“19 Doors” by Rob Roy O’Keefe

19 Doors

Rob Roy O’Keefe
O’Caoimh O’riginals (2025)
ISBN: 979-8288363238
Reviewed by Dawn Colclasure for Reader Views (01/2026)

What if behind every door in a short story collection, a story can be found? That’s what readers are in for when they read the short story collection 19 Doors by Rob Roy O’Keefe. With a nice mix of science fiction and speculative tales, readers of these stories will be entertained with such things as a hill with the strongest form of gravity, a house that takes its residents through different portals, and how a day at the pet store turns into a nightmare when various animals seek vengeance against meat-eaters and lash out at the childish way they are treated by their owners. All told from the point-of-view of a dog.

When I read in the introduction about the author’s experience with his story “Davy Jones’ Locker,” I didn’t think much of it. However, I was glad he included both versions of the story. They are both good, but I enjoyed the original version was better.

I loved reading the story “The Hands of God.” Big George tormenting the lizards was hard to read. It was a little disconcerting that Nestor went so far as to fly out to Casablanca to get answers from the source; most people usually turn to the internet. But in the end, it works out for him, as he was able to see in person just what the creator of the gloves meant when they said they used nanotechnology in the gloves. The ending of this story gave me a good laugh.

The story “Do-over” was also enjoyable to read. I loved the idea of sentient robots, but the addition of aliens in this story made it all the more interesting. The story takes a wild turn and has a very satisfying ending.

“Star Gazing” was another good alien story. The way the character, Charlie, tries to get through the conversation with the visitors was humorous, and the ending of this story was a surprise.

The story “Beacon.308” was also good, but it also gave me a lot to think about. There has been some speculation about the habitability of the Kepler planets for many years, as well as whether these planets harbor life. I loved how the author explores this possibility, but like Rahm, I wondered why he was chosen – besides the fact that he is good with plants. I wonder if we will ever get to a point where we start to explore the possibility of humans living on any of the Kepler planets. This story was an interesting exploration of that concept!

A lot of these stories are science fiction, which were all amazing stories to read. All of these stories are good and enjoyable, but “The Hands of God” is my favorite one among them.

After the collection of stories, there is an excerpt from the author’s novel, Small Stories: A Perfectly Absurd Novel. Readers may enjoy reviewing this passage.

19 Doors by Rob Roy O’Keefe is an excellent collection of enjoyable and entertaining short stories that will keep readers hanging on each word until the very end. With stories containing the absurd and the unexpected, this collection of speculative short fiction is a must-read for fans of science fiction, as well as readers who enjoy stories that are filled with surprises.