Fiction_L Archives Short story "barn at Verna" Dates: 6/11/03,10:42 AM  through  6/27/03,10:01 AM  (9 postings) Search for: Select one or more indexes to search: 2011-current     2009-2010     2004-2008    1995-2003    (Matches from each index will be displayed separately in the results page.) Return to June 2003 thread menu   |   Fiction_L Archives Menu

FROM: Carolyn Scheer <[removed]@mail.connect.more.net>
REC'D: 6/11/03, 10:42 AM

I have a patron looking for a short story described as follows:

Author unknown.
Title is "The barn at Verna" or "A trip to Verna."

Patron's mother read this story in a high school literature anthology in the
early 1920s, story may be older. It is a "mysterious" story. Narrator
(probably male) receives an invitation from an unknown source to go to a
barn in Verna. He goes there, enters the barn, and waits with other people
for something to happen. He decides to leave but as he is going out the way
he came in, the other door opens and the people go out the door--he catches
a glimpse of paradise outside as the door closes in front of him.

We went through Short Story Index without success. Patron is sure that
"Verna" was in the title as that was her mother's name.

Carolyn Scheer
Reference Librarian
Scenic Regional Library
308 Hawthorne Drive
Union, MO 63084

FROM: "Marsha Valance" <[removed]@mpl.org>
REC'D: 6/11/03, 10:53 AM

This is a short story by Jack Finney, collected in THE THIRD LEVEL. It's actual title is "Of Missing Persons". It was filmed as an episode of the original "Twilight Zone". The planet to which they travel is Verna.

Marsha Valance
Regional Librarian
Wisconsin Regional Library f/t Blind & Physically Handicapped
813 West Wells St.
Milwaukee, WI 53233
1.800.242.8822 [in-state]
<[removed]@mpl.org>

>>> [removed]@mail.connect.more.net 06/11/03 10:47PM >>>
I have a patron looking for a short story described as follows:

Author unknown.
Title is "The barn at Verna" or "A trip to Verna."

Patron's mother read this story in a high school literature anthology in the
early 1920s, story may be older. It is a "mysterious" story. Narrator
(probably male) receives an invitation from an unknown source to go to a
barn in Verna. He goes there, enters the barn, and waits with other people
for something to happen. He decides to leave but as he is going out the way
he came in, the other door opens and the people go out the door--he catches
a glimpse of paradise outside as the door closes in front of him.

We went through Short Story Index without success. Patron is sure that
"Verna" was in the title as that was her mother's name.

Carolyn Scheer
Reference Librarian
Scenic Regional Library
308 Hawthorne Drive
Union, MO 63084

FROM: "Waznis, Betty" <[removed]@sdcounty.ca.gov>
REC'D: 6/11/03, 1:06 PM

This is scary. I was thinking about this story this morning driving to work,
trying to remember the title.

However, I recall it as more of a science fiction story. A man, tired of
his life, wanders in to a little travel agency looking for a vacation. The
"travel agent" describes to him the perfect place, a place that will
guarantee his happiness. But it will cost everything he has and once he goes
there, he can never come back. The man thinks about his useless life, and
decides to go.

He travels to the barn, meets others there - there is an African-American
family also. They just sit in the barn waiting for their "departure". The
man starts to feel that he has been cheated and gets up to leave. Just as he
leaves, the other side of the barn door opens , he glimpses the paradise
that the other travelers are going to enter, but then it vanishes. He can't
get back in, and when he goes back to the travel agency, it has disappeared
also.

Betty Waznis
San Diego County Library

Subject: Short story "barn at Verna"
From: "Carolyn Scheer" <[removed]@mail.connect.more.net>
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2003 22:47:33 -0500

I have a patron looking for a short story described as follows:

Author unknown.
Title is "The barn at Verna" or "A trip to Verna."

Patron's mother read this story in a high school literature anthology in the
early 1920s, story may be older. It is a "mysterious" story. Narrator
(probably male) receives an invitation from an unknown source to go to a
barn in Verna. He goes there, enters the barn, and waits with other people
for something to happen. He decides to leave but as he is going out the way
he came in, the other door opens and the people go out the door--he catches
a glimpse of paradise outside as the door closes in front of him.

We went through Short Story Index without success. Patron is sure that
"Verna" was in the title as that was her mother's name.

Carolyn Scheer
Reference Librarian
Scenic Regional Library
308 Hawthorne Drive
Union, MO 63084

----------------------------------------------------------------------
End of Fiction_L Digest

FROM: [removed]@juno.com
REC'D: 6/13/03, 11:21 AM

(Marsha Valance wrote:)

>This is a short story by Jack Finney, collected in THE THIRD LEVEL.
>It's actual
> title is "Of Missing Persons". It was filmed as an episode of the
> original "Twilight Zone". The planet to which they travel is Verna.

It also appears in Finney's 1986 collection "About Time : 12 short
stories." The acknowledgements at the beginning of "About Time" state
that it was first published in "The Third Level" and copyrighted in 1957.
The patron's recollection of seeing it in the 1920's is a little spooky, considering that Finney is best known for a novel about time travel from the modern day back to the 1800's.

Bradley A. Scott
Northern Michigan University

________________________________________________________________
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FROM: Dennis Lien <[removed]@tc.umn.edu>
REC'D: 6/13/03, 11:31 AM

At 04:17 PM 6/13/03 GMT, you wrote:
>
>(Marsha Valance wrote:)
>
>>This is a short story by Jack Finney, collected in THE THIRD LEVEL.
>>It's actual
>> title is "Of Missing Persons". It was filmed as an episode of the
>> original "Twilight Zone". The planet to which they travel is Verna.
>
>It also appears in Finney's 1986 collection "About Time : 12 short
>stories." The acknowledgements at the beginning of "About Time" state
>that it was first published in "The Third Level" and copyrighted in 1957.
<snip>

Which adds to the evidence that acknowledgements of original publication
in story collections are getting sloppier and sloppier, since "Of Missing
Persons" was *first* published in the March 1955 issue of GOOD HOUSEKEEPING
magazine; its appearance in THE THIRD LEVEL was just its first appearance
in a Finney book. (But not even its first in book form generally, as it
had been anthologized already in the 1956 edition of SF: THE YEAR'S
GREATEST SF AND FANTASY, ed. Judith Merrill.)

Dennis Lien / U of Minnesota Libraries // [removed]@tc.umn.edu

FROM: Viccy Kemp <[removed]@cityofcarrollton.com>
REC'D: 6/13/03, 11:37 AM

Yes, Dennis, I want to applaud your stand for correct attributions. I think
it just goes along with all the other rules that no one wants to pay
attention to any more. I'm all for making it easy for patrons to find
things, but please, let's make sure credit is paid where credit is due.
Viccy Kemp
The opinions are my own; the library wouldn't want 'em!

-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis Lien [[removed]@tc.umn.edu]
Sent: Friday, June 13, 2003 11:27 AM
To: Fiction_L
Subject: Re: Short story "barn at Verna"

At 04:17 PM 6/13/03 GMT, you wrote:
>
>(Marsha Valance wrote:)
>
>>This is a short story by Jack Finney, collected in THE THIRD LEVEL.
>>It's actual
>> title is "Of Missing Persons". It was filmed as an episode of the
>> original "Twilight Zone". The planet to which they travel is Verna.
>
>It also appears in Finney's 1986 collection "About Time : 12 short
>stories." The acknowledgements at the beginning of "About Time" state
>that it was first published in "The Third Level" and copyrighted in 1957.
<snip>

Which adds to the evidence that acknowledgements of original publication
in story collections are getting sloppier and sloppier, since "Of Missing
Persons" was *first* published in the March 1955 issue of GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

magazine; its appearance in THE THIRD LEVEL was just its first appearance
in a Finney book. (But not even its first in book form generally, as it
had been anthologized already in the 1956 edition of SF: THE YEAR'S
GREATEST SF AND FANTASY, ed. Judith Merrill.)

Dennis Lien / U of Minnesota Libraries // [removed]@tc.umn.edu

FROM: [removed]@juno.com
REC'D: 6/14/03, 5:09 PM

(Dennis Lien wrote:)

>"Of >Missing Persons" was *first* published in the March 1955 issue of GOOD
> HOUSEKEEPING magazine; its appearance in THE THIRD LEVEL was just its >first appearance in a Finney book. (But not even its first in book >form generally, as it had been anthologized already in the 1956 >edition of SF: THE YEAR'S GREATEST SF AND FANTASY, ed. Judith Merrill.)
<snip>

Interesting. I doublechecked the acknowledgement from "About Time", and it indeed says, verbatim:

'"The Third Level," "Such Interesting Neighbors", "Of Missing Persons," "I'm Scared", and "Second Chance" were originally published in The Third Level, Copyright 1957 by Jack Finney, copyright renewed 1976 by Jack Finney.'

I can't get to NMU's 1955 volume of "Good Housekeeping" immediately, since it's in remote storage, but I note that Reader's Guide Retrospective cites "Of Missing Persons" as being on pp. 50-51 of the March 1955 issue. Only two pages for a story that occupies pages 75-93 in "About Time"? I realize that magazine pages are larger and frequently use smaller type than books, but I also wonder if Mr. Finney fleshed out the story when it was republished in book form, or undid editorial changes that the magazine had required, and the "originally published" date and 1957 copyright date in the acknowledgement refer to the revised version. Of course one could argue in any case that, ethically and perhaps legally, Finney should have recognized prior publication in a different form.

Of course, we're wandering far afield from the original query.

Bradley A. Scott
Northern Michigan University

________________________________________________________________
The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand!
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FROM: [removed]@juno.com
REC'D: 6/17/03, 1:58 PM

In case anyone's still interested:

I checked NMU's copy of the March 1955 GH this morning and found that the story, which began on pp. 50-51, was actually jumped to several later pages in the magazine (pp. 144-150). I didn't compare the text word for word, but it appears to be substantially the same story as was published in book form later on.

Bradley A. Scott
Northern Michigan University

________________________________________________________________
The best thing to hit the internet in years - Juno SpeedBand!
Surf the web up to FIVE TIMES FASTER!
Only $14.95/ month - visit www.juno.com to sign up today!

FROM: Carolyn Scheer <[removed]@mail.connect.more.net>
REC'D: 6/27/03, 10:01 AM

Sorry to be so late in responding to all the great information on this
question, but we had to wait for an interlibrary loan copy to verify that we
had the correct story. The 1956 Jack Finney story "Of missing persons" is
indeed the answer. Patron thinks her mother may have been confused about
when and where she read the story originally, but enough details match that
this has to be the right one. My patron is thrilled and thanks you all
profusely--she had been looking for this story for 20 years.

>Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2003 22:47:33 -0500
>To: [removed]@maillist.webrary.org
>From: Carolyn Scheer <[removed]@mail.connect.more.net>
>Subject: Short story "barn at Verna"
>
>I have a patron looking for a short story described as follows:
>
>Author unknown.
>Title is "The barn at Verna" or "A trip to Verna."
>
>Patron's mother read this story in a high school literature anthology in
the early 1920s, story may be older. It is a "mysterious" story. Narrator
(probably male) receives an invitation from an unknown source to go to a
barn in Verna. He goes there, enters the barn, and waits with other people
for something to happen. He decides to leave but as he is going out the way
he came in, the other door opens and the people go out the door--he catches
a glimpse of paradise outside as the door closes in front of him.
>
>We went through Short Story Index without success. Patron is sure that
"Verna" was in the title as that was her mother's name.
>
>
Carolyn Scheer
Reference Librarian
Scenic Regional Library
308 Hawthorne Drive
Union, MO 63084

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