Book description
When penniless businessman Mr Bedford retreats to the Kent coast to
write a play, he meets by chance the brilliant Dr Cavor, an
absent-minded scientist on the brink of developing a material that
blocks gravity. Cavor soon succeeds in his experiments, only to tell a
stunned Bedford the invention makes possible one of the oldest dreams of
humanity: a journey to the moon. With Bedford motivated by money, and
Cavor by the desire for knowledge, the two embark on the expedition. But
neither are prepared for what they find - a world of freezing nights,
boiling days and sinister alien life, on which they may be trapped
forever.
H. G. Wells was a professional writer and journalist, who published
more than a hundred books, including novels, histories, essays and
programmes for world regeneration. Wells's prophetic imagination was
first displayed in pioneering works of science fiction, but later he
became an apostle of socialism, science and progress. His
controversial views on sexual equality and the shape of a truly
developed nation remain directly relevant to our world today. He was,
in Bertrand Russell's words, 'an important liberator of thought and action'.
China Mieville has won the Arthur C. Clarke and British Fantasy
Awards for his science fiction.
Patrick Parrinder has written on H. G. Wells, science fiction, James
Joyce and the history of the English novel. Since 1986 he has been
Professor of English at the University of Reading.
Steven McLean is Secretary of the H. G. Wells Society. He recently
completed his PhD on H. G. Wells at the University of Sheffield.
