Published in 1904, this collection of five of Wells's most famous science fiction tales includes "The Crystal Egg," in which a shop owner finds a strange crystal egg and is able to see Mars; "The Star," in which the approach of a blazing comet forebodes worldwide catastrophes; "The Man Who Could Work Miracles," a fantasy-comedy in which George McWhirter Fotheringay discovers he can have any wish he wants, only to cause cataclysmic destruction when he wishes to stops the earth's rotation; and two novellas: "A Story of the Stone Age," A Story of the Days to Come."