E. M. Forster

E. M. Forster (1879–1970), one of the great English novelists, wrote comparatively little science fiction, but ‘The Machine Stops’ (1909) is a masterpiece: a chillingly prescient dystopia of humans living isolated underground, their every need met by a vast Machine they come to worship, communicating only through screens. Written partly in answer to Wells, it anticipates the internet age with uncanny accuracy.