Start the week

The EU civil servants and politicians who died and went to Heaven (there can't have been that many) were bored. Then one proposed a day trip to Hell. They were welcomed by their (far more numerous) colleagues and given a fantastic guided tour. They saw all the sins and vices they had forgotten since their days in Brussels and Strasbourg. Afterwards they were wined and dined more superbly than even in their expense-account days.

Once back in Heaven, they were quickly bored again and started to think that they had perhaps ended up in the wrong place. So they decided to pack their bags and move to Hell permanently. This time they were were met by the Devil himself – and he looked far from friendly. As he started to whip them towards the eternal fires, they cried "What's wrong? What have we done? Last time we had such a wonderful welcome!"

"Ah," said the Devil, "Last time you were tourists. This time you are immigrants."

2006 books

29) Greg Bear, Eon, 1985
An asteroid parked into Earth orbit turns out to be the man-made entry point to both interstellar travel and alternate universes. Eon too often feels like old-school fantasy dressed up as hard SF, and with more recent and slicker descendants such as Al Reynolds's Pushing Ice to contend with I found Eon very much of its time and rather sleep-inducing in parts, mostly down to the pace: it takes a long time to get going and when it picks up any pace at all it never really gets beyond third gear. Nevertheless the unexpected ending does make me want to read the shorter sequel, Eternity.