Read the text about science fiction, and choose the correct answer a, b or c. many people think that science fiction really began as a style of literature with mary shelley’s frankenstein, which appeared in the early 19th century. two other great writers helped to shape the genre later in the century. the french author jules verne was a very important figure, and wrote many novels, which many people still read today. well-known titles include a journey to the centre of the earth and from the earth to the moon. he wrote about things which didn’t exist in his time – space travel, submarines, and aeroplanes. they were all ‘future’ ideas. the same is true of the other great 19th century writer – englishman h g wells. probably the most famous of his novels is the war of the worlds, where aliens attack earth with very sophisticated weapons – it’s still so popular and relevant today that lots of films are made about it – the latest in 2005. alien encounters are a common theme in science fiction novels, with many books set on different planets, or in a different time. some authors write only about ‘science fact’ – this is known as hard science fiction. the authors write in detail about areas of physics and chemistry. many of them have made very accurate predictions about future technology. even something like star trek is well known for getting things right – when it started in the 1960s, doctors didn’t use scanners to diagnose illnesses, and mobile phones didn’t exist. and yet the characters used very similar objects – and at the time people thought they were just fiction – but now we use them all the time. space travel … in the 19th century.