Stephen's Reviews > War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches

Wells’ War of the Worlds was set in England, but here the Martian attack was launched across the globe, and now an array of science fiction authors deliver descriptions of the Attack as experienced by Teddy Roosevelt, Pablo Picasso, Mark Twain, and others. Although it suffers a bit from not having a consistent timeline/universe (the two Paris chronicles are in direct opposition, which is appropriate for the riotous French), the variety of stories and voices is fun. Imagine a western invaded by H.G. Wells, or — a version of War of the Worlds that features John Carter on Barsoom! There’s also variety to the structure of the stories: while most are straight tales, others are composites (we learn of Teddy’s adventures in Cuba via a series of letters and journal entries), and one (Emily Dickinson’s) is a literary analysis paper. Because most of the starring characters are significant figures, there’s usually some mention to their work: H.G. Wells appears as a supporting character in someone else’s story, Albert Einstein’s investigation of a Martian machine inspires him to begin thinking of relativity, and so on. There also connections to historical events, like a European martial strike against the ailing Manchu empire in China being interrupted by the machines: the Manchus are overjoyed until they realized the lords from space are there to wreck everyone’s day, not just the Foreign Devils. Often the authors will try to evoke the style of their subject: the “Barsoom” story seems reasonably close to what I’ve read from A Princess of Mars, and I was amused at the idea of trying to marry those two different versions of Mars. (No mention of Lewis’ “Malacandra”.) The authors have some fun with their historic settings: the remains of the grand exposition held in Paris (including the Eiffel tower) are utterly wrecked, and in another story Jules Verne and another character argue over its aesthetic merits. Alas! How will movie-watchers in the future know they’re in Paris without that shot of the city? And of course, there are the in-jokes, like the story featuring Tolstoy being called “Resurrection”, in which a young Stalin appears — though only the history-obsessed who know his original Russian name will recognize him. There’s a lot of fun to be had in this collection, especially for fans of Wells and Verne. Definitely worth picking up!