Years ago, someone sent me a link to a short story that walked the line between sci-fi and fantasy. I remember thinking the concept was interesting but sadly, remember very little about it today.
There were lamp-posts in it, and lenses, and a theory about multiple universes/worlds accessible through the lenses. Or something like that. And that’s all I recall. 
Yeah, I’m not feeling too hopeful!
Precursors to the Green Lantern Corps, prehaps?
TRy Larry Niven’s For a Foggy Night. It’s not spot on, but it’s similar.
I immediately though of Niven’s For a Foggy Night too.
Me too. You can see an excerpt of the story if you google “For a Foggy Night” Niven (you get a Google books link to Niven’s collection N-Space as the first response). If that’s the right story, the excerpt should be enough to trigger recognition.
I doubt it was a precursor to anything, Superhal. Seem to remember it being a standalone tale.
Niven’s For a Foggy Night… hmm… it could be. I do know that the story I read was 100% available online, whether legitimately or otherwise, whereas I can’t seem to find anything about Niven’s FaFN on Google. I don’t know if I’m just unobservant but I don’t see any excerpt on the Google Books page AndyL mentions.
Is For a Foggy Night the one where the narrator is talking in a bar with some guy who advises him never to go outside on a foggy night, because that’s when the boundaries between universes becomes porous, and you tend to wander into the next one? IIRC the narrator did anyway, and (eventually) wound up in a world where he made his fortune by patenting the paperclip.
Yes - that’s the one. Here’s the lengthy Google books link N-Space - Larry Niven - Google Books
I’m confused.
If by the time the narrator gets to the bar, he’s already left his own universe, why does the brown-haired man describe living in the narrator’s universe?