Sleeper Awakes and Men Like Gods
One man's hell is another man’s heaven... In these two classic stories from the father of science fiction, H.G. Wells reveals two sides of the same coin: dystopia and utopia. The Sleeper Awakes What if you took a sleeping pill and awoke two centuries years later to find yourself the wealthiest man in the world? Everyone and everything you know is long gone ... but you are simultaneously the most exciting and most unfortunate thing to happen in centuries? Are you the Messiah or the Antichrist? Men Like Gods What if you took a mental health day, ready for some rest and relaxation, and suddenly found yourself in a different world? Journey with Mr. Barnstaple to Utopia to see what millennia of advancement can bring to the future. Here together in one volume are two seminal works that inspired George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, and others. Afterword by Eric Flint.
H.G. Wells, Eric Flint, Amanda Montandon
H.G. Wells (1866-1946): Herbert George Wells was born on September 21st, 1866, in Bromley, England to working class parents. He struggled with poor health, and at age seven a broken leg left him bedridden. During this time, he read numerous books that introduced him to different worlds and stoked in him a desire to write. In his early teens, he was employed as a draper’s assistant, but he disliked the work and quit three years later. Deciding to teach, Wells struggled to continue school, ultimately winning a scholarship to the Normal School of Science. He continued to write. In 1895, he became an overnight literary sensation with the publication of The Time Machine, followed by such classics as The War of the Worlds, The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Invisible Man, and The First Men in the Moon. For roughly 50 years, Wells was a prolific writer whose visionary works reflected his interests in social class and reform, economic disparity, and progressive ideas such as evolution. Wells held tolerant ideas about sexuality and love. He married twice, was involved in many affairs, and had children with four women across his lifetime.Many of his concepts for the future came to pass, such as the advent of aircraft, tanks, space travel, nuclear weapons, satellite television, and even the World Wide Web. Some call him “the Father of Futurism,” though he is more commonly known as “the Father of Science Fiction.” Wells died of unspecified causes on August 13, 1946 in his home at age 79. In his preface to The War in the Air (1941 edition), Wells stated that his epitaph should read, “I told you so. You damned fools.”
