Inside Job {novella}

Rob is a professional skeptic. He makes a living debunking psychics, channelers, mediums and other frauds. One day, his employee, Kildy Ross, urges him to go see Auriaura Keller, who channels a spirit named "Isus", but she won't tell him what's so different about this woman. They go, and, what a surprise! In the midst of the usual New Age b.s. from this so-called spirit, a second voice interrupts, calling the proceedings "hokum" and Keller a "snakecharming preacher". What the heck is going on?

As they attended in their own names, and being known in their profession, Keller appears at the office and blames Rob for what has happened. In the midst of her ranting, she again begins to talk about "quacks and crooks". But it's her reference to show more a trial in Dayton, and "boobus Americanus" that causes Rob to realize she's spouting H.L. Mencken. Why would she fake channeling the skeptic's skeptic? And is Kildy in on it? Is she "a beautiful, calculating woman who seduces the hero into helping her with a scam"? Or is it real? And if it's real, what a can of worms!

A very engaging, clever and amusing novella. show less

This novella is definitely within the Connie Willis mold of obsessive characters working within a slapstick and romantic comedy mold. Whereas Belwether featured scientists obsessed with fads who find love and Passage featured doctors obsessed with near death experiences (who find death), Inside Job features professional skeptics obsessed with debunking psychics, mediums, and spiritualists. The narrator edits a skeptics magazine and finds himself helped by a beautiful actress who leaves Hollywood to join him. They find a channeler who seemingly inadvertently begins channeling H.L. Mencken. The wonderful irony here is that Mencken himself berated spiritualists for scamming people so if it’s really him it proves they are legitimate! Kind show more of a funny, quick read, but not Willis’s best work. show less

BEWARE SPOILER. Being an H.L. Mencken fan, I loved this novella by Connie Willis. The premise is simple, Mencken, long dead, seems to “channel” himself into individuals with views abhorrent to him. Then, he uses these individuals to spout classic Mencken views in public forums, surprising all attendees and, most of all, the person he uses to channel himself. The only hitch is by using this technique, Mencken is proving channeling to be authentic, an activity that he debunks as fraudulent. A real dilemma!

ORIGINALLY POSTED AT Fantasy Literature.

I have a goal of eventually reading all of the major SFF award winners, including novels, novellas, novelettes, and short stories, so that’s why I picked up Connie Willis’s Inside Job when I saw that it was available on audio. Inside Job won the Hugo Award for Best Novella in 2006. Just a couple of months ago, by the way, Connie Willis received the SFWA Grand Master Award (January 2012).

Inside Job is a story about Rob, a professional debunker of pseudoscience, and his new partner Kildy Ross, a beautiful and famous actress. They attend séances and visit faith healers, psychics, and palm readers, always figuring out how these hucksters are cheating the gullible and publishing their findings in show more their magazine, The Jaundiced Eye.

Mostly it’s the same thing over and over: an earpiece, hidden wires, a confederate in the right place. Their latest case, however, is the toughest one ever. When they attend a seminar by the new psychic in town, Ariaura Keller, she begins channeling the spirit of H.L. Mencken, the famous skeptic who reported on the Scopes Trial and famously said, “Nobody ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people.”

Rob and Kildy are determined to discover how Ariaura is channeling Mencken. But, more puzzling, why would a psychic who makes money tricking her audience be regaling them with monologues by H.L. Mencken? The resulting investigation is exciting, suspenseful, full of delicious logical quandaries, and often very funny.

Eventually the reader wonders if there’s such a thing as being too skeptical. At some point, you have to have faith in something or someone. What kind of relationship would you have with your loved ones, for example, if you kept demanding irrevocable proof when they said they loved you?

Inside Job was a quick read and a fun and educational story with likable characters and a delightfully silly plot. I listened to Audible Frontiers’ version which was narrated by Dennis Boutsikaris, who I liked very much. The audio version is 2½ hours long and costs about $7 at Audible.com. Or you can read the full text of Inside Job for free at Asimov’s. show less

Hilarious little novella based around a paradox:

Can the existence of a disembodied spirit prove that a 'channeler' claiming to communicate with spirits is a fraud?

Our protagonist, Rob, is a freelance journalist and professional skeptic. His assistant, Kildy, is a gorgeous and wealthy Hollywood type moonlighting in the field. Rob has a crush on Kildy, but fears she's far out of his league.

It's Kildy who's picked out the latest target for an exposé: The New Age charlatan Ariaura, who channels the spirit 'Isus' and sells her adoring audience overpriced swag.
But when Ariaura, mid-lecture, starts spouting shocking and off-script announcements that seems like they could only have come from the mind of the notorious atheist and skeptic H.L. show more Mencken (deceased), Rob has to worry - is Kildy setting him up?

As expected from Connie Willis, extra-fun. show less

Rob's a professional debunker, publisher of a skeptic/debunker magazine. At the insistence of his too-good-to-be-true, beautiful, former actress assistant, Kildy, he attends a performance of a hot new channeler. It's all very normal and boring, with the alleged spirit, Isus, spouting typical "insights" and advice--until a different booms out from the psychic "channeling" him. This voice is different, skeptical, belittling--and oddly familiar.

Is Ariaunna channeling H.L. Mencken?

Or is this a new trick or scam? And if so--whose?

This is a neat little story, with Willis in very good form. The plotting and character development, and attention to detail, are all excellent and entertaining.

Recommended.

I borrowed this book from a friend.

Professional skeptic and psychic debunker Rob in in a pickle. His employee, a former movie star, has found a psychic who might just be the real deal. Supposedly, she channels the spirit of Isus, but when she and Rob go to what appears to be a ho-hum, same-old crystals and vibes appearance that gets interrupted by a being calling the medium a cheat and a fraud, he doesn't know what to make of it. Could the psychic indeed be inhabited by the spirit of H.L. Mencken himself? And if so, how would Rob ever prove it?

This madcap novella is a quick and entertaining read. Basically, my rating boils down to my expectations: I expected to laugh out loud, and was only amused. You might get more mileage out of it, and since it's a quick read and only show more 99 pages, I say, give it a try! show less