Off on a Comet! (originally Hector Servadac, 1877) is one of Jules Verne’s most inventive and unusual novels. When a comet grazes the Earth’s surface near Algeria, it carries away a small group of people — including the French officer Hector Servadac — on a two-year journey through the solar system, past Venus, Mercury, and into the outer reaches of the system, before eventually returning to Earth. Verne uses the premise to explore both astronomical science and the comedy of a mixed group of Europeans forced to co-exist in extraordinary isolation.
The novel blends hard astronomical data with Verne’s characteristic sense of wonder and adventure, and it stands as one of his most imaginative speculations about humanity in space. Download the free EPUB to take one of science fiction’s strangest and most delightful journeys.