The Man Who Could Work Miracles by H.G. Wells Episode #333
H. G. Wells | February 16, 2025-
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The Man Who Could Work Miracles by H.G. Wells Episode #333
H. G. Wells
THE MAN WHO COULD WORK MIRACLES
Episode #333 · Written by H. G. Wells · Narrated by Scott Miller
George McWhirter Fotheringay is a man who enjoys argument more than reflection. A clerk by trade and a skeptic by nature, he prides himself on logic and certainty. During a casual debate in a public house, he discovers something deeply inconvenient. His words, when spoken with intent, can reshape reality itself.
At first, the miracles are small and exhilarating. Objects move, needs are fulfilled instantly, and effort disappears. George learns that the world now obeys him. But language is imperfect, intentions blur, and power responds faster than thought. Each command carries weight, and mistakes grow larger with every success.
When George seeks guidance, his gift attracts ambition as well as admiration. Together, he and his advisor imagine improving society in sweeping strokes. Their confidence rises faster than their caution. What begins as benevolence edges toward catastrophe, revealing how fragile the world becomes when governed by unchecked will.
The story balances humor with mounting dread, showing how ordinary flaws become dangerous when amplified by unlimited authority. Wells does not rely on spectacle alone. He builds tension through dialogue, irony, and the steady collapse of certainty.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
H. G. Wells was a pioneer of speculative fiction and one of the most influential thinkers of his era. Writing at the turn of the twentieth century, he used science fiction as a tool to examine power, ethics, and social responsibility.
Unlike many adventure-driven writers of his time, Wells focused on consequences. His characters are rarely heroes. They are ordinary people confronted with extraordinary change. Through them, Wells explored how progress, when separated from wisdom, can become destructive.
His influence reaches far beyond science fiction. Wells helped define how modern stories explore technology, authority, and human limitation. This story remains a sharp example of his belief that imagination carries responsibility, and that some powers are best left unused.
LISTEN TO THE STORY
Listen to The Man Who Could Work Miracles by H. G. Wells — a vintage science fiction short story where one man’s will reshapes reality in this sharp, witty classic sci-fi tale.
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H. G. WELLS SHORT STORIES
Few writers stand at the true beginning of classic science fiction the way H. G. Wells does.
Before rockets filled magazine covers and robots stalked chrome cities, Wells was already tearing holes in reality. He sent men tumbling into parallel dimensions, opened doors to lost childhood Edens, hurled wandering stars toward Earth, and let ordinary shopkeepers toy with godlike power. His stories feel startlingly modern, yet they carry the sharp Victorian edge of a writer who understood both scientific possibility and human frailty.
On The Lost Sci-Fi Podcast we’ve explored the astonishing breadth of his shorter fiction. In The Star, a rogue celestial body drifts toward Earth, and the quiet calculations of astronomers collide with the terror of a watching world. The Crystal Egg offers a glimpse across space itself, peering toward Mars through an object no one fully understands. The Plattner Story thrusts a chemistry teacher into an inverted universe where left becomes right and life hangs by a thread.
Wells could be playful and unsettling in the same breath. The Man Who Could Work Miracles hands unlimited power to a very limited man—with chaotic results. The Door in the Wall tempts a statesman with a green door that leads to wonder, beauty, and regret. A Moth narrows its focus to a single, maddening presence that chips away at a rational mind.
And then there is the darker current running beneath his work. The Red Room traps us in a chamber where fear itself becomes the antagonist. The Sea Raiders drags something ancient and intelligent from the ocean depths onto the quiet shores of England. Whether gazing at the cosmos or listening for footsteps in a lonely house, Wells never lost sight of the human reaction to the unknown. Explore the stories below and return to the wellspring of vintage science fiction.
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Each episode features carefully selected stories from the Golden Age of science fiction, professionally narrated. Timeless storytelling the way it was meant to be heard.
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