«»... slowly uncoiling their tentacles... and making a soft purring sound to each other.» This is a disgusting account of a school of giant squid attacking a seaside resort, and two other examples of Wells' extraordinary imagination at work — The Magic Shop and The Land Ironclads. This is one of 46 new books in the best-selling Little Black Classics series, to celebrate the first ever Penguin Classic in 1946. Each book gives readers a taste of the Classics' huge range and diversity, with works from around the world and across the centuries — including fables, decadence, heartbreak, tall tales, satire, ghosts, battles and elephants.»

'I will go in, out of this dust and heat, out of this dry glitter of vanity, out of these toilsome futilities. I will go and never return.' Three disturbing, mysterious and moving stories from Wells, science-fiction pioneer. Introducing Little Black Classics: 80 books for Penguin's 80th birthday. Little Black Classics celebrate the huge range and diversity of Penguin Classics, with books from around the world and across many centuries. They take us from a balloon ride over Victorian London to a garden of blossom in Japan, from Tierra del Fuego to 16th-century California and the Russian steppe. Here are stories lyrical and savage; poems epic and intimate; essays satirical and inspirational; and ideas that have shaped the lives of millions. H. G. Wells (1866-1946). Wells' works available in Penguin Classics are Ann Veronica, The Country of the Blind and Other Selected Stories, The First Men in the Moon, The Invisible Man, The Island of Doctor Moreau, Kipps, Love and Mr Lewisham, A Modern Utopia, The New Machiavelli, The Shape of Things to Come, A Short History of the World, The Sleeper Awakes, The Time Machine, Tono-Bungay, The War in the Air and The War of the Worlds.

Penguin Readers are written by specialist ELT authors. The language, vocabulary, style and content of every book is carefully graded to make sure it suits the learner's own language ability. Every Penguin Reader has a range of activities in the book and accompanying Factsheet to help increase comprehension and develop reading, writing, listening and speaking skills.

'That black figure, with its eyes of fire, struck down through all my adult thoughts and feelings, and for a moment the forgotten horrors of childhood came back to my mind'. Adrift in a dinghy, Edward Prendick, the single survivor from the good ship Lady Vain, is rescued by a vessel carrying a profoundly unusual cargo — a menagerie of savage animals. Tended to recovery by their keeper Montgomery, who gives him dark medicine that tastes of blood, Prendick soon finds himself stranded upon an uncharted island in the Pacific with his rescuer and the beasts. Here, he meets Montgomery's master, the sinister Dr. Moreau — a brilliant scientist whose notorious experiments in vivisection have caused him to abandon the civilised world. It soon becomes clear he has been developing these experiments — with truly horrific results. The Penguin English Library — 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.

'People screamed. People sprang off the pavement... The Invisible Man is coming! The Invisible Man!' With his face swaddled in bandages, his eyes hidden behind dark glasses and his hands covered even indoors, Griffin — the new guest at The Coach and Horses — is at first assumed to be a shy accident-victim. But the true reason for his disguise is far more chilling: he has developed a process that has made him invisible, and is locked in a struggle to discover the antidote. Forced from the village, and driven to murder, he seeks the aid of an old friend, Kemp. The horror of his fate has affected his mind, however — and when Kemp refuse to help, he resolves to wreak his revenge. The Penguin English Library — 100 editions of the best fiction in English, from the eighteenth century and the very first novels to the beginning of the First World War.

The Time Traveller has built a time machine and has gone into the future to the year 802,701. He expects to find a better world with highly-intelligent people and great inventions. Instead, he finds that people have become weak, child-like creatures. They dance and sing and wear flowers. They seem happy, but why are they so frightened of the dark? And who or what has taken his time machine? Will the Time Traveller ever be able to return to the present?

Six entertaining short stories from the foremost science-fiction writer of the early 20th century include The Star, a gripping tale about a massive celestial object hurtling toward the Earth, as well as The New Accelerator, The Remarkable Case of Davidson's Eyes, Under the Knife, and two others.

Four novels from the grandfather of science fiction are collected here in one package. In the Days of the Comet is a 1906 story in which the vapors of a comet bring about a profound and lasting transformation in the attitudes and perspectives of humankind. The 1923 novel Men Like Gods features a journalist who finds himself in a utopian parallel universe, and as the utopian attitudes begin to have their effect on him, he finds that he and his fellow travelers may be having their own effect upon the utopia. The 1910 dystopian tale The Sleeper Awakes centers on a man who sleeps for 203 years, waking up in a completely transformed London, where he has become the richest man in the world. Lastly, The War in the Air, from 1907, is notable for its prophetic ideas, images, and concepts, in particular the use of the aircraft for the purpose of warfare and the coming of World War I.

Two classic science fiction novels in one handsome volume. Here are two masterpieces of irony and imaginative vision from the father of science fiction. The Time Machine propels the Time Traveller into a distant, dismal, Darwinian future. The Invisible Man tells of a brash young scientist who becomes invisible, then insane.

For more than 100 years this compelling tale of the Martian invasion of Earth has enthralled readers with a combination of imagination and incisive commentary on the imbalance of power that continues to be relevant today.

When a Victorian scientist propels himself into the year 802,701 AD, he is initially delighted to find that suffering has been replaced by beauty, contentment and peace. Entranced at first by the Eloi, an elfin species descended from man, he soon realises that this beautiful people are simply remnants of a once-great culture now weak and childishly afraid of the dark. They have every reason to be afraid: in deep tunnels beneath their paradise lurks another race descended from humanity the sinister Morlocks. And when the scientist's time machine vanishes, it becomes clear he must search these tunnels, if he is ever to return to his own era.

This popular series of readers has now been completely revised and updated, using a new syllabus and new word structure lists. Readability has been ensured by means of specially designed computer software. Words that are above level but essential to the story are explained within the text, illustrated, and then reused for maximum reinforcement.

This popular series of readers has now been completely revised and updated, using a new syllabus and new word structure lists. Readability has been ensured by means of specially designed computer software. Words that are above level but essential to the story are explained within the text, illustrated, and then reused for maximum reinforcement.