Today in 1866, H.G. Wells, who said, “I must confess that my imagination refuses to see any sort of submarine doing anything but suffocating its crew and floundering at sea,” who said, “Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race,” was born. Wells had little imagination for submarines and also for hell. He said, “Sailors ought never to go to church. They ought to go to hell, where it is much more comfortable.” I suppose he was returning his eyewitness report from hell when we said that. Otherwise, how could he know?
For his birthday, here’s a collection of book covers for War of the Worlds.
C.S. Lewis parodied Wells in the character of Jules in That Hideous Strength. A figurehead for N.I.C.E. who provided quotes for the media and actually had no idea what was going on in “his” organization.
I don’t know which I like best: the 1939 one with the cartoonish eye, or the 1978 edition featuring the USS Enterprise from the original Star Trek!
Those covers are awesome! My two favorite have a The Empire Strike Back and Cthulhu-mythos vibe.
The Enterprise picture is on the Cut-n-paste edition.
Wells is one of my least favorite persons. (see;
http://creation.com/hg-wells-darwins-disciple-and-eugenicist-extraordinaire)
– I did enjoy looking at the covers however.