Ok, I am back and as promised will try to discuss how H.G. Wells influenced Science Fiction. First, just to be clear, I am not a Scienc Fiction expert or aficionado on science fiction books. BUT, at the time of my last post I was enamored with the cover art on one of Wells's books, an early edition of The War of The Worlds. So, why not use that to glean some knowledge on the one they call The Father of Science Fiction.
Second, which actually should have been first, sorry for being gone for THREE months and not blogging. But in my defense I am just learning and recently found out people don't like it when they don't hear from you in three months. So much for treating my blog followers like family. But regardless, just like family we can pick up where we left off.
I did some digging on H.G. Wells and found out he was an English writer, novelist, teacher and journalist. Born in England 1866 and died in England 1946, his genre was of course Science Fiction and Social Realism.
Fun fact, though probably not for him at the time, his love of reading and initial desire to write came after an accident in 1874 that left him with a broken leg and bedridden. His father brought him books to help pass the time and we can now glean where all that lead. It was the beginning of his devotion to books and the worlds they can transport us to.
Seems that Wells had a specific approach to writing science fiction that made him sure to be mentioned in any discussion of such and certainly made him at least arguably one of the Fathers of Science Fiction. His opinion was that an author should always make the story as credible as possible. Even if the reader knew certain things were impossible, if the story was credible the reader could accept the idea. Along with that, Wells believed a science fiction story should contain only a single extraordinary assumption. Take The Invisible Man for example. The one extraordinary assumption is that a scientist could make himself invisible. Would it be hard to believe that he also could not reverse the process? Of course not and what follows in the novel is an iconic character in horror fiction.
Regardless of his approach to writing or life events that lead him to writing, I learned something with my research into H.G. Wells. And more importantly, I remembered how much I loved his books. The idea that one impossible thing could happen in an ordinary life and then that life could then spiral into realms of the possible always kept me coming back for more.