As I’m getting my first short story collection ready for publication, I’ve been going back and redoing some of the podcast versions for the audiobook. “The Charlatan’s Conundrum” was one of my earlier stories—and still one of my favorites—and I ended up re-recording it and making sure the sound effects were okay. It didn’t really need a lot of work, but when I first started, I had a tendency to read very fast. The original version was a full four minutes shorter than this presentation.
This story was inspired by a course I took at the Rhine Research Center. It was called “The Paranormal for Skeptics” and it was taught by my co-author on the Raney/Daye Investigations myster series, parapsychologist Loyd Auerbach, and a man named Kenny Biddle, who likes to engage and debunk psychic phenomena. (He has a great YouTube channel, I encourage you to check it out! https://www.youtube.com/c/KennyBiddle)
One of the things Loyd brought up during the course was the notion that ordinary magicians might sometimes use a latent psychic ability in their acts without knowing it.
I, obviously, thought it was a great premise for a story. Kenny was the inspiration for the narrator character. And I tried to write it in a way that even though the mentalist was sure he had become psychic, there was always an alternate explanation—or at least the appearance of one.
This story is the anchor for my upcoming anthology, The Charlatan’s Conundrum and Other Bedtime Stories for Insomniacs, which features 26 stories from the first year of the podcast.
For those of you who may not have heard this one the first time around, or haven’t gone that far back catching up, I present this newly remastered version for your enjoyment.
The book is pretty much ready, just trying to find someone to realize the vision I have for the cover. It’s taken me so long, I actually have the second volume almost ready to go as well. Keep an eye out for The Time Traveler’s Dilemna and Still More Bedtime Stories for Insomniacs this fall.
Also, a reminder that I’m serializing my brother Jim’s book, A Really Good Day, currently as well. It’s a fun golf fantasy that even non-golfers will love. Check it out at https://bedtimestories.studio/episode/4/1. You can pre-order the hardcover version at http://JamesHosek.com. It makes a great father’s day gift!
And as always, don’t forget to share, subscribe, rate, review—all those incredibly easy things you can do that remind me how worthwhile it is to do this.
Thanks again, and all the very best!