# Help me find this Sci-fi/Fantasy short story. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 19, 2010, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-sci-fi-fantasy-short-story/547200 "2010-07-19T08:41:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Aankh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@Aankh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aankh)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-sci-fi-fantasy-short-story/547200/1 "2010-07-19T08:41:02Z")
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! ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-sci-fi-fantasy-short-story/547200/2 "2010-07-19T09:29:59Z")
Precursors to the [Green Lantern Corps,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lensman) prehaps? ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-sci-fi-fantasy-short-story/547200/3 "2010-07-19T09:36:58Z")
TRy Larry Niven’s _For a Foggy Night_. It’s not spot on, but it’s similar. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-sci-fi-fantasy-short-story/547200/4 "2010-07-19T12:35:28Z")
I immediately though of Niven’s _For a Foggy Night_ too. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2010, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-sci-fi-fantasy-short-story/547200/5 "2010-07-19T12:44:16Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Aankh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@Aankh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aankh)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-sci-fi-fantasy-short-story/547200/6 "2010-07-20T03:51:05Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-sci-fi-fantasy-short-story/547200/7 "2010-07-20T04:34:56Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-sci-fi-fantasy-short-story/547200/8 "2010-07-20T12:14:06Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > 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](http://books.google.com/books?id=_52Br8kGtRUC&pg=PA73&lpg=PA73&dq=niven+%22for+a+foggy+night%22&source=bl&ots=rTrbu1nXJG&sig=EF6xE9hPYkPoG7PFPRFiE2DYXHI&hl=en&ei=6pJFTJf8DsSAlAeTsvzsAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=niven%20%22for%20a%20foggy%20night%22&f=false) ---
**Author:** ![Electric\_Warrior](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Electric\_Warrior](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electric_Warrior)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2010, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-find-this-sci-fi-fantasy-short-story/547200/9 "2010-07-20T13:11:10Z")
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?