(At least it will be if I remember correctly that the story was by Harlan Ellison.) This guy goes into a book store where he can read the story of his life. The catch is that once people start reading, they’re trapped because they can’t stop reading and dwelling in aspects of their lives. For example, someone might find out that the very best moment of his life was when he ran the winning touchdown in high school, and his life has been – and will be – going downhill from there.
P.S. The story description reminds me a bit of Brin’s “A Stage of Memory” about a drug that allows perfect recall of past events, and about an actor who gets hooked on it.
IIRC, he is tempted by some entity. He finally decides to read the book. At the end he either reads that he has already lived his best moment and decides he doesn’t really care, or his best moment is yet to come. Or his best moment is reading his best moment and deciding not to become entrapped like everyone else in the store.
I know the story. It was one of the three Fates running the bookstore as I recall. I’m trying and failing to recall the name, but I am almost dead certain it was published in the old Twilight Zone magazine. And I’m not at all certain it was an Ellison piece.
I googled “Ellison” and “Clotho” (one of the Fates) and found a story called “The Cheese Stands Alone” by Ellison which appears to be the right one. See summary here Harlan Ellison Webderland: Book Reviews -
Sorry I couldn’t get here sooner. Definitely Ellison, definitely, “The Cheese Stands Alone,” from “Stalking The Nightmare,” (at least the paperback edition I have–foreword by some guy named Stephen King.)
I remember this one, but not the title. Not particularly nice guy goes into mysterious shop, gets to read the story of the best moment of his life, past or future, discovers it was catching a ball in a little league game when he was eight. Instead of being trapped like the others, he instead finds his inner jerk and chews out the store owner- taunting her that she isn’t even human (in a rather obscene manner), then leaves. I’d give it an seven out of ten, works as a parody or deconstruction of the “mysterious magical shop” trope.
In the version I remember it wasn’t the moments of the readers’ lives, but the one subject that they most wanted to know about. One guy there was reading a list of all the books that were in the Library of Alexandra. In defiance of the “Shop of Mysteries” trope, the story ends with the protagonist simply refusing to take the bait.
Another Ellison “Shop of Mysteries” story (he does seem to love that trope) has a newly married couple chancing upon one of those shops–they even joke about it–and buy an actual genie in a lamp, who proceeds to make their lives a living hell. The title…wait for it…“Djinn, No Chaser.”
