No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water.

HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. "For a time I believed that mankind had been swept out of existence, and that I stood there alone, the last man left alive." When a strange, meteor-like object lands in the heart of England, the inhabitants of Earth find themselves victims of a terrible attack. A ruthless race of Martians, armed with heat rays and poisonous smoke, is intent on destroying everything that stands in its way. As the unnamed hero struggles to find his way across decimated wastelands, the fate of the planet hangs in the...

HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. "I beheld, unclouded by doubt, a magnificent vision of all that invisibility might mean to a man - the mystery, the power, the freedom." Griffin, a stranger, arrives at the local inn of an English village, entirely shrouded in bandages. Forbidding and unfriendly, he confines himself to his room. Driven away by the villagers and turning to an old friend for help, Griffin reveals that he has discovered how to make himself invisible, and plans to use his condition for treacherous ends. But when his friend...

HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. "That these man-like creatures were in truth only bestial monsters, mere grotesque travesties of men, filled me with a vague uncertainty of their possibilities far worse than any definite fear." Edward Prendick, the sole survivor of a shipwreck in the South Pacific, is set ashore on an island where he meets the mysterious Doctor Moreau. Horrified by the discovery that Moreau is performing vivisection on animals to form monstrous human hybrids, Prendick flees into the jungle. But he soon realises that the...

HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. "In a moment I was clutched by several hands, and there was no mistaking that they were trying to haul me back ...You can scarce imagine how nauseatingly inhuman they looked - those pale chinless faces and great, lidless, pinkish-grey eyes!" An English scientist regales his dinner guests with the tale of his travels to the year 802,701, where he discovers that the human race has evolved into two distinct societies. The Eloi, elegant and peaceful, yet lacking spirit, are terrorised by the sinister,...

Written between 1895 and 1897, H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds is one of the earliest stories that detail a conflict between mankind and an extraterrestrial race. Filmed numerous times, this science fiction classic retains its power to disturb readers more than a century later.

Written between 1895 and 1897, H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds is one of the earliest stories that detail a conflict between mankind and an extraterrestrial race. Filmed numerous times, this science fiction classic retains its power to disturb readers more than a century later.

One of the most important and influential invasion narratives ever written, The War of the Worlds (1897) describes the coming of the Martians, who land in Woking, and make their way remorselessly towards the capital, wreaking chaos, death, and destruction.

The novel is closely associated with anxiety about a possible invasion of Great Britain at the turn of the century, and concerns about imperial expansion and its impact, and it drew on the latest astronomical knowledge to imagine a desert planet, Mars, turning to Earth for its future. The Martians are also evolutionarily...

THE SCIENCE FICTION CLASSIC, SOON TO BE A MAJOR BBC DRAMA "For a time I believed that mankind had been swept out of existence, and that I stood there alone, the last man left alive." When an alien capsule lands on Horsell Common, Woking, crowds of astonished onlookers gather. But wonder soon turns to terror when the Martians emerge. Armed with deadly heat rays, the aliens begin their conquest of earth. Confronted by powers beyond our control, a technology far in advance of our own, and a race of alien invaders which regard us as no more than ants, humankind faces extinction. While...