The Empire of the Ants and Other Stories

By H.G. Wells

Book Overview

'Very thin indeed is the curtain between us and the unknown' The short stories of H. G. Wells are about many things, but they are nearly always about contact between the extraordinary and the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0590118455
• ISBN13: 9780590118453
• Release Date: January 1977
• Publisher: Scholastic
• Length: 152 Pages
• Weight: 0.24 lbs.

Customer Reviews

We can never know about the days to come. But we think about them anyway.

Anticipation, anticipation (Anticipation Lyrics by Carly Simon) Long before I read the story, I bought the movie "Empire of the Ants" (1977) starring Joan Collins. There I was just sitting reading the "HG Wells Huge Collection" on my Kindle when what do you think showed up? You guessed it "The Empire of the Ants." Well, this is not quite the movie but it is HG Wells at his best. As with most of Wells’ short stories, he put just enough information in there to get you to speculate, and then it's over. Somehow, he makes each one of the short stories feel fresh and gives you something different to make you speculate, "What if?" "When Captain Gerilleau received instructions to take his new gunboat, the _Benjamin Constant,_ to Badama on the Batemo arm of the Guaramadema and there assist the inhabitants against a plague of ants..." HG Wells In this story, Wells speculates on what made man excel and become the dominant species on earth, and whether a similar evolution creates a rival. "By 1920, they will be halfway down the Amazon. I fix 1950 or '60 at the latest for the discovery of Europe."

Many people know Wells wrote great full length novels...

but few remember his classic short stories. 'The Empire Of The Ants' is one short story with a huge impact, even being made into a sci-fi B-movie. Ants in South America has always been part of the landscape, from leaf-cutter ants to army ants, they are part of daily life. But what happens when the ants come and refuse to leave?Other stories in this tiny collection are 'The Man Who Could Work Miracles' which was also a movie, 'The Country Of The Blind' which proves that sight is NOT an advantage, 'The Crystal Egg' which is a must for any War of the Worlds' fan and 'The Magic Shop', a very weird short story.A must for any fan of H.G. Wells or for anybody who loves 'The War Of The Worlds'.