Famed for THE TIME MACHINE, THE WAR OF THE WORLDS, and other imaginative stories, H. G. Wells wrote other such works over his long life that have been little-known and little-read by enthusiasts of the fantastic. This volume of the "Before It Was Science Fiction" series collects: THE CHRONIC ARGONAUTS The mysterious construction of a time machine stirs passion and fear in a small Welsh village. THE SEA LADY In this satire and romantic fantasy, a mermaid enters the lives and loves of the snooty set. MEN LIKE GODS Mr. Barnstaple crosses dimensions to a parallel world built along utopian lines--but the sins and frailties of Earth travel with him. THE CAMFORD VISITATION An invisible extra-terrestrial being has invaded the British countryside, and has some observations to make on the perplexing populace. THE CROQUET PLAYER A dark, unsettling tale of a haunted countryside, the survival of the primitive, and the blindness of a world's folly. STAR-BEGOTTEN Why invade Earth when you can transform humanity into something more than human? A novel of ideas, explorations, and the fate of an unborn child--who may be a messiah. THE HAPPY TURNING A wry and rueful fantasy that takes the author into a private dreamworld to converse with a regretful Jesus and seek meaning in a world exhausted by war.