September 21: HG Wells (1866-1946)

Born on this date, English writer H. G. Wells. Wells had chronic lung and kidney troubles following a sports injury in his early twenties; he was also a co-founder of the British Diabetic Association (since renamed Diabetes UK) in 1934. His novels, particularly The Island of Doctor Moreau and The Time Machine and The Invisible Man, have fairly obvious references to eugenics and evolution, normality, science, the senses, the mind, and non-standard bodies. But his short fiction is also full of these themes. So go read his classic short story, "The Country of the Blind" (1904). Or "The Remarkable Case of Davidson's Eyes" (1895) or "Under the Knife" (1896) or .... well, three's plenty for starters.