Permutation City Blog

An odd story to associate with Wells. Mr Polly has an unremarkable and uninteresting life. This reaches it's peak with the decision to burn his shop and commit suicide. He succeeds in the first but fails in the second. This catalysis him to leave his home and find a new happier existance.

This is small story at about 90 pages. It's very familiar but I like it. It's well thought out, both the time travel component and the future worlds he visits. I particularly like the way the world rushes by when he's in the machine.

I've seen and read this story or versions of this story so many times. It's interesting to go back to the original and compare. Adaptations drop the character of the brother and just make it happen to the main character instead. References to the future seem out of place. They'd spoil the end if I didn't already know it. But hey, it is a classic.

A short story telling the classic tale of a shop that sells real magic. You can read it online.

I'd heard of this often enough but never read it. On the island animals are turned into an approximation of man, it doesn't seem like a good idea and it's not. It was all right as a story.