Black smoke (The War of the Worlds) Black smoke (The War of the Worlds) The black smoke, or black powder, is a fictitious poisonous gas in H. G. Wells' 1898 science fiction novel "The War of the Worlds", used by the Martians to eliminate groups of humans, especially artillery crews, and conveyed by shells fired from a gun-like ""black tube"" carried by the Tripods' whip-like tentacles. Any animal inhaling this deadly smoke is killed almost instantly, but the smoke becomes harmless on contact with water. The Martians would dispel it after each use with jets of steam, leaving only a residual, "cindery" black powder, which reminds the
The Worlds of Shadow The Worlds of Shadow The Worlds of Shadow is a fantasy novel trilogy by Lawrence Watt-Evans. There are three worlds in the story. There is a fantasy world where magic works and the planet is literally the centre of the universe, a science fiction world containing "faster than light" travel and blaster technology and finally the real world set in the present day. This allows the story to combine elements of science fiction and fantasy. Pel's world is in the midst of a war between two other worlds which is now spilling into his own world, but in each of