Hubris Towers Season 1, Episode 1: An Uneasy Interview: Hubris Towers Season 1, #1

By Ben Y. Faroe and Bill Hoard

“Luxury living at Hubris Towers: Isn’t it time you get what you really deserve?”

Comedy of manners meets comedy of errors in a new series for fans of Fawlty Towers and P. G. Wodehouse.

When Jimmy Acorn applies to become the new concierge at Hubris Towers, there are a few things he doesn’t know. He doesn’t know how he’s going to make this month’s rent (or last month’s, for that matter). He doesn’t know why rich tenants would move into a building that’s still under construction. And he doesn’t know, strictly speaking, just what a concierge does.

What he does know is that eviction is looming and a PhD in literature isn’t nearly as marketable as he’d hoped. 

So when his interview spins out of control thanks to an infuriatingly helpful bellhop, a grimly courteous manager, and a mounting pile of errands from the condo’s eccentric denizens, Jimmy has no choice but to smile hard, find some allies, keep the puppy away from the champagne, and see if he can carve out a niche for himself in the wildly unexpected world of Hubris Towers.

Hubris Towers is a fresh comedy series released regularly in 45-55 page episodes. Visit byfaroe.com/hubris for more information and to sign up for updates on new releases and exclusive deals.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Clickworks Press
• Release date: May 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781943383016

Book preview

Hubris Towers

Season 1

Episode 1: An Uneasy Interview

Bill Hoard & Ben Y. Faroe

Don’t miss an episode!

Sign up for Hubris Towers deals and updates at bit.ly/gethubris.

Copyright © 2015 Bill Hoard and Ben Y. Faroe.

All rights reserved.

First publication: Clickworks Press, 2015.

Release: CP-HT1.1-INT-E.M-1.3

Sign up for Hubris Towers updates at bit.ly/gethubris.

ISBN-10: 1-943383-01-4

ISBN-13: 978-1-943383-01-6

Hubris Towers

Season 1

Episode 1: An Uneasy Interview

"Luxury living at Hubris Towers: Isn’t it time you get what you really deserve?"

Jimmy Acorn grinned fiercely past the full-page ad and flipped the magazine shut. The front cover of the Baltimore Ragamuffin stared back up at him.

Are you allowed to put a literary magazine down the garbage disposal? he wondered.

He’d scraped together enough for a subscription to the Ragamuffin so he could casually read it in the lobby before his interview to be the magazine’s new junior editor, maybe tuck it under his arm in an unassuming manner when he went inside, leave it peeking out from under the extra copies of his resume.

That was before he’d learned the interview would be by videoconference.

He stared into his cheap webcam and straightened his headset.

Don’t you think you’re a little overqualified to be a junior editor? asked Ms. Glenniston, blond and trendy.

Overqualified? he asked himself for the hundredth time that month. What does that even mean?

I don’t think I would call myself overqualified.

Ms. Glenniston scowled faintly. Beside her, the burly editor-in-chief frowned. Well, frowned more. Jimmy realized that directly contradicting the interviewer was perhaps not the best strategy.

That is— he hedged. Before he could finish, he heard a faint knock at the door, a shy tap-tap like an imaginary housekeeping maid or a nervous woodpecker.

Hey, dude, came a muffled voice.

It was Dane, his landlord. Jimmy smiled urgently into the webcam.

Excuse me.

He hit mute and swept a hand over the webcam lens.

Not right now! he shouted through the door. Even without the interview, he was in no mood to let anyone in right now. Especially not the landlord.

Sorry about that, he said, un-muting and smiling again. It’s just that I don’t think my overqualifications apply to the position of junior editor. A key turned in the lock. If I am overqualified, I mean. Which I certainly might be, more broadly speaking.

This concession did little to soften the interviewers.

I only mean—

Hey, dude, Dane repeated, swinging the door open. He was very tall, with longish white-blond hair and high cheekbones and slumped shoulders. He slouched into his pockets, not quite meeting Jimmy’s eye. How’s it going?

Terrible, said Jimmy’s brain. Worst day on record.

He smiled into the camera, trying to project a confidence that indicated just the right level of qualification.

—while I may seem overqualified on paper, I think I’ll have plenty to learn in the role of junior editor.

Dane leaned against the doorframe, not quite in and not quite out. Adding an awkwardly hovering landlord to his plummeting interview pushed Jimmy’s anxiety over the edge, sparking his babble reflex.

But I’m definitely not overqualified. In fact, I’ve never even worked for a literary magazine before. Or really any periodical. Except for an article for the school paper one time. And that one didn’t even get printed! he continued, a manic enthusiasm edging in as he tried to convince them of his under-overqualification. Mrs. Koble told me I wouldn’t amount to anything. Mrs. Koble was my— Here he realized he was babbling, and immediately balanced it out with a dose of self-conscious backtracking. —English teacher. I mean, sure, I have my Lit PhD now, but that’s not an issue. That was all writing and analysis. I don’t know the first thing about editing. So really I’m hardly overqualified at all. He gulped, smiling