What Was HG Wells's First Novel?

His first complete work of science fiction was "The Time Machine" published in 1895. The central idea of this novel is well known; a scientist manages to travel to the far future (802701) and sees a race of charming blonde people (the Eloi) sitting around happily eating fruit and laughing in the sun. He is delighted until he discovers that these pretty creatures are wholly degenerate, barely human any more; while the real masters are the deformed Morlocks who live underground and keep the Eloi as cattle, so they can eat them. The Morlocks are the former slaves of the Eloi; but over time, easy living has caused the Eloi to lose their intelligence and other survival qualities; they are effectively domestic animals.

After his encounter with the remnants of humanity, the traveller moves forward again and witnesses the very end of the earth, in a horror of cold, dead silence.