
PROLOGUE THE APPEARANCE OF MAN: A PLAY OUT OF TIME & SPACE.
SIGNS & WONDERS
THE CAGE
ENLARGEMENT
THE PERFECT SMILE
THE HIDDEN BEAST
THE BARRAGE A STUDY IN EXTROVERSION
THE INTROVERT
THE BARRIER
THE CONVERT
A surreal stage opens with three strangers conversing amid swirling nebulae, roaming brontosaurs, and the clamor of distant wars. Their banter jumps between London’s streets, prehistoric plains and the wreckage of a civil conflict, blurring the borders of time, place and identity. The dialogue is peppered with sharp humor and unsettling prejudices, inviting listeners to question how quickly the familiar can dissolve into the absurd when the universe itself becomes a backdrop.
From this kaleidoscopic prologue the narrator drifts into a dream‑like meditation on the layers of the human soul—etheric, astral, mental—while being whisked from a February London street to an uncanny planet that mirrors the Hampstead Garden Suburb. The prose balances vivid, otherworldly description with a probing curiosity about consciousness, making the first act feel both a theatrical experiment and a philosophical adventure that beckons the ear for more.
Language
en
Duration
~4 hours (235K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Tim Lindell, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
Release date
2019-05-19
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1873–1947
Best known for imaginative early science fiction and eerie short fiction, this English writer moved easily between the uncanny, the philosophical, and the sharply human. His work helped shape later speculative fiction while keeping a strong emotional pull of its own.
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