I’m a huge fan of stories with a skeptical flavor and subversive humor, and just stumbled upon “Cold Reading,” a short story written by the legend Alan Moore. It was first published in his Dodgem Logic magazine (which, btw, looks AMAZING – check it out. Contributors include Josie Long, Robert Ince, Stewart Lee, and Michael Moorcock).
This story is narrated by a psychic who makes his living bringing “joy” to those left behind by contacting the dead. He gets a call from a new client whose brother has just died. The psychic uses his powers (Facebook and blogs) to learn about the dead man, and discovers the dead man is a skeptic — a psychic’s least favorite kind of person. 😉
“He sounds like a very bitter man. He starts off ranting about the Americans, the Christians, how they’re saying that the Bible should be taught alongside evolution in the schools. Well, I don’t see what’s wrong with that, with putting both sides of the argument. Oh, here we go. It’s Richard Dawkins this and Richard Dawkins that. There’s all the old stuff about homeopathy, how can it work with the dilution and the rest of it, and I expect…yes, here we are. “Why isn’t Doris Stokes keeping in touch more often since she died? Surely she still has books to push?” That’s low. I’m sorry, that’s just low. I mean, the woman’s dead and she can’t answer back. Show some respect, that’s all I’m saying.”
Check out the full story at the Rationalist Association UK website!
