2 of my favourite works from H.G. Wells

H.G. Wells is Britain's father of science fiction. He pioneered the scientific exploration of time travel, alien invasion, and biological engineering in his works of fiction. Two of my favorite works are The Time Machine and The Island of Dr. Moreau which are both less than 130 pages and makes them both easy and enjoyable classic science fiction weekend reading.

The Time Machine (1985)



The title of this book is what you expect. A guy invents a time machine which he uses to travel to the very distant future and discovers that earth is now divided into two classes of civilization. There are the Eloi which are delicate childlike creatures who play games all day long and feast on the bountiful fruits that are found everywhere. The Morlocks are carnivorous, nocturnal, ape like beings who live in deep wells underground. They basically harvest the Eloi as food. The Time Traveler spends most of the book fighting off the Morlocks as he tries to find his stolen time machine.

Great sci-fi reading if you have a few spare hours on a weekend. The thing I found very interesting about this view of the future is that evolution is regressing with humans devolving into more animalistic and amoral creatures, although most of the Eloi are self serving creatures the Time Traveler finds himself in a relationship with Weena who he saved from drowning and she becomes inseperable from him. He even seems to have romantic feelings for her, which he admits he is uneasy with. When Weena dies he vows to return to the future again and save her.





The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896)



Prendick finds himself through various unfortunate events on an unknown volcanic island which is inhabited by a mad scientist Dr. Moreau and his assistant Montgomery along with a host of beast people. Dr. Moreau creates monsters out of vivisecting animals and fucking with their DNA and brain cells. He claims this is for science research, however it soon becomes clear that Moreau acts more like a god than a scientist with his strict law of the island which the beast people obey in fear of the House of Pain (Dr. Moreau's lab). The beast people are of all kind of animals mash ups such as hyena-swine, bull-bear, and different variations of apes. These beasts are neither human nor animal anymore but instead have IQs of a 3 year old and the mind of an obedient family dog. The beast people eventually regress and return to their animal ways and an all out blood bath ensues between the human and beast inhabitants of the island.

Again this is an awesome book for a short roadtrip or weekend read. The writing style and formation of sentences is a little different than The Time Machine but it was easy to get into after reading a few short chapters. Wells calls this book "an exercise in youthful blasphemy," in regards to Dr. Moreau who creates and controls his beasts to serve him in fear, much like the Old Testament God who gave the Ten Commandments to a faithful person, so to does Moreau have a "sayer of the law" who reminds the beast people to obey least they pay dues in the House of Pain.