The Door in the Wall and Other Stories (Unabridged)

The Door in the Wall and Other Stories by H. G. Wells - A collection of short stories by H. G. Wells, author of "The Time Machine" and "War of the Worlds". The science fiction master ranges over a variety of topics, each original and unexpected. Included in this collection is "The Country of the Blind" where a man with sight hopes to make himself king. In other stories a stranger offers to sell diamonds on the street, a magic door appears requires a sacrifice to go through it, a demon machine tries to become a god, an engineer finds an engineering solution to a love triangle, and a man dreams or does he?

A collection of short stories:

THE DOOR IN THE WALL
Lionel Wallace is a successful politician. He tells his friend Redmond about an even that changed his life forever. As a lonely child of five, he wandered out of his home into the streets of West Kensington in London, where he noticed a green door set in a white wall. Entering the door, he finds himself in an enchanted garden. The garden is filled with happiness and exotic creatures, and here he meets a strange girl.

THE STAR
In January 1900, the people of Earth awaken to a cosmic event - a vast luminous object has caught Neptune inside is gravitational pull and is now heading directly on a collision course toward the center of our star system.

A DREAM OF ARMAGEDDON
The story is set on aboard a train, when an unwell-looking man strikes up a conversation with the narrator when he sees him reading a book about dreams. The man describes his own vivid dreams where he sees the collapse of the world.

THE CONE
Raut is an artist who visits Horrock, the manager of the Jeddah Company Blast Furnaces. Raut plans to study the equipment but instead ends up in a fight with Horrock, who believes Raut is having an affair with his wife.

A MOONLIGHT FABLE or The Beautiful Suit
A dominating mother tells her son he can only wear his best suit on special occasions. It was the suit he was married in, and apart from wearing it to church he has no other excuse to put it on. One evening - when the moonlight inspires him - he dresses in his suit and climbs from his bedroom window and walks throughout the garden.

THE DIAMOND MAKER
The narrator is relaxing by the Thames Embankment, when someone who looks like a tramp starts a conversation with him. Despite his appearance, the man talks like an educated businessman. He also has a bag of what appears to be uncut diamonds - one of which looks as big as the tip of a thumb. The strange man offers to sell the huge diamond for a hundred pounds.

THE LORD OF THE DYNAMOS
Azuma-zi is from south-east Asia, who arrives in London on board a steamer. He speaks no English and is bewildered by the turmoil of the large city. He loses all the money he has earned serving on the steamer, but eventually finds work as a stoker. He is impressed by the humming, whirling machinery and comes to believe that the big dynamo is a god. He starts to worship it - he salaams to it when he arrives at work. The problem is he starts to clean and polish it with devotional care, and anoint it with oil - by which he unintentionally damages it. His boss is not impressed.

THE COUNTRY OF THE BLIND
A mountaineer named Nuñez accidentally stumbles upon a valley that has been cut off from the outside world for many generations. Here he discovers the fabled Country of the Blind.