Extempore

"Extempore" is a science fiction

Science fiction

Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...

 short story written by Damon Knight

Damon Knight

Damon Francis Knight was an American science fiction author, editor, critic and fan. His forte was short stories and he is widely acknowledged as having been a master of the genre.-Biography:...

. It first appeared in the August 1956 issue of Infinity Science Fiction and has been reprinted twice, in Far Out

Far Out (book)

Far Out is a collection of 13 science fiction short stories by Damon Knight. The stories were originally published between 1949 and 1960 in Galaxy Magazine, If Science Fiction and other science fiction magazines...

(1961) and The Best of Damon Knight (1976).

Synopsis

Albert Rossi, a New York dishwasher, learns to travel through time. Once started, he continues at an accelerated pace, continuing until the end of time and then starting over. By an effort of will he manages to stop at a "scarlet beach with its golden laughing people". But he is now frozen in time forever and appears to the beachcombers as a rock-hard, immobile statue.

Background

About this story, Knight wrote

Here is another of my time stories, put together out of bits and pieces of Far Rockaway, Milne, Einstein, etc. (I don't see why the speculations of modern physicists shouldn't be used as incantations.) I don't think "Extempore" is terribly probable, but see for yourself.