Other Worlds Than These

She presses his hand between hers. Almost sadly she says, “You aren’t home, Chris.”

“What?”

He hears the sound of the front door opening. Footsteps in the hallway.

“You aren’t home,” she says.

Confusion seizes him. He thinks of all that has passed between them this evening.

“Elizabeth?” calls a deep voice from the living room.

“In here, darling. I have company!”

“Oh? Who?” A man enters the bedroom, halts, grins. He is clean-shaven and dressed in the clothes Cameron had worn on Tuesday; otherwise they could be twins. “Hey, hello!” he says warmly, extending his hand.

Elizabeth says, “He comes from a place that must be very much like this one. He’s been here since five o’clock, and we were just going out for dinner. Have you been having an interesting time?”

“Very,” the other Cameron says. “I’ll tell you all about it later. Go on, don’t let me keep you.”

“You could join us for dinner,” Cameron suggests helplessly.

“That’s all right. I’ve just eaten. Breast of passenger pigeon—they aren’t extinct everywhere. I wish I could have brought some home for the freezer. So you two go and enjoy. I’ll see you later. Both of you, I hope. Will you be staying with us? We’ve got notes to compare, you and I.”

16.

He rises just before dawn, in a marvellous foggy stillness. The Camerons have been wonderfully hospitable, but he must be moving along. He scrawls a thank-you note and slips it under their bedroom door. Let’s get together again someday. Somewhere. Somehow. They wanted him as a house guest for a week or two, but no, he feels like a bit of an intruder here, and anyway the universe is waiting for him. He has to go. The journey, not the arrival, matters, for what else is there but trips? Departing is unexpectedly painful, but he knows the mood will pass. He closes his eyes. He breaks his moorings. He gives himself up to his sublime restlessness. Onward. Onward. Goodbye, Elizabeth. Goodbye, Chris. I’ll see you both again. Onward.

FOR FURTHER READING COMPILED BY ROSS E. LOCKHART

What follows is a selected bibliography of portal fantasies and parallel universe fiction. Some imagine multiverses; others, worlds just slightly shifted from our own in space and time. Some reveal elfin doorways to strange realities; others offer gateways to grandiose planetary romance; still others posit entire universes held within the hearts of atoms. Titles notable for their high literary value are marked with an asterisk. To paraphrase e. e. cummings: there’s one hell of a universe next door… let’s go!

To learn more about the stories in Other Worlds Than These, visit the anthology’s website at johnjosephadams.com/other-worlds-than-these.

Abbott, Edwin A.

—Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions *

Alexander, Lloyd

—The First Two Lives of Lukas Kasha

Allston, Aaron

—Doc Sidhe

—Sidhe Devil

Anderson, Pohl

—Operation Chaos

Anthony, Piers

—Split Infinity (et seq.)

Applegate, K. A.

—Search for Senna (et seq.)

Asimov, Isaac

—The Gods Themselves *

Bach, Richard

—One

Ball, Margaret

—No Earthly Sunne

Barker, Clive

—Imajica *

—Weaveworld

Barron, Natania

—Pilgrim of the Sky

Baum, L. Frank

—The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (et seq.)

Baxter, Stephen

—Raft

Brown, Frederic

—What Mad Universe

Burroughs, Edgar Rice

—A Princess of Mars (et seq.)

—Pirates of Venus (et seq.)

Carroll, Lewis

—Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

—Through the Looking Glass

Cavendish, Margaret

—The Blazing World

Coney, Michael

—Charisma

Crumley, Andrew

—Mobius Dick

Dean, Pamela

—The Secret Country (et seq.)

DeChancie, John

—Castle Perilous (et seq.)

Dick, Philip K.

—The Man in the High Castle *

Donaldson, Stephen R.

—The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (series)

—Mordant’s Need (series)

Dunsany, Lord

—The King of Elfland’s Daughter *

Egan, Greg

—Diaspora

Ende, Michael

—The Neverending Story

Farmer, Philip Jose

—Maker of Universes (et seq.)

Farren, Nick

—Necrom

Feist, Raymond E.

—The Riftwar Saga (series)

Fforde, Jasper

—The Eyre Affair (et seq.)

Foster, Alan Dean

—Spellsinger (et seq.)

—Parallelities

Friesner, Esther

—Elf Defense (et seq.)

Frohock, Teresa

—Miserere: An Autumn Tale

Gaiman, Neil

—Coraline

—Neverwhere *

Gerrold, David

—The Man Who Folded Himself*

Gould, Steven

—Wildside

Grossman, Lev

—The Magicians (et seq.)

Hambly, Barbara

—The Silent Tower (et seq.)

—The Time of the Dark (et seq.)

Heinlein, Robert A.

—The Number of the Beast *

—Glory Road

Hoffman, Mary

—Stravaganza: City of Masks (et seq.)

Hogan, James P.

—Paths to Otherwhere

Holdstock, Robert

—Mythago Wood *

Howard, Robert E.

—Almuric

Jones, Diana Wynne

—Charmed Life (et seq.)

—Deep Secret (et seq.)

—Dark Lord of Derkholm (et seq.)

Jones, Raymond F.

—Renaissance (AKA Man of Two Worlds)

Juster, Norton

—The Phantom Tollbooth

Kay, Elizabeth

—The Divide (et seq.)

Kay, Guy Gavriel

—The Fionavar Tapestry (series)

Kendrick, Mark Ian

—The Rylerran Gateway