H.G. Wells Publishes War of the Worlds

Date: 1898 A.D.
Author: Percival Lowell, American Astronomer and Advocate of Intelligent Life on Mars

Dear Journal,
     I have just skimmed through a copy of H.G. Wells' The War of the Worlds. There is no doubt that my popularizing of Mars as another type of Earth probably influenced this exciting story. In his story, horrible looking Martians arrive and start to demolish New Jersey and fry all but 127 of 7000 armed soldiers. This war might actually happen considering the Martians are heavily in need of water. The canals there, first seen by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Virginio Schiaparelli indicate that Martians are desperately trying to stave off a fatal planetary drought by allocating limited water from the planets frigid poles to the dry equatorial region. In conquering earth, they will have a new home planet heavily laden with water. I will write a letter to Wells praising such a clever story.