IN THE DAYS OF THE COMET by H.G. Wells

I'm a huge fan of H.G. Wells; I've read most of his stuff, both the novels and the short stories. He and Jules Verne took their science very seriously, something that can't be said for later generations of science fiction writers (whatever it is that Ray Bradbury writes, it isn't science fiction, as I have yet to find any science at all in anything of his that I've read). Wells was also a good storyteller, with a grand imagination and a very good eye for detail. At times, he had a helluva sense of humor as well (see his stories "Aepyornis Island" and "The Truth About Pyecraft", two of my favorites). His political views weren't exactly subtle: THE TIME MACHINE is a pretty straightforward parable about class warfare (though he cleverly inverts things, with the parasitic elites as underground dwellers and the proletariat living carefree lives of leisure), and FIRST MEN IN THE MOON leaves off an excellent sci-fi story to veer off into a discordant epilogue where the inventor has a dialogue about humanity with the leader of the moon creatures, depicting mankind as pernicious and murderous. But generally speaking, he keeps his politics restrained and his science intriguing.

So I'm sad to report that IN THE DAYS OF THE COMET is a complete waste of time. The first half of the book describes how miserable life is for a young, ambitious socialist who resents the capitalists who run the factory slum he lives in. He wants to marry a young woman in the next township, only to see her elope with the son of a wealthy family. He vows revenge, gets a gun and chases the couple to a beach resort, planning to kill them both. All this plays out against the appearance of a rapidly approaching comet, and people are fearful that it might strike the earth.

It doesn't, but earth passes through the comet's tail, which...Wells doesn't explain very well. Something to do with the atmosphere's nitrogen and oxygen balance. Anyway, everyone loses consciousness, and when they awake the entire population of the world is suddenly nice. Socialist in the extreme, everyone collectively agrees to do away with governments and factories and slums, and all work together to make a better world. Huh.

The last few pages provide some kind of closure for the would-be romance, as the protagonist meets up again with his erstwhile beloved and her husband, and Wells intimates that in the new world order, free love (another of his social causes) would be commonplace. While I'm all for that, personally, this story is ultimately an inexplicable and unsatisfying fantasy from Wells, and I can't recommend it at all. Guess there's a reason this one isn't mentioned much among his other works.