The Stolen Bacillus and Other Incidents

De: H. G. Wells

Narrado por: Michael Wade

The first Spoken Ink collection of 15 superb short stories by H. G. Wells, who was a master of the form. Humour and wit abound in his writing, as does sharp social observation. A scientist shows an unusually interested stranger a deadly cholera bacillus he is developing in The Stolen Bacillus, The owner of five ostriches being transported on a ship to Europe (one of which has swallowed a valuable diamond) holds an auction of four of them in A Deal in Ostriches. A scarred sailor tells his story of being cast away on a desert island with a miraculously preserved egg of the extinct giant Aepyornis bird, in Aepyornis Island. Then the egg hatches…

A hilarious story of a terrible and bitter feud between scientists in The Moth. These and many more brilliantly entertaining stories in this collection.

©1946 The Literary Executors of the Estate of H. G. Wells (P)2012 Spoken Ink

Awesome

Wells’ first book of short stories. They were almost all published in 1894, right before his first novel The Time Machine early the following year. Five stars on the strength of a handful of tales (especially Lord of the Dynamos—one of the best things he ever wrote). If some of the others aren’t as memorable, at least they go by quick.

Reader did a very fine job. One nitpick: don’t replace the word “reader” with “listener.” It’s presumptuous and actually more jarring than the actual text.