Alien Invasion Short Stories

Visitors from other planets have long obsessed us. H.G. Wells’ War of Worlds spawned a huge wave of speculative fiction but the roots of such fears run deep in our literature, where the mysteries of other cultures have long threatened the familiar and the comfortable. Did aliens build the ancient pyramids? do they live amongst us today? what happens when they invade? And are they just the people from the next valley? or country? or planet? Would it be an inevitable act of aggression, one of assistance and care, or simply a reminder of our paltry existence in a crowded universe? Flame Tree’s successful Gothic Fantasy series brings a brilliant new mix of classic and new writing, in this beautiful edition.

New, contemporary and notable writers featured are: Bo Balder, Jennifer Rachel Baumer, Maria Haskins, Suo Hefu (索何夫), Rachael K. Jones, Claude Lalumière, Rich Larson, Angus McIntyre, Stephen G. Parks, Sunil Patel, Laura Pearlman, Tim Pieraccini, Eric Reitan, John Walters, S.A. Westerley, and William R.D. Wood. These appear alongside classic stories by authors such as George Allan England, Austin Hall, H.P. Lovecraft, A. Merritt and H.G. Wells.

Patrick Parrinder is President of the H.G. Wells Society and has written several books on Wells and science fiction, including Shadows of the Future which won the 1996 University of California Eaton Award. He is also the author of Nation and Novel (2006) and Utopian Literature and Science (2015), as well as being General Editor of the 12-volume Oxford History of the Novel in English. He now divides his time between London and Norfolk and is an Emeritus Professor of English at the University of Reading.