H.G. Wells' "The War of the Worlds" (1898), Star Begotten (1936)

Edward Gorey, 1960

H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds was initially serialized in Britain in Pearson's Magazine from April to December of 1897 and illustrated by Warwick Goble (it was simultaneously published  in the US in Cosmopolitan magazine). The following year it was published in book form by the Heineman publishing house. A notable 1906 French translation was illustrated by Henrique Alvim Corréa and published by Vandamme & Co. Edward Gorey was commissioned to illustrate a limited edition in 1960.

In Brief: When a strange metallic object crashes in a Woking field southwest of London, the narrator (Wells) and many locals converge on the spot to investigate. The object turns out to be a vessel from Mars, and the Martians begin using a heat ray to incinerate everything around their landing site. Wells has relatives escort his wife to relative safety, but he remains behind to witness the army engaging the Martian machines with artillery. Meanwhile, Wells' brother in London helps some women escape the approach of the Martian tripods. They escape to France, but behind them the British are apparently losing the battle, victim to a toxic black smoke. Outside London, Wells and another desperate survivor hide from the Martians in an abandoned house. They realize that the Martians are eating humans and creating even more machines for their invasion (as well as employing a "red weed" to consume the landscape). Wells eventually makes his way to London and discovers that the Martians are all dying from Earth bacteria, as they had not evolved an immunity to these foreign viruses. After returning home, he eventually reunites with his family.

Synopsis

Warwick Goble, 1897

Book One: The Coming Of The Martians

1. The Eve Of The War: Much older than Earth and running out of resources, the Martians begin firing massive cannons to propel their spaceships to Earth in order to colonize it. Using a telescope, Wells and his friend Ogilvie can only see mysterious puffs of smoke on the surface of Mars. The Martian launches continue for 10 nights.

2. The Falling Star: A falling star is sighted, and Ogilvie locates it near the Woking sand pits (southwest of London). He sees the end of a cylinder briefly unscrewing itself and alerts the newspapers. The public begins to converge.

3. On Horsell Common: Wells visits the cylinder and helps the scientists establish a perimeter. He realizes the object is from Mars, but doubts any living creatures are within it.

4. The Cylinder Opens: The cylinder begins unscrewing again and a shopkeeper falls into the pit. A tentacled Martian emerges and everyone flees in terror. The shopkeeper tries to climb out of the pit but disappears.

Warwick Goble, 1897

5. The Heat-Ray: The crowd begins to edge forward again in curiosity. Three men approach with a white flag. A heat beam kills the men and sets fire to some of the crowd and the surrounding field. Wells flees in shock.

6. The Heat-Ray In The Chobham Road: The outer edge of the heat ray destroys the nearby surrounding street and causes a mass flight.

7. How I Reached Home: As Wells gets farther and farther away from the carnage, he finds an increasingly indifferent crowd. When he gets home (to Maybury) he tells his wife what has happened, but believes they are safe since the Martians appear to be stuck in the pit.

8. Friday Night: In general, no one takes the news of the invasion seriously. Hammering sounds are heard near the pit. Troops begin massing around the cylinder. Another cylinder falls to Earth.

Warwick Goble, 1897

9. The Fighting Begins: Wells learns that the soldiers plan on trying to capture the Martians. They evacuate the nearby houses. Shelling begins on the 2nd crashed cylinder. Later, the destructive range of the heat ray begins reaching Wells' own neighborhood and he and his wife flee down the opposite side of Maybury Hill towards Old Woking and past Send.

10. In The Storm: Wells leaves his wife with relatives at Leatherhead. Wells returns to Maybury through Ockham. He sights two Martian tripods and, stunned, crashes his cart into a stream. During a hailstorm he eventually finds his way back to his own house.

11. At The Window: Wells sees a landscape of destruction from his study window. A fleeing artilleryman arrives and describes how the tripods have obliterated the army forces. The tripods continue laboring on something in the pit area.

12. What I Saw Of The Destruction Of Weybridge And Shepperton: Wells and the artilleryman make it to Weybridge, which is being evacuated by the army. The tripods arrive and cross the river. Wells dives underwater to evade their heat ray. An artillery shell gets lucky and destroys one of the tripods. The other two tripods lash out and Wells narrowly escapes. The tripods bring the wreckage of the damaged tripod back to their base at Horsell Common.

13. How I Fell In With The Curate: Wells paddles down a river amidst the destruction. He runs into a babbling curate, who is close to losing his mind. They decide to continue northward.

14. In London: Wells describes the exploits and feelings of his brother in London during the past few days. Despite rumors of a Martian invasion, the feeling of danger only slowly mounts, until one morning news of the Martians' toxic "black gas" arrives, triggering the beginnings of a mass evacuation.

15. What Had Happened In Surrey: As the tripods begin to advance towards London, another artillery burst damages one of them. The tripods convene, and soon begin firing toxic gas pellets (leaving a "black smoke") into any place where artillery might be hiding. For any visible guns they use the heat ray.

16. The Exodus From London: As London evacuates, rioting begins. Wells' brother manages to flee on a bicycle. He runs into and aids two ladies and they fight against a fleeing mob of panicked people.

17. The Thunder Child: As Wells' brother and his friends flee on a ship to France, Martian tripods attack. The ironclad Thunder Child engages the tripods and destroys two of them, although the heat rays destroy the ironclad.

Warwick Goble, 1897

Book Two: The Earth Under The Martians

1. Under Foot: Wells and the curate find food and shelter in a house. Unfortunately, a Martian cylinder crashes nearby and traps them in the house.

2. What We Saw From The Ruined House: Wells describes the appearance of the Martians. The Martians build various devices to enable them to build more complex equipment.

3. The Days Of Imprisonment: Wells and the curate begin getting on each others' nerves. Wells witnesses the consumption of a man by the hooting Martians.

Warwick Goble, 1897

4. The Death Of The Curate: The curate goes insane and draws the attention of the Martians. Wells hides and the curate is taken.

5. The Stillness: As Wells hides in the house, red weed (parasitic growth brought by the Martian vehicles) begins to cover over the only peephole. A dog appears, and as Wells emerges from his hiding place, he realizes that the Martians have moved on. Outside, he sees a neighborhood choked with red weed.

6. The Work Of Fifteen Days: Wells describes the damage done to the neighborhood, as well as the phenomenon of the red weeds.

7. The Man On Putney Hill: Wells runs into the artilleryman he had met earlier. The soldier explains his plans of fighting back against the Martians. Wells spends some time with the soldier, helping him dig a tunnel, but then realizes that he is wasting his time and must return to London.

8. Dead London: Reaching London, Wells hears a strange wailing sound. He finds motionless Martian machines in various states of decrepitude. Reaching the Martians' central pit, he sees that they have all died from Earth-based bacteria, just as they were about to finish building a flying machine.

Warwick Goble, 1897

9. Wreckage: Wells finds other survivors and eventually makes his way back to his own home. There, he finds it empty, but he is relieved when his wife and cousin suddenly arrive.

10. Epilogue: Humanity recovers and proposes various theories concerning future invasions from Mars. Observers suggest that Mars has instead set its sights on Venus.

Henrique Alvim Corréa, 1906

Amazing Stories, Aug 1927, Frank R. Paul

Amazing Stories, Aug 1927, Frank R. Paul

Amazing Stories, Sept 1927, Frank R. Paul

Wikipedia Entry

---

Star Begotten

Wells' 1937 novel Star Begotten has a tangential connection to The War of the Worlds, as it mentions Martians and even cites the in-universe publication of The War of the Worlds in its narrative. Star Begotten is essentially a satire describing how a flippant theory about a Martian plan to mutate humanity into Martians (by way of cosmic ray bombardment) becomes a brief fad in the public consciousness. Ultimately, the fad dies down and some even wonder if this new "superman" may actually be a welcome development for mankind.

1. The Mind Of Mr. Joseph Davis Is Greatly Troubled: A historical fiction writer becomes concerned about his inability to understand his wife’s “fey” ways. Perhaps more importantly,  they are expecting their first child.
2. Mr. Joseph Davis Learns About Cosmic Rays: At a gentleman’s club, Davis hears one of the members give a lecture on science and the nature of cosmic rays, which are constantly bombarding the Earth. One of the more imaginative members of the club proposes that some of the cosmic rays hitting the Earth may actually be a part of a Martian plot to mutate humanity into Martians.
3. 
   Mr. Joseph Davis Wrestles With An Incredible Idea: Taken with the idea of the Martian eugenics plot, Davis begins to ask his wife’s gynecologist Dr. Stedding about this possibility.
4. Dr. Holdman Stedding Is Infected With The Idea:  Initially skeptical, Stedding soon begins to consider the idea as a possibility (although reluctantly).
5. Professor Ernest Keppel Takes Up The Idea In His Own Peculiar Fashion: One of Stedding’s colleagues, an embittered scientist named Keppel also begins to be infected with the idea. They theorize on how Martians might appear (Keppel is also familiar with Olaf Stapledon's novel Last and First Men).
   
6. Opening Phases Of The Great Eugenic Research: Davis begins to research hospitals and schools, trying to determine if "inferior" examples of children have begun to surface in society.Soon, Davis' son is born, but there seems to be nothing odd about the baby. Davis begins to inquire about "superior" forms of children appearing.
   
7. The World Begins To Hear About The Martians: A newspaperman get a hold of the Martian theory and tries to start a social movement. However, most people seem rather indifferent about the whole affair after awhile.
8. How These Star-Begotten People May Presently Get Together: Davis and his friends theorize that these “star-begotten” Martian mutants may eventually begin to recognize each each “in the wild” and eventually take over the Earth.
9. Professor Keppel Is Inspired To Foretell The End Of Humanity: Keppel believes that eventually mankind will be replaced by the new form of Earth-born Martian. He also wonders if this will lead to a kind of utopia.
   
10. Mr. Joseph Davis Tears Up A Manuscript: Upset about the seeming inevitability of the Martian takeover, Davis destroys the manuscript to his latest book. When he tells his wife of his theories, she proposes that Davis himself may already be a Martian mutation. With this realization in mind, Davis finds peace at last.