H. G. Wells

Herbert George Wells (1866 - 1946) was a British author who contributed to a variety of genres, but is most famous for his huge influence in science fiction. The Martian invaders and their tripod machines from his 1898 novel The War of the Worlds were later incorporated into the Cthulhu Mythos by the role-playing game Call of Cthulhu, and by Don Webb's crossover story "To Mars and Providence".
The unnamed protagonist of Wells' The Time Machine was one of the heroes who teamed up with Randolph Carter in "Allan and the Sundered Veil", by Alan Moore.
==Themes==
Wells' stories (sci-fi and otherwise) often show a preoccupation with social themes such as socialism, feminism, the stratification of classes, and the influence of new technologies, some of which he anticipated (his story "The Land Ironclads" predates the invention of actual tanks by over a decade). Perhaps his most famous story, The Time Machine, was the first major work of science fiction to depict a time-traveling device. Other novels that explore the consequences of scientific experiments and human nature include The Invisible Man and The Island of Dr. Moreau. 
Some of Wells' story lines and themes are paralleled in the Cthulhu Mythos. In The War of the Worlds, the Martians can't be communicated or reasoned with, as their mentality is completely different from man's, and they view humans in the same way as most humans view animals. The actions of humans are for the most part inconsequential, as far as the Martians are concerned. At the end, the invaders perish due to their vulnerability to Earth's bacteria, meaning that mankind is saved by pure chance. This portrayal of a non-anthropocentric universe and the insignificance of civilisation when faced with an outside threat is comparable to H. P. Lovecraft's cosmicism.
Other stories by Wells also showcase ideas that would later be explored by Lovecraft. In "A Moth – Genus Novo", a scientist is tormented by an insect animated by the spirit of his deceased rival, as in "Winged Death"; whereas "The Story of the Late Mr. Elvesham" anticipates "The Thing on the Doorstep" in its depiction of an old man's attempt to circumvent death by transferring his consciousness to the body of a much younger person. "In the Abyss" features the discovery of a sapient species of deep sea humanoids with gills, which bear some resemblance to Lovecraft's Deep Ones.
==External links==
*H. G. Wells at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
Category:Mythos-Adjacent Authors
Category:Deceased (Real World)