Written in 1871, 'The Coming Race' is the story of the narrator's accidental discovery of a subterranean civilization given power by their ability to mould the universal etheric substance they call VRIL. As in Wells' 'The Time Machine', the alternative civilization is used, in part, to comment on the ways of the world the author knew. But what were the realities of that world, and how much did he really know... VRIL-YA!