Inside Outside (novel)

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Cover of the first edition, published by Ballantine Books.

Inside / Outside is a science fiction novel by American writer Philip José Farmer. Originally released in 1964, the novel explores the question of what happens before souls inhabit human bodies, and how they are created.

Plot summary

Jack Cull (a pun on the word "

Hebrew
).

Cull goes to his workplace, and hears that the mysterious "X", an analogue of

Fyodor Dostoyevsky
, Jack investigates his death. Travelling into a sewer, they find out that "Hell" is in fact a massive spacecraft, controlled by hyper-moral, ultra-powerful alien beings with the means of capturing many if not most of the souls they come upon, incorporating them in immortal bodies (provided they are fed regularly). However, the capturing of souls is an imperfect process, and many souls are lost to the void. Although the bodies are more or less immortal, there comes a time when the aliens destroy them when they feel the souls have progressed to an acceptable level. Even then, not all of the bodies are destroyed, and some continue on with the spaceship as it travels about the galaxy.

Music

Inside / Outside is the inspiration for Kevin Healey's song, "Automatic Prophet" (lyrics by Charlie Weber).[1]

References

  1. ^ "Automatic Prophet, by Kevin Healey". Kevin Healey. Retrieved 2018-10-15.

External links