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fear of the unknown
A curated path through fragments connected by a shared motif, atmosphere, or recurring literary concern.
2026-04-01
“In a moment I was clutched by several hands, and there was no mistaking that they were trying to haul me back. I struck another light, and waved it in their dazzled faces. You can scarce imagine how nauseatingly inhuman they looked—those pale, chinless faces ...
2026-03-29
My wife stood in the light of the doorway, and watched me until I jumped up into the dog cart. Then abruptly she turned and went in, leaving my cousins side by side wishing me good hap. I was a little depressed at first with the contagion of my wife’s fears, b...
2026-03-18
Are you not thinking of getting back to the surface of our beautiful earth?" This was said more as a feeler than with any hope of success. "Go back, nephew," cried my uncle in a tone of alarm, "you are not surely thinking of anything so absurd or cowardly.
2026-03-04
We moved to explore the house, all keeping together in case of attack; for we knew we had a strong and wily enemy to deal with, and as yet we did not know whether the Count might not be in the house. In the dining-room, which lay at the back of the hall, we fo...
2026-01-05
What would become of us?" "Don't be alarmed at the heat, my boy." "How so?" "Neither you nor anybody else know anything about the real state of the earth's interior. All modern experiments tend to explode the older theories.
2026-01-03
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2026-01-03
They were huge round bodies—or, rather, heads—about four feet in diameter, each body having in front of it a face. This face had no nostrils—indeed, the Martians do not seem to have had any sense of smell, but it had a pair of very large dark-coloured eyes, an...
2026-01-03
Just then a bubbling began at the back of this strange thing (which was evidently propelled by a screw), and it began to move. We had only just time to seize hold of the upper part, which rose about seven feet out of the water, and happily its speed was not gr...
2025-11-20
But, looking, I presently saw something stirring within the shadow: greyish billowy movements, one above another, and then two luminous disks—like eyes. Then something resembling a little grey snake, about the thickness of a walking stick, coiled up out of the...