"The Queer Story of Brownlow's Newspaper" is a short story by H. G. Wells which was first published in the February 1932 issue of the Ladies' Home Journal.[1]
Plot summary
The story takes place on 10 November 1931 and opens with the protagonist, Brownlow, accidentally being delivered a newspaper dated 10 November 1971. The story is mainly a description of the contents of the newspaper, which features color photography throughout, with Wells taking the opportunity to issue some prophecies of what he thought 1971 might hold. His successful predictions include lower birth rates, an emphasis on psychological motivation in fiction, geothermal energy, and wider coverage of scientific news, while others include simplified spelling of English, a 13-month reformed calendar, the extinction of gorillas, and hints at some form of world government.
^A note on page 449 of the 2005 Penguin Classics paperback edition of The Shape of Things to Come suggests that the first publication of "Brownlow's Newspaper" was in the London Evening Standard, 31 October 1931.
