It is now more than 70 years since H. G. Wells founded modern science-fiction with the brilliant succession of novels and short stories that ended in the first decade of this century. Even though two generations have gone by since these stories were first written, they still remain in the first rank. It is safe to say that very few writers have equaled Wells's achievement, and no one has excelled it. The stories of H. G. Wells are a timeless achievement that stand as high as they ever have. This present collection contains the best of H. G. Wells's science-fiction short stories: favourites like ""The Crystal Egg,"" ""Aepyornis Island,"" ""The Strange Orchid,"" ""The Man Who Could Work Miracles,"" ""A Dream of Armageddon,"" ""The Sea Raiders,"" and eleven other tales about fourth-dimensional adventure, biological monstrosities, marvelous inventions, time distortions, cosmic catastrophe, and similar events. In addition to these seventeen short stories, several of which could be called short novels, the full novel ""The Invisible Man"" is also included. One of the most popular of Wells's stories, as a serious study of egotism it ranks as high as it does as a science-fiction thriller.