Tales of Space and Time

Tales of Space and Time is a collection of speculative stories by H. G. Wells, first published in 1899.

Across these pieces, Wells moves from telescopes and laboratory curiosities to prehistoric hunts and far-off futures, using each setting to stage collisions between ordinary life and the vastness of the cosmos. A mysterious artifact hints at visions of other worlds; a wandering body in the heavens brings catastrophe on a planetary scale; and a chance twist of fate unlocks powers no human should wield.

Other stories project the reader into towering megacities and harsh class divisions, where technology magnifies old inequalities, and back to the raw struggle for survival in deep time, where ingenuity and fear shape the first steps of human culture. The through line is a restless curiosity: how will people behave when confronted with distances, forces, and futures beyond their grasp?

By blending scientific imagination with moral wit, Wells crafts warnings wrapped in wonder. The collection showcases his hallmark themes in compact adventures that anticipate much of twentieth-century science fiction.

"There was, until a year ago, a little and very grimy-looking shop near Seven Dials, over which, in weather-worn yellow lettering, the name of "C. Cave, Naturalist and Dealer in Antiquities," was inscribed. The contents of its window were curiously variegated."