H.G. Wells is considered by some to bethe father of modern science fiction, and he is one of my favorite authors.
Wells was born in 1866 in Bromley, Kent. Wellscareer as an author may have been helped by an unfortunate accident asa child. He broke his leg and spent the mandatory rest period reading everybook he could get his hands on. Later, Wells won a scholarship and furtheredhis education at the Normal School of Science in London. It was at theNormal School that Wells came under the wing of the famous biologist ThomasH. Huxley. Wells's "science fiction" (although he never called it such)was clearly influenced by his studies at the Normal School and the interestthat he developed in biology.
Wells exploded into fame with his first majorfiction work: The Time Machine in 1895. Soon after the publicationof this book, Wells followed with The Island of Dr. Moreau (1895),The Invisible Man (1897), and perhaps his most famous popular work:The War of the Worlds (1898).
Over the years Wells became concerned withthe fate of human society in a world where technology and scientific studywere advancing at a rapid pace. For a period he was a member of The FabianSociety, a group of social philosophers in London. Wells's later worksbecame less science fiction than social critique.
The accuracy of the "science" in Wells's workhas often been called into question. It is rumored that Wells and the Frenchnovelist Jules Verne actually criticized the other's writing. Wells's claimwas that "Verne couldn't write himself out of a paper sack" and Verne accusedWells of having "scientifically implausible ideas." The science may notbe accurate, but the adventure and creativity with which Wells's wrotemakes his early science fiction fun and fascinating to read.