The First Men in the Moon

When penniless businessman Mr Bedford retreats to the Kent coast to write a play, he meets by chance the brilliant Dr Cavor, an absent-minded scientist on the brink of developing a material that blocks gravity. Cavor soon succeeds in his experiments, only to tell a stunned Bedford the invention makes possible one of the oldest dreams of humanity: a journey to the moon. With Bedford motivated by money, and Cavor by the desire for knowledge, the two embark on the expedition. But neither are prepared for what they find: a world of freezing nights, boiling days and sinister alien life, on which they may be trapped forever.

H. G. Wells (1866-û1946) was a professional writer and journalist who published more than a hundred books, including the novels The Time Machine, The Invisible Man, and The War of the Worlds.
China Mi+¬ville has won the Arthur C. Clarke and British Fantasy awards for his science fiction. Steve McLean is secretary of the H. G. Wells Society. Patrick Parrinder has written on H. G. Wells, science fiction, James Joyce, and the history of the English novel. He is a professor of English at the University of Reading.