The Worlds of Joe Shannon

In Short

Frank M. Robinson’s science fiction story follows Joe Shannon, a brilliant electronics genius who invents the Paradise booth, a device that allows anyone to visualize an ideal world and teleport there for twenty-five cents. As restless townspeople—including the town drunk and a strict schoolteacher—quietly use the machines and vanish into the universe, Fremont turns into an abandoned ghost town. When Joe's wife, Marge, leaves as well, Joe destroys his business contracts and uses the final booth to search for her, leaving an old storyteller to inherit the empty world. The story endures through its poignant exploration of human escapism and loneliness.

The Story

The narrative opens with an old, wandering storyteller recounting the events in Fremont to a stranger over a beer. He recalls a dinner at the home of Joe Shannon, a thin, absent-minded genius working at Stellar Electric, and his talented cook wife, Marge. While sitting in the living room, Joe laments that people are inherently unhappy because they do not fit into the world, suggesting they might belong on a different world altogether. Motivated by this idea, Joe builds a coin-operated Paradise booth in his basement with his assistant, Wally Claus. The booth contains a television-like screen and a special cap; a user drops a quarter, puts on the cap, visualizes a desired world, and disappears.

Joe installs three booths on town street corners as an experiment. For weeks, they gather dust until Barney Muhlenberg, the local drunk born fifty years too late, vanishes into the machine. Soon after, Miss Alice Markey, an aging and romantic history teacher, resigns and uses the booth to find a world filled with Rudolph Valentino figures. Shortly thereafter, Wally Claus disappears after a stressful argument with his nagging wife and nine children. While Joe remains determined to take his invention national to rid the world of neurotics, the old narrator begs him to reconsider. Joe ignores the warning and travels to New York to secure financial backing, leaving Marge behind.

While Joe is away, the local dam bursts. Overwhelmed by secret yearnings and everyday miseries, the remaining townspeople—including all the children and the patrons of Schultz's bar—gradually file into the booths and teleport to custom-made universes. When Joe returns triumphant from New York, he finds Fremont completely dark and abandoned. He discovers a tear-stained note from Marge on the kitchen table explaining that she married a man, not a machine, and has gone to find her own paradise. Horrified by the desolation, Joe burns his national contracts and smashes the first two booths with a hatchet. However, before destroying the final booth, Joe changes his mind, drops in a quarter to visualize a quiet Massachusetts beach town, and teleports away to find Marge. The old narrator chooses not to stay behind in a ghost town; instead, he reveals that he, too, used a Paradise booth to travel to a world where strangers willingly listen to his stories and buy him beers.

How It Unfolds

• The living room revelation — Over thick bowls of chili, Joe Shannon tells an old friend that humanity's fundamental problem is that people do not fit into the modern world. This philosophical discussion plants the seed for a device that can transport unhappy dreamers to custom-made realities.
• The basement invention — Working in secret with his assistant Wally, Joe constructs a phone-booth-like machine equipped with a screen, a coin slot, and a neural cap. He calls it a Paradise booth and plans to charge twenty-five cents per trip to help Fremont's misfits escape.
• The first departures — The town initially dismisses the street-corner booths as a crackpot joke until Barney Muhlenberg disappears without a trace. Scorned history teacher Miss Alice Markey follows suit, trading her classroom for a romanticized fantasy world.
• The emptying of Fremont — Wally Claus vanishes after a domestic dispute, triggering a mass exodus of desperate townspeople seeking refuge from their daily lives. Children leave for rod-and-custom planets, and patrons seek out endless bowling games and movie stars.
• The final choice — Joe returns from New York to find a completely deserted town and a heartbreaking farewell note from Marge. After burning his lucrative expansion contracts, Joe steps into the final booth to find his wife, leaving the old storyteller behind to close the tale.

The People

• Joe Shannon is a brilliant, driven electronics genius who is so consumed by his work that he neglects his marriage. He wants to cure societal unhappiness through technology, but his refusal to compromise drives Marge away and ultimately depopulates the entire country.
• Marge Shannon is Joe's patient, deeply capable wife known for her exceptional chili and tuna casserole. She wants a normal marital life and a traditional vacation, and when Joe chooses his machines over her, she finally leaves him behind by stepping into a Paradise booth.
• The Old Storyteller is a drifting odd-job worker and harvest hand who serves as the narrator. He appreciates simple comforts like beer and good food, observes the town's quiet tragedies with sharp pragmatism, and eventually uses a booth to find a world where he is always welcome.
• Barney Muhlenberg is the local town drunk who was born fifty years too late into an era without frontiers. He escapes his alcoholism and empty bottle collection by using the booth to seek out childhood adventures like Cowboys and Indians.
• Miss Alice Markey is a frail, white-haired history teacher who harbors a deeply romantic spirit. Frustrated by a life where the right man never appeared, she uses the machine to travel to a world populated by attentive men resembling Rudolph Valentino.
• Wally Claus is Joe's hardworking assistant burdened by a meager salary and a chaotic household with nine children. Pressured by constant financial strain and domestic nagging, he uses a quarter to flee his overwhelming family life for good.

In Its Own Voice

"Strumming a harp while floating on a white cloud might be Paradise for some people, but it would bore others stiff."

This opening reflection establishes the central premise that paradise is subjective and must be tailored to individual desires.

"The town splits."

This brief observation captures the skeptical and divided local reaction when respected schoolteacher Miss Alice Markey prepares to leave via the mysterious street-corner booth.

"Joe had assumed that some people were adjusted to society and some weren't. Well, actually nobody is, it's just a difference of degree."

This realization explains the sudden, cascading collapse of society once the first few residents abandon their normal routines.

What It's Really About

The story explores the universal human impulse toward escapism and the heavy cost of retreating from reality. It questions whether society's rigid structures do more harm than good by forcing unique individuals into standardized molds that cause quiet desperation. Robinson examines the friction between human ambition and domestic intimacy, demonstrating how obsession with monumental work can destroy personal relationships. Furthermore, the narrative considers the dangerous allure of absolute fulfillment: if given the chance to live in a customized fantasy where every frustration is eliminated, humanity would willingly dismantle civilization itself. Rather than presenting technological progress as an unmitigated good, the story exposes how easy it is for clever inventions to cater to our deepest weaknesses and isolate us from one another.

Why Read It Today

Readers who love mid-century speculative fiction with a twilight-zone flavor will find this tale endlessly charming and philosophically sharp. Reading it feels like sitting on a dusty porch listening to an old local spin an impossible yarn over a cold drink, blending folksy American humor with eerie, quiet melancholy. The story's central question—what world you would choose if you could escape your current life—stays with you long after the final page. It does suffer slightly from mid-century narrative pacing and stock female characterizations, yet these period elements only add to its nostalgic, vintage atmosphere. It remains a remarkable gem that treats a fantastic premise with grounded, human dignity.