Editing Alien invasion (section)

==Origins==
In 1898, Wells published ''[[The War of the Worlds]]'', depicting the invasion of [[Victorian era|Victorian England]] by Martians equipped with advanced weaponry. It is now seen as the seminal alien invasion story<ref name="flynn2">{{Cite book |last=Flynn |first=John L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=T0aCSs1-23sC&pg=PA18 |title=War of the Worlds: From Wells to Spielberg |date=2005 |publisher=Galactic Books |isbn=0-9769400-0-0 |pages=18–19}}</ref> and Wells is credited with establishing several extraterrestrial themes which were later greatly expanded by science fiction writers in the 20th century, including first contact and war between planets and their differing species. However, there were earlier published stories of aliens and alien invasion, such as the 1892 novel ''The Germ Growers'' by Australian clergyman Robert Potter, which describes a covert invasion by aliens who take on the appearance of human beings and attempt to develop a virulent disease to assist in their plans for global conquest. Potter's novel was not widely read.<ref name="flynn2"/>

Wells had already proposed another outcome for the alien invasion story in ''The War of the Worlds''. When the Narrator meets the artilleryman the second time, the artilleryman imagines a future where humanity, hiding underground in sewers and tunnels, conducts a [[guerrilla warfare|guerrilla war]], fighting against the Martians for generations to come, and eventually, after learning how to duplicate Martian weapon technology, destroys the invaders and takes back the Earth.<ref name="batchelor_28">{{cite book | last = Batchelor | first = John  | author-link = John Batchelor | title = H.G. Wells | url = https://archive.org/details/hgwells0000batc | url-access = registration | page = [https://archive.org/details/hgwells0000batc/page/28 28] | publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]| date = 1985 | isbn = 0-521-27804-X}}</ref>

Six weeks after publication of the novel, ''[[The Boston Post]]'' newspaper published another alien invasion story, an unauthorized sequel to ''The War of the Worlds'', which turned the tables on the invaders. ''[[Edison's Conquest of Mars]]'' was written by [[Garrett P. Serviss]], who described the famous inventor [[Thomas Edison]] leading a counterattack against the invaders on their home soil.<ref name="gerrold">{{Cite journal |last=Gerrold |first=David |author-link=David Gerrold |date=2005 |title=War of the Worlds |url=https://archive.org/details/warofworldsfresh0000well/page/202 |journal=War of the Worlds: Fresh Perspectives on the H.G. Wells Classic |publisher=BenBalla |pages=[https://archive.org/details/warofworldsfresh0000well/page/202 202–205] |isbn=978-1-932100-55-6 |url-access=registration |editor=Glenn Yeffeth}}</ref> Though this is actually a sequel to ''[[Fighters from Mars]]'', a revised and unauthorised reprint of ''War of the Worlds'', they both were first printed in ''The Boston Post'' in 1898.<ref>''Edison's Conquest of Mars'', "Foreword" by Robert Godwin, Apogee Books 2005</ref>

''The War of the Worlds'' was reprinted in the [[United States]] in 1927, a year after the [[Golden Age of Science Fiction]] was created by [[Hugo Gernsback]] in ''[[Amazing Stories]]''. [[John W. Campbell]], another key editor of the era, and periodic short story writer, published several alien invasion stories in the 1930s. Many well-known science fiction writers were to follow, including [[Isaac Asimov]], [[Arthur C. Clarke]], [[Clifford D. Simak]], plus [[Robert A. Heinlein]] who wrote ''[[The Puppet Masters]]'' in 1951.<ref name="urbanski">{{Cite book |last=Urbanski |first=Heather |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QAYyBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA156 |title=Plagues, Apocalypses and Bug-Eyed Monsters |date=2007 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-0-7864-2916-5 |pages=156–8}}</ref>