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FIRST PUBLICATION

•   Fantastic Universe, Jan 1954

HISTORY:

   The manuscript for "The Cuckoo Clock" reached the SMLA on Aug 29, 1952, the last of six short stories PKD mailed to the Agency in August. In fact, the last story he submitted for a month as in September, 1952 he either did no writing or was working on something else as the records at the SMLA show no other manuscripts between "Beyond The Door" and "Second Variety" in early October. Indeed, September was an idle month for PKD throughout his life as the calendar of submissions to the SMLA shows.

    Perhaps during this first September hiatus PKD was still working on the novel VOICES IN THE STREET. Or, having seen three of his short stories published by September, 1952 ("Beyond Lies The Wub," "The Gun" and "The Skull") he was merely taking a break.

    Critic Gregg Rickman says that the literary agency "made more than one attempt to break their author through into the non-sf market. "The Cuckoo Clock" was submitted to Esquire and Today’s Woman, among others, before winding up at Fantastic Universe as "Beyond The Door." {TTHC 263}

    Other than its original appearance in Fantastic Universe, "Beyond The Door" was not available in English until the publication of the second volume of THE COLLECTED STORIES in 1987. The story did, however, appear in foreign-language collections and gave its name, in French, to the 1988 Denoel collection DERRIERE LA PORTE.

    For the first time infidelity enters into one of PKD’s stories and a cheap cuckoo clock has a mind of its own. Another fantasy tale.

    "Beyond The Door" rates ô ô

Other Magazine and Anthology Appearances

1987		THE COLLECTED STORIES OF PHILIP K. DICK, Vol.2

NOTES:

Collector’s Notes

Rudy’s Books: "Beyond the Door" in Fantastic Universe, 1954 (1^st). G-VG. $5.00

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