Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>This chapter recounts how the Victorian Trilogy emerges from the chance rediscovery of H. G. Wells’ The Time Machine in the summer of 2006, which rekindles both childhood wonder and adult creative ambition. Reading Wells inspires the writer to imagine how Victorian readers, living amid rapid scientific progress and social upheaval, receive such a vision of time travel, while also confronting those who fear industrial modernity. The chapter describes research into the Victorian era, blending fictional characters with historical figures such as Jack the Ripper and Joseph Merrick, and placing Wells at the heart of the story as both inspiration and protagonist. It reflects on Wells’ originality in transforming earlier dreamlike depictions of time travel into a mechanically and scientifically grounded concept that helps establish science fiction, a genre that soon proliferates in imitations and evolutions. Finally, the chapter traces how these ideas expand into further novels inspired by Wells’ works, culminating in the completion of the Victorian Trilogy, presented as a homage to both Wells and the adventure stories that first spark a love of literature.</jats:p>