The First Men in the Moon and A Modern Utopia (Wordsworth Classics)

When penniless businessman Mr Bedford retreats to Kent to write a play, he encounters Dr Cavor, an absent-minded scientist who has invented a material that counteracts gravity. This discovery enables the two men to set off on a fantastic journey to the Moon. But they are not prepared for what they find there - a world of freezing nights, boiling days and danger from a sinister alien lifeform, the selenites, creatures who have developed an intricate hierarchical society beneath the lunar surface.
The First Men in the Moon ignited speculation in nineteenth century society concerning what lies on and beneath the surface of the Moon. By turns amusing, thrilling and stimulating, the novel is a classic of its genre.
This volume also contains another of Wells's fascinating thought-provoking fantasies: A Modern Utopia in which two travellers fall into a space-warp and find themselves upon a Utopian Earth controlled by a single World Government.

Often called the father of science fiction, British author Herbert George (H. G.) Wells literary works are notable for being some of the first titles of the science fiction genre, and include such famed titles as The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Island of Doctor Moreau, and The Invisible Man. Despite being fixedly associated with science fiction, Wells wrote extensively in other genres and on many subjects, including history, society and politics, and was heavily influenced by Darwinism. His first book, Anticipations of the Reaction of Mechanical and Scientific Progress Upon Human Life and Thought, offered predictions about what technology and society would look like in the year 2000, many of which have proven accurate. Wells went on to pen over fifty novels, numerous non-fiction books, and dozens of short stories. His legacy has had an overwhelming influence on science fiction, popular culture, and even on technological and scientific innovation. Wells died in 1946 at the age of 79.