westerns! Waldrop specifically states that the Sheriff in the story is explicitly modelled on the late great actor Slim Pickens, even to the extent that his deputy is called Sweets ('Dang it, Sweets!', a phrase directly from 'Dr Strangelove', in which Pickens played Major Kong).

Basically, Waldrop picks up on the fact that in WotW, Wells only specifies the landing sites of seven of the ten cylinders fired from Mars, and has the errant three go off-course and land in Texas, outside a small, (stereo)typical Western-type town. How will the gun-toting locals led by their no-nonsense sheriff react to this incursion...?

It would have made a perfect 45-minute piece for a TV anthology series with Pickens in the role...

That could be possible. If England didn't make it, then America was next.