Readers interested in reading more of Wells's work can find this novel and First Men in the Moon (1901), The Invisible Man (1897), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896), The Time Machine (1895) and several science fiction short stories all collected in a box set entitled Science Fiction Classics of H. G. Wells (2001) from Dover Thrift Editions.

Before Wells, French author Jules Verne was considered to be the top science fiction writer of the nineteenth century. Verne's novels have stood the test of time. While The War of the Worlds might be looked at as the prototype for all sci-fi stories about alien invasions, Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth (1864) has influenced an entire category of subterranean fiction.

Ray Bradbury's 1950 novel The Martian Chronicles tells the reverse of this story, as humans colonize Mars to escape a destroyed Earth and impose themselves...