''Fighters from Mars'' is the name of two unauthorized, edited versions of

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

The War of the Worlds'' serial. The first version appeared in the ''

New York Evening Journal :''Includes coverage of New York Journal-American and its predecessors New York Journal, The Journal, New York American and New York Evening Journal'' The ''New York Journal-American'' was a daily newspaper published in New York City from 1937 t ...

'' between December 5, 1897 and January 11, 1898, and was entitled ''Fighters from Mars, or The War of the Worlds''. The second version appeared in the ''

Boston Post ''The Boston Post'' was a daily newspaper in New England for over a hundred years before it folded in 1956. The ''Post'' was founded in November 1831 by two prominent Boston, Massachusetts, Boston businessmen, Charles Gordon Greene, Charles G. Gr ...

'' between January 8, 1898 and February 1898, and was entitled ''Fighters from Mars, or The War of the Worlds in and near Boston.'' The editor(s) of these versions changed the setting to the local area where the newspapers were on sale, and also edited out most of the passages containing science, science details pertaining to ordinary people, and problematic actions by the narrator. Even though they are considered unauthorized, it does seem that Wells may have inadvertently given the go ahead to the versions, as can be seen from a letter that was published in the magazine '' The Critic'' in March 1898, where Wells states: "Yet it is possible that this affair is not so much downright wickedness as a terrible mistake." In each paper,

Garrett P. Serviss Garrett Putnam Serviss (March 24, 1851 – May 25, 1929) was an American astronomer, popularizer of astronomy, and early science fiction writer. Serviss was born in Sharon Springs, New York and majored in science at Cornell University. He to ...

' sequel, ''

Edison's Conquest of Mars ''Edison's Conquest of Mars'' is an 1898 science fiction novel by American astronomer and writer Garrett P. Serviss. It was written as a sequel to ''Fighters from Mars'', an unauthorized and heavily altered version of H. G. Wells's 1897 story '' ...

'', was published after ''Fighters from Mars'' had finished.

Legacy

Rocket scientist

Robert H. Goddard Robert Hutchings Goddard (October 5, 1882 – August 10, 1945) was an American engineer, professor, physicist, and inventor who is credited with creating and building the world's first Liquid-propellant rocket, liquid-fueled rocket. ...

read both ''Fighters from Mars'' and ''Edison's Conquest of Mars'' and credited them with helping form his early interest in developing rockets for interplanetary exploration.

References

Sources

* * *''The Critic'', March 1898, Vol. 29, page 284.
''Fighters From Mars''. Steven Mollmann
blog entry April 21, 2009.
Review of sequel
(with reference to ''Fighters From Mars'') {{The War of the Worlds 1897 American novels Novels about ancient astronauts Novels set on Mars Novels first published in serial form American science fiction novels Cultural depictions of Thomas Edison War of the Worlds written fiction Sequel novels Works originally published in American newspapers 1897 science fiction novels Novels set in Boston Novels set in New York (state) Alien invasions in novels