Welcome to our series that brings you original content from individuals in the news. We’re calling it “Verbatim” because these posts will let the authors speak for themselves.

H.G. Wells, born on September 21, 1866, was a prolific writer who is best remembered today for his science fiction novels like The Island of Doctor Moreau and The War of the Worlds. He was also, like so many authors of the day, a voluminous letter-writer. Resources for American Literary Study has compiled Wells’s correspondence with Cora Crane, the unconventional common-law wife of writer Stephen Crane. Before she met Crane, Cora had been the madame of a brothel called the Hotel de Dream; after Crane’s untimely death, Cora would try to support herself with a literary career.

Here, H.G. Wells writes to the grieving Cora, excusing himself from attending Stephen Crane’s funeral: