On Feb 29, 8:07=A0pm, Jim <FakeAddr...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> I am looking for either short stories or novels in which the central
> theme is that our universe is an artifical creation of some outside
> intelligence. I know that in years past I have read at least two short
> stories employing this idea but can't recall authors or titles.
Phiip Jose Farmer's "World of Tiers" series has already been
mentioned. Here are a couple more suggestions. SPOILERS
Sam Merwin, Jr., "Star Tracks", Astounding Science Fiction, March,
1952. Short story. The earth is found to be enclosed in a kind of
planetarium several million miles in radius. This is discovered when
astronomers in a space observatory are able to see the tracks on which
the stars move: "But we have found this out--only Earth is real as we
know it, only Earth and perhaps the Sun. It is a cosmic jest. Our
atmosphere has hid the truth from us. The other planets are mere disks
or marbles--of that we aren't yet certain. And the stars, whatever
they are, move on tracks on the inner side of a dark barrier that
encloses us."
Steven Brust, _To Reign in Hell_, 1984. Novel. Maybe not exactly what
you're looking for, as it is told from the point of view of the beings
who created our universe, and is mostly about events leading up to the
Creation.
Of course the Book of Genesis fits your description, but is not a
short story or a novel.
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