Who wrote the science fiction novel 'The War of the Worlds'?

The science fiction novel 'The War of the Worlds' was written by H. G. Wells.

H. G. Wells was an English writer whose scientific romances helped shape modern science fiction. He wrote 'The War of the Worlds' between 1895 and 1897, and the novel was first published in book form by William Heinemann in 1898. It tells the story of a Martian invasion of Earth, narrated by an unnamed man in southern England.

The Martians possess advanced weapons and war machines, including towering tripods, and initially overwhelm the British forces. Wells used the invasion story to explore imperialism and the vulnerability of a technologically powerful society. The novel reverses the colonial perspective familiar to Victorian readers by imagining Britain as the territory invaded by a superior outside power.

The book is often confused with later adaptations, especially Orson Welles's 1938 radio broadcast and Steven Spielberg's 2005 film. Those versions retell or adapt Wells's work; neither changes its authorship. The title's “worlds” refers to the opposing human and Martian spheres, while the original novel is specifically Wells's literary creation.