The Martians v HMS Thunder Child

War of the Worlds pastiche

Britain in 1898.

HMS Thunder Child cruises into action. 

The Martians really came and this is the alternative history of that dreadful event. Join the crew of HMS Thunder Child as she prepares to embark upon her doomed voyage, before her demise and courageous battle with three Martian tripod fighting machines at the River Blackwater in the county of Essex, England, UK.

Captain McIntosh and his brave crew can hardly believe the semaphore messages sent from the shore stations. The news is so uncanny and fantastic that none can accept the stories of Martians falling from space. All hands of HMS Thunder Child must keep a dreadful appointment with destiny as they cruise towards the dire outcome awaiting them.

The War of the Worlds first terrified audiences in book form in 1898, as the first-person narrator tells us the adventures of an unnamed protagonist and his brother as Martians invade Earth. But there were other characters with stories to tell.

C. A. Powell delves into H. G. Wells’ War of the Worlds and offers fans of the original novel a brand new perspective on the invasion of Earth. In The Last Days of Thunder Child, we see this classic through the eyes of the Royal Navy crew members of HMS Thunder Child and the land-based Ministry of Defence. With this pastiche novel, you will have an even greater understanding and appreciation of the original classic. 

Find out what happens and read: The Last Days of Thunder Child By C.A. Powell

The Martians are Here!

Alien invaders lay waste to Victorian Britain! One ship defies the pitiless assault. H.M.S. Thunder Child steams towards her glorious destiny in this 'War of the Worlds' pastiche! The War of the Worlds contains a small section on the Thunder Child battleship that attacks three tripods to save a paddle steamer. This story takes place a few days before the event and leads up to the final dramatic moment. The clever build-up leads to this final battle of ironclad v three Martian tripods. The story moves between the crew of the HMS Thunder Child at sea, and Mister Stanley, the low-grade clerk from the War Office. He is moving across the land to various semaphore stations. He is linked to the ship because he delivered the mission orders before the story starts. If you have read War of the Worlds and enjoyed it, you will like this story too.

For THE LAST DAYS OF THUNDER CHILD - click the widget below:

The Martians were on the rampage all across Queen Victoria's Britain. Nothing man possessed could stop them. But then the huge fighting machines began to slow down and lumber to a halt. One by one, the Martians inside the giant machines began to die. Soon there were just scattered and failing remnants of the once-mighty tripods wandering here and there among the derelict monuments. Even the red weed was dying as Mother Earth began to reclaim her own. The human survivors became emboldened and they emerged from the hiding places intent on fighting back.

For: THE LAST DAYS OF THE FIGHTING MACHINE - click the widget below.

Two War of the Worlds Science Fiction Adaptations.

A second War of the Worlds adaptation in the form of a disease-ridden and battle-damaged Martian fighting machine. 

Read, THE LAST DAYS OF THE FIGHTING MACHINE.

First came, The Last Days of Thunder Child.

Now we have The Last Days of the Fighting Machine.

1. Did you enjoy the dreadful thought of the War of the Worlds Tripod Fighting Machines from Mars?

2. What About the War of the Worlds 1953 Radio Broadcast?

3. Or the Jeff Wayne War of the Worlds Musical?

Imagine it from the cool maths game point of view. The Martians did not make an allowance for a world of warships. Therefore, war and thunder spitting from the ironclad's guns would take the complacent Martians, in their fighting machines, by surprise.

Science Fiction Lovers Indulge This Thought.

Imagine, if you will, how it would have been to be a Victorian sailor from retro British times of 1898. You are on board HMS Thunder Child and the ship is picking up strange semaphore messages from the shore stations. Invaders from Mars are striding about and destroying the entire fabric of our nation. Would you believe such outrages things? The entire ship would be alive with speculation and disbelief. These sailors were destined to see three Martian fighting machines and confront the colossal edifices in battle.

As an impressionable young lad, I always found myself pondering such things.

I would walk about in my dream thinking, “If I was in that story, I would do this or that.” I found myself wishing for all sorts of adventures.

When I read H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds, I remember getting a tremendous lift out of the short excerpt when an ironclad called H.M.S. Thunder Child attacked three Martian tripods in the River Blackwater to save a paddle steamer full of refugees.

Coming Soon - A Second War of the Worlds Pastiche.

Coming soon!

THE LAST DAYS OF THE FIGHTING MACHINE.
By
C. A. Powell

(The Martians are Dying)

A War of the Worlds Pastiche. 

The terrifying Martian apocalypse of Queen Victoria's Britain was in full swing. Then the Martian invasion suddenly broke down. The once competent battle formations of the fighting machines become uncoordinated. Large numbers of tripod machines simply halted. 

Britain is now a nation littered with giant motionless three-legged edifices. Inside most of these machines, is the blight riddled bodies of dead alien beings from Mars. The Martians that survive,  have become dwindling remnants of a mechanised army in disarray.  

One such battered Martian fighting machine wanders into the small remote village of Paglesham Churchend in Essex. The tripod stands like a sentinel against the church tower. 

For the desperate human survivors, it is time for a reckoning. A village policeman, a poacher and other local residents join forces with a group of shipwrecked French sailors. They decide to fight back against the disease-ridden Martians inside their crippled fighting machine. 

All Hell is about to break loose in the remote little English village of Pagelsham Churchend.