The World Masters

Griffith, George Chetwynd, 1857-1906Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 493K words
Chapters: 50

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The World Masters by George Chetwynd GriffithAuthor: Griffith, George Chetwynd, 1857-1906,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Nov 16, 2011

Editor's review

The World Masters is an early science fiction novel by the British author George Chetwynd Griffith, offered here by Project Gutenberg as a free eBook. Griffith was active in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and his work often involved future technology, social change, and adventure, making it an entry point into early science fiction. As a public-domain electronic text, the book preserves the language of the original, letting readers see how writers of the time imagined the power of technology and the fate of humanity. For researchers, it is a sample of the early science fiction lineage; for general readers, it is a light attempt at entering old-style science fiction narrative. The electronic edition is easy to search and excerpt, and suits chapter-by-chapter reading on commutes or in fragments of time. Note that the work was written over a century ago, and its narrative pace and ideas bear clear marks of its era; readers should appreciate it from the perspective of literary history and genre evolution rather than judge it by contemporary science fiction standards.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in early science fiction and the origins of the genre
Readers who want free access to public-domain English originals
Students and enthusiasts studying late nineteenth- to early twentieth-century popular fiction
Readers who prefer e-reading and chapter-by-chapter progress

Not a good fit for

Readers expecting contemporary hard science fiction or fast-paced narrative
Readers with limited English reading ability who need a Chinese translation
Readers impatient with old-fashioned language and period attitudes

Reading tips

Read the preface or publication information first to understand the work's era and the author's background, then enter the main text.
Proceed chapter by chapter, briefly noting the plot direction and technological premises after each chapter for easy review.
Read alongside histories of early science fiction to understand the work's place in the genre's development.
When encountering unfamiliar words, do not stop; read through the paragraph for the gist, then look them up.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book in Chinese or English?

This is an English public-domain eBook released by Project Gutenberg, with the main text in English and no Chinese translation included. Chinese readers need some English reading ability or should use dictionaries and translation tools.

Why do the recommendations emphasize its value in literary history?

Griffith was one of the writers of early science fiction and adventure fiction, and this book preserves ways of imagining and narrative habits from over a century ago. Its value lies more in showing the genre's evolution than in offering a reading experience that suits contemporary tastes.

How should the reading pace be arranged for the electronic edition?

Public-domain eBooks are easy to search and annotate; it is advisable to read in chapters, one or two at a time, and briefly note key points afterward. This keeps continuity and makes it easy to review plot and premises later.

Comments

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About the author

Griffith, George Chetwynd, 1857-1906 Author

George Chetwynd Griffith (1857–1906) was a British author best known for his science fiction and adventure novels. Eight of his works are included here, among them Olga Romanoff, The Angel of the Revolution: A Tale of the Coming Terror, A Honeymoon in Space, The World Peril of 1910, The World Masters, and The Mummy and Miss Nitocris: A Phantasy of the Fourth Dimension. His writing centres on future warfare, technological adventure, and political intrigue, with fast-moving plots and bold imagination that blend emerging technology with apocalyptic crisis and imperial rivalry, bearing the clear stamp of his era. Public information about him is limited, so biographical details are difficult to set out; yet his surviving works show that he held a place in early twentieth-century popular science fiction and had some influence on later speculative and disaster narratives.