The War of the Worlds (novel)
An early science fiction novel, The War of the Worlds (1898), by H.G. Wells, describes the fictional 1895 invasion of Earth by aliens, from Mars, who use chemical weapons, Heat-Rays, and robots. The book has been viewed as an indictment of European colonial actions in Africa, Asia, and The Americas. Wells seems to have taken great pleasure in the fictional devastation of locations where he had spent an unhappy childhood.The book has been adapted as a famous radio drama, as a movie, and as a bestselling concept album, all of which have played some part in maintaining the public's interest in the original novel.
This theme of an alien invasion has remained a popular one ever since, some recent examples being Footfall by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, the "Worldwar" series by Harry Turtledove, and the film Independence Day.
A number of people have written stories that pay homage to The War of the Worlds, often telling how the invasion went in places other than Britain. Two notable stories of this type are "Night of the Cooters" by Howard Waldrop, in which a Martian war machine lands in Texas, and "Foreign Devils" by Walter Jon Williams, set in China. War of the Worlds: Global Dispatches, edited by Kevin J. Anderson, is an anthology of such stories (ISBN 0553103539).