Novelists 41 H G Wells

H G Wells (1866 – 1946) was a prolific English writer in many genres, including the novel, history, politics, etc, etc. He is now best remembered for his science fiction novels, and is sometimes called the father of science fiction, though the same claim is made for Jules Verne and others. His most notable science fiction works include The War of the Worlds, The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The Island of Doctor Moreau. I've read the third of those and had a go at the others. His earliest specialised training was apparently in biology, and his thinking on ethics was very Darwinian. He was also from an early date an outspoken socialist and often a pacifist. His later works became increasingly political and didactic. Novels like Kipps and The History of Mr Polly, which describe lower-middle class life, led to the suggestion, when they were published, that he was a worthy successor to Dickens!