Page:The Works of H G Wells Volume 10.pdf/17

 PREFACE TO VOLUME X

"In the Days of the Comet," published in 1906, is practically the last of the series of fantastic stories that began with "The Time Machine." It deals much more with character and conduct than any of its imaginative predecessors, and in spirit it is a transitional book to the series of novels that chiefly occupied the writer's attention for the next seven years. It is true that both "The War in the Air" (1908) and "The World Set Free" (1914) are cast in a form similar to these earlier works, but they were written with a very different intention. Instead of being essentially an imaginative play with an idea, they were attempts—unhappily far too feeble attempts—to stir people's imaginations to two very grave alterations that were then imminent in human affairs, namely that flying would release war from its former restrictions to a "front" and a "seat of war" and destroy the distinction of combatant and non-combatant, and that it would then become socially disintegrative to an extent quite beyond any historical precedent.

"In the Days of the Comet," one might argue, is indeed a novel. The people in it are real; its story is a story of character and conduct, and it is only the scenery which remains on the fantastical side. It must be admitted that it is difficult to call it a novel without also calling "The Invisible Man" a novel, ix