When the Sleeper Wakes

by E M Forster

Published in 1909, this novella shares Wells's gift for extrapolating present anxieties into future nightmares—but Forster focuses on technological dependence rather than political conspiracy. Like the Sleeper, your protagonist discovers that the comfortable world they've accepted as normal is fundamentally fragile, and their awakening forces them to question systems everyone else takes for granted.

by Michael Chabon

This is your surprise pick—it reads like a noir detective novel, not speculative fiction, but it's built on an alternate history premise that slowly reveals how deeply conspiracy runs through an entire society. Chabon uses the mystery-plot structure to do what Wells does with his Sleeper: drop an ordinary protagonist into a world where the rules are different than expected, and let them stumble toward dangerous truths.

by Greg Egan

Where Wells asks 'what if you woke up in a changed world?', Egan asks 'what if the world you're waking up in isn't even physical?' The protagonist here gradually realizes his reality operates by different rules than he assumed, and like the Sleeper, he becomes entangled in high-stakes games played by people with far more information than he has. The paranoia and disorientation you felt reading Wells gets a philosophical upgrade.

by Mauri J. Valtonen

Liu builds a conspiracy that spans decades and involves ordinary people suddenly thrust into extraordinary circumstances they barely understand. Like Wells, he's interested in how individuals become pawns in games played by forces far larger than themselves—but he adds layers of scientific complexity and geopolitical intrigue that make the stakes feel genuinely cosmic rather than merely personal.

by China Miéville

Your protagonist here is trapped in a world with fundamentally alien rules of communication and power—she thinks she understands her surroundings until the ground shifts beneath her understanding. Miéville shares Wells's talent for making the fantastic feel claustrophobic and dangerous, and like the Sleeper, your character discovers that being important to others' plans is rarely a comfortable position.