All the stories in this book were written before the First World War and were originally published in two volumes. The Celestial Omnibus in 1911 and the Eternal Moment I 1928. Although they are fantasies, and more lighthearted than the major novels like A Passage to India and Howards End, behind their amusing comedy are glimpses of profound themes. The Machine Stops is described by the author as a reaction to one of the earlier heavens of H. G. Wells’. Many of the stories express an instinctive belief in the force of nature.