We are told that the word dystopia first entered the lexicon in 1868, when John Stuart Mill used it in a parliamentary speech. The first dystopian novel is somewhat open to debate, but many consider H.G. Wells’s The Time Machine, first published in 1895, to be a strong candidate.
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This podcast is a reading of H.G. Wells’s story The Sea-Raiders. It describes the assault of a unknown species of carnivorous squid on the quiet English coastline near Devon.
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There is an allegorical short story written by H.G. Wells entitled The Apple. Several men in a “third-class carriage on a Sussex railway,” each absorbed in his own thoughts, begin to talk among themselves. One announces that he is in possession of what he calls an “apple from the Tree of Knowledge,” and that he “must get rid of it.”
This podcast is a reading of H.G. Wells’s short story “The Door In The Wall.” Published in 1911, it is considered one of his finest short pieces. It describes a young boy’s discovery of a secret door that led to an enchanted land, and the effect that this secret revelation had on the rest of his life.
In this podcast, I read H.G. Wells’s short story The Diamond Maker. The tale raises questions about the price that creative people have to pay for their efforts. Have a listen, and see what you think.
Quintus Curtius 
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