As most folks what they know of H.G. Wells (21 Sept. 1866-13 Aug. 1946) and they're likely to think of The War of the Worlds. Science fiction writer, right? Certainly he is often called a "father of science fiction." According to Wikipedia, "he was most prominent as a forward-looking, even prophetic social critic who devoted his literary talents to the development of a progressive vision on a global scale. A futurist, he wrote a number of utopian works and foresaw the advent of aircraft, tanks, space travel, nuclear weapons, satellite television and something resembling the World Wide Web. His science fiction imagined time travel, alien invasion, invisibility, and biological engineering." But to label Wells as a "science fiction writer" would be to miss much of what he had to offer. In fact, Wells was also an extraordinarily funny writer, as many of the stories below demonstrate. Here you'll find science fiction - but you'll also find some rib-tickling tales that will give you a very different view of "the Shakespeare of Sci-Fi."

The Stolen Body (The Strand, 1898B

Mr. Ledbetter's Vacation (The Strand, 1898B

Mr. Brisher's Treasure (The Strand, 1899A

The First Men in the Moon (83 pages) (The Strand, 1900-1901)

The New Accelerator (The Strand, 1901B)

The Story of the Inexperienced Ghost (The Strand, 1902A)

The Magic Shop (The Strand, 1903)

The Truth About Pyecraft (The Strand, 1903A)

The Land Ironclads (The Strand, 1903B)

The Country of the Blind (The Strand, 1904A)

The Empire of the Ants (The Strand, 1905B)

My First Aeroplane (The Strand, 1910A)

Little Mother Up the Morderberg (The Strand, 1910A)