I read this story in a collection of sci-fi short stories back in the mid-1980's. I can't remember the story title, the author, or even the collection it was in...but I thought the story was excellent. The basic premise of it is:

Scientists open a portal to an alien world and are able to view it on a screen in the laboratory. It looks surprisingly like a normal neighborhood on Earth. They arrive at the idea to use a machine to hit ping pong balls through the portal every so often to see if an alien life form will appear and notice them. After they see that the balls arrive OK, they want to send an animal through the portal before taking the next step of sending an expeditionary force through it. The animal arrives safely, but the door to one of the houses flies open and an alien with hideous teeth runs out and devours the animal. Afterwards, it evidently notices the ping pong balls and the portal and sends a ball back through...the scientists recoil in horror, knowing that they will soon be visited by their worst nightmare.

I'm sure I haven't gotten the details right, but if anyone knows the title of this story or where I could find it, I'd be beholden' to you. I think it was in an annual Nebula award collection.

Many thanks in advance.

Chet

I'll say... Harlan Ellison !
Sounds like a real-life experience for him.

Thanks Nard!!

Two quick questions for you (or anyone else who would like to reply):

Is there a good H. Ellison website to find the title of this story and to find descriptions of his other works?

Also, I like sci-fi short stories along the lines of Mr. Bradbury and Mr. Ellison. Time constraints don't allow me the luxury of being able to read sci-fi novels. What other sci-fi authors run along the same lines as Bradbury and Ellison? My tastes in sci-fi run less into the fantasy realm and more into the "down to Earth"...."nuts and bolts" realm... Easier reads like some of Arthur C. Clark's short stories.

Any suggestions?

Many thanks in advance. I appreciate the wealth of knowledge of you, Mr. Dark, Dandelion, and all the other members of this board.

I don't think Nard was being serious, but there are two good Ellison sites:

http://www.islets.net/islets.html
- this has the most detailed bibliography and hey, it even has some articles on there written by me!

www.harlanellison.com
- this is the official Ellison website, except that (like Ray Bradbury, but more so) Ellison is kind of anti-internet, so he doesn't really have much to do with the site.

I'm not sure whether either of them will give the information you're after, but good luck.

As to the other question, about similar authors. I personally find Theodore Sturgeon and Richard Matheson to have some similar qualities, especially in their short stories - both of these writers are of a similar generation to Bradbury, and first flourished in roughly the same era. Oh, and Jack Finney.

I wouldn't personally consider there to be much similarity between Bradbury and Clarke, but if you like Clarke's short stories you should try Isaac Asimov's.

Of more recent generations of short story writers, I would recommend Scott Bradfield.

- Phil


[This message has been edited by philnic (edited 02-05-2004).]

Try here; they know everything. http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=rec.arts.sf.written&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

Hello Minn,
try reading some stories by Stanislaw Lem; he's not American, but there are some traslations of his works available if you look in the right places. Alternatively, I have translated some of his short stories, and if you ask, you shall recieve.
Cheers, Translator