Challenge 1000
Top of the Pole
In Charles C. Cole’s Joe Avery Gets an Old World Visitor: In what ways does Ombard resemble Joe Avery’s previous faery-folk clients? In what way does he differ from them?
In Gary Inbinder’s Lawyer Williams and Mrs. Merwin: What common economic interest do Eugenia Merwin and Lawyer Williams share?
In Riley’s Investigation: Does Joe or his fruit stand appear in the chapter where Gil Doyle is abducted?
In Brian Yapko’s Devon Quindes: Does Devon Quindes’s testimony cast any special light on the court’s denying the Red Daggers’ stay of execution? What might indicate that the court has gone out of its way to make a negative decision?
In Kevin Broccoli’s Apple & Pepper:
- Is “Apple & Pepper” a special brand name or is it generic: “apple and pepper”? Can one smell pepper without sneezing?
Why might the cook ask the narrator if he were missing something? Is there any clue to what he might be missing?
In Miriam Trujillo’s A Dinner of the Hours:
- The protégé of “old man Simons” claimed he found a gold ring washed up on a beach. Why might one be immediately inclined to doubt he was telling the truth?
What purpose does a Last Judgment serve for someone who is going to die immediately anyway? Who is the real audience of a Last Judgment?
- The location of the story’s setting is a real place. What question might it raise about Simons?
The conclusion shifts the point of view from Simons’ first-person partial omniscience to that of the townspeople, expressed in third-person full omniscience. Does the change in point of view suffice to keep the story from overstepping Bewildering Stories’ “Dead Narrators” guideline?
What is a Bewildering Stories Challenge?
