"Nothing" by Donald A. Wollheim is a science fiction story that grapples with big ideas about what's real and not real, using a collapsed bombed-out building as its stage. The story is about a young man and a professor stuck in a cellar, playing with suspense and ideas about reality through the talk between the two characters. The professor suggests trying to escape by imagining their bodies as "nothing," like just energy, allowing them to move through the solid rubble. The young man, through guided thought, manages to escape, experiencing a strange trip into what matter is, but the professor is left behind. Even though the young man makes it out and tries to help, rescuers later find the old man has died. The story makes you think about what it means to exist and how much we can truly understand.
Nothing
By Donald A. Wollheim
Trapped after a bombing, a young man must embrace a mind-bending theory of "nothingness" to escape a collapsed cellar, leaving him to question the very fabric of existence and his ability to alter it.
Summary
About the AuthorDonald Allen Wollheim was an American science fiction editor, publisher, writer, and fan. As an author, he published under his own name as well as under pseudonyms, including David Grinnell, Martin Pearson, and Darrell G. Raynor. A founding member of the Futurians, he was a leading influence on science fiction development and fandom in the 20th-century United States. Ursula K. Le Guin called Wollheim "the tough, reliable editor of Ace Books, in the Late Pulpalignean Era, 1966 and '67", which is when he published her first two novels in Ace Double editions.
Donald Allen Wollheim was an American science fiction editor, publisher, writer, and fan. As an author, he published under his own name as well as under pseudonyms, including David Grinnell, Martin Pearson, and Darrell G. Raynor. A founding member of the Futurians, he was a leading influence on science fiction development and fandom in the 20th-century United States. Ursula K. Le Guin called Wollheim "the tough, reliable editor of Ace Books, in the Late Pulpalignean Era, 1966 and '67", which is when he published her first two novels in Ace Double editions.
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