So, doing a series of sci fi short stories we naturally had to have a go at the grandfather of science fiction. H.G. Wells, with a story called The Star, from 1897. It takes a while to get going, but it's a truly epic tale when it does. Please don't forget to like and subscribe if you enjoyed it, and let us know in the comments what other out of copyright sci-fi stories you would like to see made!
I decided tonight to find an audio short story to lull me to sleep instead of my usual outdoor ambient sounds. So I chose to search within UA-cam and found these short stories and picked ‘The Star’ by H. G. Wells. I never read a book written by Wells, and this one had a running time that I had targeted, so I got prepared and put my headset on and hit play within my pitch black bedroom. I figured I would be asleep in a few minutes, but noticed the narrator had a very agreeable voice. I also began to recognize the quality of the writing. I started to realize why Wells was so popular, but I was also realizing that the story was grabbing me. I was hooked by the story, it was in a way.... frightening and rolling to a doom filled climax. So the story ended. I turned on my light and came straight to this comment section to relay my increased anxiety instead of sleeping away as I had planned. I’m gonna go back to playing the underwater bubbling sounds and try to get to sleep.... oh and one more thing.... thanks for posting this short story... I am definitely gonna research some more Wells writing. But during the waking hours.
I agree with your assessment I began reluctantly with my modern view of the heavens but... .slowly I was drawn into this frighteningly realistic imagery of over 100 years old! What a timeless writer and what astronomical wisdom!😮
About twenty five years ago I thought I'd read all of the old classic sci-fi authors starting around 1875 onward. It's well worth reading these. Modern authors could learn much about character and story development from these.
Before Birkland he described the events . Earthquakes, storms, tsunamis, temperture changes, poles melting. He described plasma and electrical interaction between objects in space. Do not know how I missed reading this story before now. seventy eight now and thought I had read all his works. Thank you for this vid.
Holy crap. I hadn’t heard this one before. Wells truly was a master. I’d planned to go to sleep listening to a short story. No such luck! Very well done. Slightly odd epilogue knowing what we do now but the message remains true.🙂
a year ago you made your comment. The dame happened to me. Have no idea how I missed this story all my life. Thought I had read all his stories. going to have to do more research. kick myself for missing this one.
SUPERBLY READ!!! Thank you for this. I hadn't read The Star before. I have subscribed enthusiastically! But I would say Wells may be the father, and Jules Verne was the grandfather.
I have enjoyed the beauty of audiobooks for the last 30 years and yes the readings from new readers are sometimes jagged but as long as there are confident readers who can read the emphasis correctly, the standards have risen to almost excellent quality. Tom O'Rourke 1953...? Love always
Great story and narration. Wells was one hell of a writer. He's one of those fellas I would really like to have a chat with over a beer or two but I guess a corpse wouldn't be much for lively conversation
I absolutely loved listening to this. Your voice is superb and I hope you can make many more audiobooks. This is by the way my first experience with Wells, and I will certainly look up more about his books and read them.
Hi there,I have listened to thousands of audiobooks,and you’re style and voice are excellent. Well done. Suggestions (favourite books,audiobooks) Day of the triffids; John Wyndham War of the worlds; H G Wells Who Goes There?; John W Campbell Any Sherlock Holmes ,or at least The hound of the Baskervilles Lord of the rings. Any Blake’s 7 Tv series books new/older Any of H G Wells and John Wyndham Thank you.
i usuall have a hard time actually focusing on an audiobook, but the voice etc on this one is so well done i'm actually drawn in and interested. Thank goodness I needed something different to listen to while i wfh
I find these types of stories far more horrifying than typical horror stories. People and monsters can be fought off, but there is no fighting natural cataclysms.
Loved it! I first read this story over 40 years ago in High School! If you're going to do some out-of-copyright Sci-Fi, how about Wells' "The New Accelerator?"
I find it amazing, and terrifying, how accurately H.G. Wells predicted what would happen if our star system was on a collision course with another. As a star gets closer to our planet, it's gravity would have catastrophic effects on our tectonic plates and oceans. It's not like this trope is completely uncommon in science fiction today. But a 100 years ago? That's another story altogether.
I've had recurring dreams of the world ending kinda like this since early childhood. The finality, saying goodbye to everyone, marvelling at impending cosmic death, then waking up. Anyone else get these?
Thank you. The way in which you read the story using your timber and timing is like that of a virtuoso violinist running his bow across the strings of a Stradivarius.
incredible - the reader is sooo good - such building suspense. the music was perfect and so different. great production. and a new story from Wells for me and such a great one! thanks so much :) 🌷
I don't know if its the story, your reading of the story, or a combination, but this strikes me as a VERY eerie tale. It scares me more than most modern horror movies.
The best short story in s.f. written all the time by the master story teller H.G. Wells. This is only comparable with the Sentinel by Sir Aurther C Clarke.
This and Wells' IN THE DAYS OF THE COMET may very well have inspired the later popular serial-then-book WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE (and possibly Velokovsky's WORLDS IN COLLISION, tho that's more of a stretch). (Narrator please note the pronunciation of "centrifugal".)
So, doing a series of sci fi short stories we naturally had to have a go at the grandfather of science fiction. H.G. Wells, with a story called The Star, from 1897. It takes a while to get going, but it's a truly epic tale when it does. Please don't forget to like and subscribe if you enjoyed it, and let us know in the comments what other out of copyright sci-fi stories you would like to see made!
Perhaps " The Nine Billion Names of God"? I think little known nowadays.
One of my favourite short stories of all time!@@dobypilgrim6160
Thanks for posting this short story That I’ve never heard before.
how do you check which out of copyright books are allowed?
And this work is over 136 years old! Amazzzzzing descriptive power and portentious!🎉🎉
This is the most intriguing and terrifying HG Wells story I have ever heard and I absolutely love it.
I decided tonight to find an audio short story to lull me to sleep instead of my usual outdoor ambient sounds. So I chose to search within UA-cam and found these short stories and picked ‘The Star’ by H. G. Wells. I never read a book written by Wells, and this one had a running time that I had targeted, so I got prepared and put my headset on and hit play within my pitch black bedroom. I figured I would be asleep in a few minutes, but noticed the narrator had a very agreeable voice. I also began to recognize the quality of the writing. I started to realize why Wells was so popular, but I was also realizing that the story was grabbing me. I was hooked by the story, it was in a way.... frightening and rolling to a doom filled climax. So the story ended. I turned on my light and came straight to this comment section to relay my increased anxiety instead of sleeping away as I had planned. I’m gonna go back to playing the underwater bubbling sounds and try to get to sleep.... oh and one more thing.... thanks for posting this short story... I am definitely gonna research some more Wells writing. But during the waking hours.
Tolkien is another good one to listen to.
👄 may i suggest....
also by hg wells
"a dream of armageddon"
I agree with your assessment
I began reluctantly with my modern view of the heavens but...
.slowly I was drawn into this frighteningly realistic imagery of over 100 years old! What a timeless writer and what astronomical wisdom!😮
Agreed!
About twenty five years ago I thought I'd read all of the old classic sci-fi authors starting around 1875 onward. It's well worth reading these. Modern authors could learn much about character and story development from these.
Before Birkland he described the events . Earthquakes, storms, tsunamis, temperture changes, poles melting. He described plasma and electrical interaction between objects in space. Do not know how I missed reading this story before now. seventy eight now and thought I had read all his works. Thank you for this vid.
I love your history of the universe channel. Best space UA-cam channel ever. Only you and Sagan make me feel so happy to listen too. Thank you
This was amazing. I hope you didn’t give up on this channel. I would love to hear some works from Issac Asimov.
Holy crap. I hadn’t heard this one before. Wells truly was a master. I’d planned to go to sleep listening to a short story. No such luck! Very well done. Slightly odd epilogue knowing what we do now but the message remains true.🙂
a year ago you made your comment. The dame happened to me. Have no idea how I missed this story all my life. Thought I had read all his stories. going to have to do more research. kick myself for missing this one.
🥶
Brilliant production and narration,thanks.
Thank you for posting, a forrun to war of the wolds.
SUPERBLY READ!!! Thank you for this. I hadn't read The Star before. I have subscribed enthusiastically! But I would say Wells may be the father, and Jules Verne was the grandfather.
Thanks so much! We will have to cover some Verne!
Well said.
Absolutely riveting!! Brilliantly presented and a really chilling tale.
The man was way ahead of his time!!
Damn. For such an old sci-fi story, that was pretty good.
The story was really good, the catastrophy and what came after the change. The last words are so true.
Thanks for watching! Wells is the master!
catastrophe
That was amazing..
That was excellent. Thanks for posting it for us. ❤
Excellent narration; pleasant voice, reading pace, and good diction.
I have a lot of trouble focusing and needed to read this story for a class- thank you for making the work much more bearable for me!
Get a new job
I've never been much of a sci fi reader. I mostly read non fiction or a little historical fiction but I'm definitely gonna read a H.G book next.
this is really good, I love these classics, thank you.
Thanks for watching! Many more classics on the way...
Excellent story and well narrated.
I enjoy apocalyptic and post apocalyptic stories. This one was narrated perfectly.
thus far, this just might be my favorite thing Wells wrote. Add to it excellent narration and sound editing, and you guys got a new subscriber!
I have enjoyed the beauty of audiobooks for the last 30 years and yes the readings from new readers are sometimes jagged but as long as there are confident readers who can read the emphasis correctly, the standards have risen to almost excellent quality.
Tom O'Rourke 1953...?
Love always
Great story and narration. Wells was one hell of a writer. He's one of those fellas I would really like to have a chat with over a beer or two but I guess a corpse wouldn't be much for lively conversation
Awesome! Thanks
Hope you do more of these videos.
Oh my goodness! What literary art…i feel like i should pay the narrator - classic!!
I absolutely loved listening to this. Your voice is superb and I hope you can make many more audiobooks. This is by the way my first experience with Wells, and I will certainly look up more about his books and read them.
Shiori This was my first experience with Wells to,....... AND it scared the crap outa me!
I had never read this story before. It is very good! The style of the reader and the music in the background made it even better
Thank you.
Nicely done. Thank you. Now that I know about Velakofsky (sp) I can imagine how H. G. composed this one. Looking forward to more.
Thanks for watching!
Thank you so much for sharing this! I had to read this story for class and this made for such an exciting, suspenseful experience.
Hi there,I have listened to thousands of audiobooks,and you’re style and voice are excellent.
Well done.
Suggestions (favourite books,audiobooks)
Day of the triffids; John Wyndham
War of the worlds; H G Wells
Who Goes There?; John W Campbell
Any Sherlock Holmes ,or at least The hound of the Baskervilles
Lord of the rings.
Any Blake’s 7 Tv series books new/older
Any of H G Wells and John Wyndham
Thank you.
*your style, not "you're style"
your style...
More of this content please
Much more on the way!
Just subscribed after listening to a superb narration of a Wells tale I had not heard of before, looking foreward to more narrations in the future
Just Superb. Especially loved the ending.
i usuall have a hard time actually focusing on an audiobook, but the voice etc on this one is so well done i'm actually drawn in and interested. Thank goodness I needed something different to listen to while i wfh
I find these types of stories far more horrifying than typical horror stories. People and monsters can be fought off, but there is no fighting natural cataclysms.
That was fantastic. A brilliant retelling, perfectly weighted and paced.... I thoroughly enjoyed that....Thank you!
thank you very much for making this
Wow that was epic. Never read any of H G Wells' work before.
Thanks man. Wells is the master!
A truly excellent short story very well read. Thanks.
Funny, in high school we had to write a short story about a storm. This reminds me of my paper.
Brilliant narration, great production, thanks so much! :)
Just brilliant! Thank you very much for the audiobook.
Awesome! Greetings from Croatia.
Very well read. This story gave me goose bumps.
Me too.
Very enjoyable. More please ;-)
Loved it! I first read this story over 40 years ago in High School! If you're going to do some out-of-copyright Sci-Fi, how about Wells' "The New Accelerator?"
Great reading of a great story! So happy I stumbled upon this today!
The final sentence is everything
I find it amazing, and terrifying, how accurately H.G. Wells predicted what would happen if our star system was on a collision course with another. As a star gets closer to our planet, it's gravity would have catastrophic effects on our tectonic plates and oceans. It's not like this trope is completely uncommon in science fiction today. But a 100 years ago? That's another story altogether.
great job looking forward to more
Thanks for watching!
I loved your narration! It was sooo good!
Excellent narration of classic story. TY
I've had recurring dreams of the world ending kinda like this since early childhood. The finality, saying goodbye to everyone, marvelling at impending cosmic death, then waking up. Anyone else get these?
Thank you. The way in which you read the story using your timber and timing is like that of a virtuoso violinist running his bow across the strings of a Stradivarius.
This story is new to me. It is a fine one, well narrated.
What a joy , so brilliantly done !
... can't usually stand backgroundsounds or music , but this is simply splendid !
Thank You so much !
incredible - the reader is sooo good - such building suspense. the music was perfect and so different. great production. and a new story from Wells for me and such a great one! thanks so much :) 🌷
I don't know if its the story, your reading of the story, or a combination, but this strikes me as a VERY eerie tale. It scares me more than most modern horror movies.
Because It could actually happen !!!
Martians were like "Well, that was a helluva storm down there but, they're fiiiiiiine.. so what else is new?"
Amazing. Reading was addictive listening. ❤
I Loved listening 2 this & for me, the music & visual effects added 2 my positive experience!
Well read...TY your voice narration & cadence is fine *Sci~Fi Hub* 👍👍👍👍👍☀☀☀☀☀🌟🌟🌟
You have a great voice; Perfect for audiobooks 👍🏼😁.
This was great! Thank you.
Beautifully done.
Hey this was well done, good job!
You have a great voice, my friend. I know you from the history videos! Excellent work, you have great taste!
magnificently well done!!!!!!!
Wow! thank you! I loved listening to this!
The best short story in s.f. written all the time by the master story teller H.G. Wells. This is only comparable with the Sentinel by Sir Aurther C Clarke.
Very good reading and reader. Wells done well, thanks
Thank you for doing this. But also, thank you for doing it well. I don't have the heart to play this at 1.25 speed because you reading is great!
I had never read or heard that before. That was prophetic. Thank you for reading this..
To this day, Wells is still one of the best.
Absolutely beautiful 👏👏👏👏
Fantastic!! Thank you!!
you know you're writing good sci fi when the deus ex is the SUN
Do more H.G. Wells
Extraordinary. Subscribed
Great story-wonderful narrator!
Fabulous!
This and Wells' IN THE DAYS OF THE COMET may very well have inspired the later popular serial-then-book WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE (and possibly Velokovsky's WORLDS IN COLLISION, tho that's more of a stretch).
(Narrator please note the pronunciation of "centrifugal".)
beautifully written and expertly read,
I love the narrative
I love it. brilliantly written
Great narration!
Nice work with it
Luv ur voice!💓
Excellent narration
I loved it! Xxx
Wow! such a portrait of the coming destruction written almost a century ago.
This is awesome!
Amazing!! Love from India.
Superb video rendition.
Excellent 🌟
Wells was ahead of his time.
I fell upon this story to help me to find my way...