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I vaguely remember reading a story as follows (memory is hazy, so I might be wrong on some things or conflating two separate stories):

A man goes to another man's house, where there is a hole in the basement. They spend some time examining the hole, which is pitch-black. One of the men even goes inside, and the other side of the hole seems infinite. This hole starts multiplying, with holes eventually appearing on humans and bringing about the end of humanity. I believe it was a Japanese short story, but I only found “He-y, Come on Ou-t!” by Shinichi Hoshi, which is definitely not it.

Again, I might be conflating two separate stories here, but any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

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  • Hi, welcome to the site. In roughly which year did you read this and when do you think it might've been published? Also, did you read it in an anthology, a magazine, or online?
    – LogicDictates
    May 22 at 13:52

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I managed to find it. It was a short story by Sakyo Komatsu called Ikiteiru Ana (生きている穴, "The Living Hole") from 1967. I read it in my native tongue - Bulgarian, so I was sure there would be an English translation as well. Maybe there is one, but I can't seem to find it. In any case, if anyone speaks Japanese (or Bulgarian), it's a really good short read.

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    Good job finding it. We'd be grateful if you'd mark your answer as accepted, which is this site's way of showing that a query has been solved to the querent's satisfaction. You can mark an answer as accepted by clicking on the check mark beneath the voting buttons, however, as this is a self-answer, you'll need to wait until 48 hours have elapsed since the question was first posted.
    – LogicDictates
    May 22 at 14:50
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This is a partial match to House of Leaves by Mark Danielewski. House is a complex story narrated by different individuals that tells about a young family that buy a house, which, unbeknownst to them, contains a mystery that shows up as doors appearing in random spots throughout the house, which open to rooms outside the dimensions of their house.

Eventually a corridor appears in their living room. Upon exploration this leads to an ever-changing maze with apparently no end and tells of the events that occur during and following exploration of the maze.

The story is told in an unconventional manner, including all sorts of typographical, temporal and editorial methods to create a unique reading experience.

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