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Oratorical science fiction

"FLY to London with all expenses paid and speak to 450 people at Bexley College Holly Hill campus." This email invitation from Professor Arthur Peterson sounded both plausible and tempting to an American science fiction writer who wants to remain nameless, so we'll call him SF.

A search confirmed the college exists, but its website did not list staff members, so SF couldn't check on Peterson. When SF asked for more details, the organisers offered him an honorarium of £3000 to compensate him for his time and trouble. It looked like a nice package.

Except that there was, of course, a catch. That came a little later, when "Peterson" said that as a non-British citizen, SF would need to arrange a special work permit for the lecture through an official at the British embassy. That seemed a bit odd, because SF had never needed one before, ...

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