War of the Worlds is a science fiction novel by English author H. G. Wells, first serialised in 1897 by Pearson's Magazine in the UK and by Cosmopolitan magazine in the US. This wonderful novel's first appearance in hardcover was in 1898 from publisher William Heinemann of London. It was during 1895 and 1897, that Wells wrote one of the earliest stories to detail a conflict between mankind and an extra-terrestrial race. The novel is based on a first-person narrative of both an unnamed protagonist in Surrey and of his younger brother in London as southern England is invaded by Martians. The novel celebrated and promoted as one of the most unique and commented-on works in the science fiction canon. The plot has been related often to invasion literature of the time. War of the Worlds has been variously interpreted as a commentary on evolutionary theory, British imperialism, and generally Victorian superstitions, fears, and prejudices.
Wells said that the plot arose from a discussion with his brother Frank about the catastrophic effect of the British on indigenous Tasmanians. At the time of publication, it was classified only as a scientific romance, like Wells's earlier novel The Time Machine. The War of the Worlds has been both popular and influential, spawning half a dozen feature films, radio dramas, a record album, various comic book adaptations, a number of television series, and sequels or parallel stories by other authors. Famously, it was most memorably dramatised in a radio program transmitted in 1938 that was directed by and starring Orson Welles that allegedly caused public panic among listeners who did not know the Martian invasion was fictional. Notably Robert Goddard, who, inspired by the book, helped develop both the liquid-fuelled rocket and multistage rocket, which resulted in the Apollo 11 Moon landing 71 years later. War of the Worlds presents itself as a factual account of a large-scale Martian invasion. It is considered to be one of the first works to theorise the very real existence of a race intelligent enough to invade earth. The Narrator is a middle-class writer of philosophical papers, somewhat reminiscent of Doctor Kemp depicted in The Invisible Man, with characteristics similar to author Wells at the time of writing.