The Machine Stops and Other Stories

A new selection of E. M. Forster's exquisite short stories, now in the beautifully designed Penguin English Library Series

'We created the Machine, to do our will, but we cannot make it do our will now. It has robbed us of the sense of space and of the sense of touch, it has blurred every human relation and narrowed down love to a carnal act, it has paralyzed our bodies and our wills, and now it compels us to worship it.'

Like his much-loved novels, E. M. Forster's short stories are rich in irony and alive with sharp observations on the surprises life holds. Telling tales of violent events, discomforting coincidences, and other disruptive happenings, his sharp and vivid prose has the ability to throw the characters', and reader's, perceptions and beliefs off balance.

Selected to appeal to a new generation of readers around the world, this new selection of short stories in the Penguin English Library series celebrates E. M. Forster's unparalleled skill for storytelling, beginning with his masterful work of science fiction, The Machine Stops.

About the Author

Edward Morgan Forster (1879-1970) was educated at King's College, Cambridge, with whom he had a lifelong connection. He was elected to an Honorary Fellowship in 1946. He wrote six novels - Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905), The Longest Journey (1907), A Room with a View (1908), Howards End (1910), A Passage to India (1924), which won both the Prix Femina Vie Heureuse and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Maurice , written in 1914, was published posthumously in 1971. He also published two volumes of short stories; two collections of essays; a critical work (Aspects of the Novel); The Hill of Devi; two biographies; two books about Alexandria; and the libretto for Britten's opera Billy Budd. He died in 1970. In his obituary The Times called him 'one of the most esteemed English novelists of his time'.