Eve Of The War
http://www.focusgaming.co.uk/eveofthewar/

Are You A Fan Of Hg Wells's Other Books/projects?
http://www.focusgaming.co.uk/eveofthewar/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=237
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Author:  eveofthewar [ Tue Mar 15, 2005 5:10 pm ]
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..... just interested to see if you are or not....

Author:  The Improved Trog [ Tue Mar 15, 2005 7:27 pm ]
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HG Wells pwnz :alien32:<br /><br />Sorry for strange freakish languange :D

Author:  Lonesome Crow [ Tue Mar 15, 2005 9:16 pm ]
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I have recently read 'The food of the Gods' not expecting it to be particularly good, as it's not one of his well known books.<br />But it was very good, it has many of the places mentioned in the 'Invisable Man' and it's Written as a comedy.<br />The story is very poignant today with our GM crops scare.

Author:  Loz [ Wed Mar 16, 2005 5:19 pm ]
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Big fan, haven't read everything. First Men in the Moon, Time Machine and Invisable man are all time favourites of mine.

Author:  The Curate [ Thu Mar 17, 2005 9:59 am ]
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Just read 'The Star'.Very good,its Wells descripted writing that does it for me. :)<br />Never be bettered

Author:  Alland [ Thu Aug 18, 2005 2:22 am ]
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I like most of Wells' work. Being a fan of pulp magazine-style, archaic-looking sci fi stuff, I loved "The War In the Air". Sure wish they'd do a movie about it some day: World War III (the "end of civilization" war) being fought with World War I technology for the most part. But because it's so dated, the project will probably never be taken up. (Sigh!)

Author:  Sentient [ Thu Aug 18, 2005 7:18 am ]
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Never had the time to read his works. I get sidetracked by Huxley and Orwell's works.

Author:  McTodd [ Thu Aug 18, 2005 8:54 am ]
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I've got to agree with Alland there, 'The War in the Air' is excellent, though more prosaic than some of his other works. I'm a big fan of airships anyway, so it's a dead cert for me. I've got a first edition which has some wonderful illustrations. But again, I'd have to agree with Alland that the chances of anyone making it into a filum are, well, a million to one against. Having said that, one of the earliest British sci-fi films 'The Airship Destroyer' of 1909 was strongly influenced by it (an internet friend is sending me a VCD of it).

'The Food of the Gods' is an oddity. The first part is quite comedic - giant insects and animals loose in small-town Edwardian England. But the latter part, as a new race of giants develops and is forced to prepare for war, is quite sobering. Interesting story, rather a period piece in its way, utterly bastardised by film-makers.

'First Men in the Moon' is a favourite of mine. The scenes on the moon and the detailing of the selenite society are marvellous, and sometimes very funny (Wells' descriptions of artist-selenites, mathematician-selenites and the like really pin down the obsessive specialist). I like the film, I feel that it's quite faithful to the novel within Hollywood constraints.

'The World Set Free' is a real odd one. Famously, it's Wells' atomic war novel, published in 1914. I think Wells actually coined the term 'atomic bomb' in it, I'm not aware of anyone else using it before him. The first part is enthralling as it describes developments from 1909 to the mid-1950s and the harnessing of atomic energy and the subsequent atomic war which devastates Europe and the world. Of course, Wells gets the details wrong - his atomic bombs are 'continuous explosives' using a fictional element Carolinum (incidentally, I was amused at a review of Stephen Baxter's 'The Time Ships' on Amazon in which the reviewer attacks Baxter for using the fictional Carolinum in his Bomb, ignorant of the fact that Baxter was tipping a nod to The World Set Free). But his appreciation of the destructive effects of the explosions and the dangers of radioactivity are chilling. After the war, however, the novel loses its momentum and bogs down in that turgid sociological style Wells fell prey to.

I've read a fair few of Wells' novels over the years and most of his short stories. There are some crackers there!

Author:  oever532 [ Thu Aug 18, 2005 9:14 am ]
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War of the Worlds is the only book of Wells that I liked. I'm often too busy to actually HAVE time to read books.

Author:  Loz [ Thu Aug 18, 2005 8:55 pm ]
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What about the Invisable Man. That's a fantastic read, couldn't put it down. How invisability destroys its creator nice and slow.
The origional film is quite close to the book.

And The Time Machine is another glued to the hand spectacular. The visions of the future are just awesome. The way the topgraphy changes as time moves on. The lost societies. The pathetic creatures we become.

Author:  Alland [ Thu Aug 18, 2005 11:49 pm ]
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Agreed. The original movie version of "The Time Machine" starring Rod Taylor was quite well done, though a bit of a departure from the novel. Russell Garcia's musical score gets my vote as one of the most beautiful movie themes ever.

Regarding short stories, H.G. Wells predicted the tank, not just in "War of the Worlds", but also in the short story "The Land Ironclads". I liked it so much that long before I could buy a book with the story in it, I took the local library book it was in to a xerox machine and copied off the pages with it on. Library books and xerox machines are an ideal combination when a book comes out with SOME things you want to save, but not the entire book.

Author:  Lonesome Crow [ Sat Aug 20, 2005 12:13 pm ]
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McTodd wrote:
Stephen Baxter's 'The Time Ships

I have said it before and I'll say it again Stephen Baxter's 'The Time Ships' is an excellent read. in the story there is a creature that travels through time, observing the time traveller on his journeys, the desciption of this creature is very similar to Wells' Martians and the creature the time traveler sees 'flopping about in the sea' at the end of his book 'The Time Machine' well worth getting =D>
My favourites of wells' books are 'The War of the Worlds', 'The Time Machine', 'The Invisible Man' and 'The First Men in the Moon' and many of his stort stories :D

Author:  exodus2310 [ Sat Aug 20, 2005 12:37 pm ]
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Loz wrote:
What about the Invisable Man. That's a fantastic read, couldn't put it down. How invisability destroys its creator nice and slow.
The origional film is quite close to the book.

And The Time Machine is another glued to the hand spectacular. The visions of the future are just awesome. The way the topgraphy changes as time moves on. The lost societies. The pathetic creatures we become.


Whats the latest film like in relation?

Author:  McTodd [ Sat Aug 20, 2005 3:48 pm ]
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Lonesome Crow wrote:
McTodd wrote:
Stephen Baxter's 'The Time Ships

I have said it before and I'll say it again Stephen Baxter's 'The Time Ships' is an excellent read. in the story there is a creature that travels through time, observing the time traveller on his journeys, the desciption of this creature is very similar to Wells' Martians and the creature the time traveler sees 'flopping about in the sea' at the end of his book 'The Time Machine' well worth getting =D>

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about that. It's The Watcher, and appears to be some kind of human descendant - it has human eyes, and the tentacles, it transpires when the time traveller studies one more closely, are jointed, like very long fingers. It reminded me of something, especially with the time-ships being made of Plattnerite, so I had a quick look at 'The Plattner Story' and there they are - the ghostly, disembodied head-like Watchers of the Living. I think Baxter has managed to weave them into his novel, along with so much else! For example, near the end when the time traveller's back among the Eloi, he finds a model of a city in one of the semi-abandoned buildings. Read the description - I think it's a model of future London from 'The Sleeper Awakes' (the glass domes, the windmills around the periphery, the platforms for the 'dragonfly-like' flying machines, etc.).

Author:  Lonesome Crow [ Mon Aug 22, 2005 11:26 am ]
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McTodd wrote:
Read the description - I think it's a model of future London from 'The Sleeper Awakes' (the glass domes, the windmills around the periphery, the platforms for the 'dragonfly-like' flying machines, etc.).

That bit would have gone over my head, as I've not read 'The Sleeper Awakes' yet :a009:
I liked the way the Morlocks have almost abandoned the Earth and are living in the Double Sphere that surrounds the Sun. the Morlocks that live at the equator of the sphere are short and squat whereas the Morlocks that live at the polar regions of the sphere (where the gravity is reduced) are 8 - 9 feet tall and need special body braces to support them when they travel to the equator.
It's a very well thought-out book.

Author:  McTodd [ Mon Aug 29, 2005 2:47 pm ]
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Baxter's famous for writing 'hard' sf, as scientifically plausible as possible. He's a mathematician, so I expect he knows his way around physics.

If you can track it down, another Welsian story he wrote was a short, 'The Ant-Men of Tibet', an utterly chilling (and utterly logical) sequel to 'The First Men in the Moon'. It first appeared in the magazine Interzone, featuring on the cover and with some marvellous ink drawings accompanying it (since when it has been published in at least one anthology - google it and you'll find where).

Author:  Lonesome Crow [ Tue Aug 30, 2005 6:37 pm ]
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Cheers 'McTodd' I found it on google, plenty to choose from \:D/

Author:  Loz [ Tue Aug 30, 2005 9:47 pm ]
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Okay I'm turned on guys. (McTodd Lonesome) wHat are these books with Moorlocks and Selinites in? Í want them.

Author:  McTodd [ Wed Aug 31, 2005 9:11 am ]
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What you need Loz are:

'The Time Ships' - big fat book, you'll be up to your giblets in Morlocks!

'The Ant-Men of Tibet' - short story, it's Selenitetastic!

Both by Stephen Baxter.

Heartily recommended.

Author:  Lonesome Crow [ Wed Aug 31, 2005 6:37 pm ]
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Yeh' Loz, like McTodd said 8-[

Author:  Loz [ Wed Aug 31, 2005 9:09 pm ]
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Author:  oever532 [ Thu Sep 01, 2005 6:10 am ]
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It's getting watery on this forum. Loz is litterally DROOLING of anticipation!

Author:  neoendgame [ Wed Sep 21, 2005 11:01 pm ]
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I reading Hg wells a short history of the world now.

And i just won a 1st ed of it on e-bay.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... %3AIT&rd=1

Author:  oever532 [ Thu Sep 22, 2005 10:25 am ]
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Cool, let us know what you found about it after you finished it.

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