Challenge 1049

Light Over Here

In Anthony Lukas’ Butler Wren and the Wandering Finger: Why might Mrs. Newcomb expect her lawsuit against Millie and her diner to be settled out of court? Is Mrs. Newcomb aware that others might perceive the flaw in her evidence/
In Gabriel White’s They’re Listening: At what place and point in history might the story take place? Why do Ellis and Nolan react as they do to the discovery of listening devices in their environment? How might they act if they had more experience with potentially hostile eavesdroppers?
In Douglas Young’s, Looking for the Grave of Luther Laughton:
1. Why could the two sisters not have chosen to explore the cemetery on a cooler day?
2. How many other graves than Luther Laughton’s do they venerate by remembrance if not prayer?
3. How old are the sisters? How many and what linguistic archaisms and regionalisms do they use in their conversations?
In Charles C. Cole’s A Missing Thing;
1. What two things does the author’s name contain that the story does not?
2. In what way is the introductory note in this issue’s Readers’ Guide similar to the story?
3. In what part of Bewildering Stories’ Style Manual can one find that the byline does not constitute a deviation from the orthographical format of the story?
4. Could the same format be applied in French? Hardly! Could it be done in any of the Romance languages? In Germanic? Why is the format so especially remarkable?
In Robin Helweg-Larsen’s The Uncertainty of Light: Light is almost universally held to be a symbol of truth or, at least, knowledge and understanding. And the symbol will vary in its form and interpretation according to the different cultures in which it is used. But is the dark necessarily the opposite? Many animals thrive nocturnally. The nature of Dark Matter and Dark Energy remain a mystery, and even their existence is questioned. And what lies beyond the “darkness” of death: only an immutable past or a new existence as someone or something else in the cosmic consciousness? Remember Lavoisier: “Nothing is lost, nothing is created. In nature, everything is transformed.”

Responses welcome!