"Radiant Doors" is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imagination, imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, Paral ...

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the oldest t ...

by American writer

Michael Swanwick Michael Swanwick (born 18 November 1950) is an American fantasy and science fiction author who began publishing in the early 1980s. Writing career Swanwick's fiction writing began with short stories, starting in 1980 when he published "Ginungaga ...

, published in 1998. It was the winner of the 1999 Asimov's Reader Poll, and was nominated for the 1999

Hugo Award for Best Short Story The Hugo Award for Best Short Story is one of the Hugo Awards given each year for science fiction or fantasy stories published or translated into English during the previous calendar year. The short story award is available for works of fiction of ...

as well as the 2000

Nebula Award for Best Short Story The Nebula Award for Best Short Story is a literary award assigned each year by Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA) for science fiction or fantasy short stories. A work of fiction is defined by the organization as a short sto ...

.The LOCUS Index to SF Awards
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Plot summary

The story follows Virginia, a woman who works for an aid organization helping millions of refugees from a future Earth. The refugees have traveled to the present through time portals called "radiant doors," and are fleeing the horrors of the future leaders of Earth - the Owners. One of the refugees gives Virginia a small, humming, multi-colored device from the future, which she does not turn over to the government. Eventually several people come looking for the device and its true purpose is revealed.

References

External links

* 1998 short stories Science fiction short stories Short stories by Michael Swanwick Works originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction {{1990s-sf-story-stub