H. G. Wells 
The War of the Worlds 

First published serially in 1897, H. G. Wells’s “The War of the Worlds, ” is one of the author’s most popular and enduring works. When explosions are observed on Mars at an astronomical observatory the interest of the scientific community is greatly aroused. It is soon discovered, when they land on Earth, that the explosions are rocket like projectiles that have been launched from Mars. An unnamed protagonist is one of the first to discover that these are actually spaceships carrying monstrous beings from the planet. The story centers on the unnamed narrator’s attempt to reunite with his wife after witnessing the devastating attacks that soon follow. The merciless Martians storm the countryside in three-legged fighting machines that fire deadly heat rays and spew poisonous black smoke. Thousands of refugees are sent fleeing in the chaos created by the invasion. Inspired by the English invasion literature of his area, Wells’s “The War of the Worlds” crafts a thrilling and foreboding narrative that helped to popularize and define an entire genre of literature. This edition is illustrated by Henrique Alvim Corrêa and includes a biographical afterword.