The Doorway

by Evelyn E. Smith

"It is my theory," Professor Falabella said, helping himself to a cookie, "that no one ever really makes a decision. What really happens is that whenever alternative courses of action are called for, the individuality splits up and continues on two or more divergent planes, very much like the parthenogenesis of a unicellular animal. Since most decisions are hardly as momentous as the individual imagines," Professor Falabella continued, "and since the imagination of the average individual is very limited, many of these different planes--or, as they are colloquially known, space-time continuums -- may exist in close, even tangential relationship."

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction, Fiction

24 pages, Hardcover

First published March 20, 2010

About the author

Evelyn E. Smith was an American author of Science Fiction. During the 1950s, her works appeared regularly in magazines such as Galaxy and Fantastic Universe. In the 1980s, she wrote a number of novels featuring the character Miss Melville, a middle-aged assassin.

She also wrote as Delphine C. Lyons and Christopher Grimm.

Reviews

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining futuristic listening 🎶🔰

Lucy is entertaining a group listening 🎶 to the professor except for her husband Bill. Bill does not believe the professor but passes through the doorway and comes back to a different wife Gloria. A cut quick free read that I would recommend to 👍 readers looking for a quick read. 2023 😀👒🏡

[Perry Whitford · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mean and disgruntled husband who wishes he had married someone else agrees, in a spirit of contemptuous skepticism, to act as subject in an experiment by a professor who claims to have discovered how to activate doorways into alternate dimensions.

Very short but humorous short story, which first appeared in Fantastic Universe magazine back in 1955.

[Katrina McCollough · Rating 4 out of 5]

short and sweet

https://gutenberg.org/files/29138/291...

[N. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Never heard of Evelyn E. Smith. But I like his or her sense of humor.

The copyright warning for this gutenburg copy of the story is longer than the story epub itself.

[Vincent · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really more of an extended joke or gimmick than a story. This is a precursor to Sliding Doors et al.

[Leah Coffin · Rating 3 out of 5]

One suspects that the problem lies not in the choice of wife, but rather with the husband.

[Tony Ciak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice scifi short story.

[Anne Patkau · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wishing he'd married another, Bill steps voluntarily through his study doorway, and ... Ends up in the air.

[Naomi · Rating 2 out of 5]

Interesting concept, but very amateurish writing.

[Jon Cronshaw · Rating 2 out of 5]

Listen to my review on episode 008 the Short Science Fiction Review podcast.