The First Men In The Moon

First Men in the Moon was the last of the great run of genre-defining scientific romances that Wells wrote in the first years of his career, it is also the only novel he wrote that is not set upon the Earth. Using a fanciful anti-gravity device known as Cavorite, two late-Victorian adventurers find themselves hurtling through space to the Moon. There, in caves below the surface, they discover a race of advanced insectoid aliens known as the Selenites. Selenite society is peaceful but strictly controlled, with individuals bred to fill very specific social and economic roles. It's a frightening vision of a society that comes close to being a hive mind (and which clearly influenced hive mind societies in later science fictions, such as Frank Herbert's Hellstrom's Hive). Why it's on the list: First Men in the Moon was one of the most significant works in the history of science fiction; in one sense it was the last of the utopian/dystopian visions of the Moon, in another it was the beginning of the more serious explorations of the Moon that would mark 20th century science fiction. The novel's influence continues up to the present day.