The Space Machine, subtitled A Scientific Romance, is a science fiction novel written by English writer Christopher Priest. First published in 1976, it follows the travels of protagonists Edward Turnbull and Amelia Fitzgibbon. The pair are dropped on the surface of Mars (due to interference by Turnbull) prior to the Martian invasion of Earth that forms the storyline of H. G. Wells' 1898 novel The War of the Worlds. Edward and Amelia, who works for the inventor Sir William Reynolds, have used Reynolds's space and time machine to jump into the future at the onset of the Mars invasion. They find that, on Mars, humans have been turned into Martian slaves.