Challenge 344

Ice Cream at the Witching Hour

In James C. G. Shirk’s “Green Thumb,” is Molly’s mother an entirely unsympathetic character? What is her function in the story to date?
The Review Board customarily frowns upon stories in which the narrator dies or that end “but it was all a dream.” How does Gabriel S. Timar’s opening chapters in The Hades Connection appear to skirt those problems? Or do they seem to evade one problem while potentially raising another?
In John W. Steele’s “Beyond the Island,” Lord Max Nagual shows his face to Brian Mudd for the first time. What does Max look like?
In what way might L. J. Geoffrion’s “Rehab Center, Third Shift” be more than a routine werewolf and vampire story?
In “The Bitter Truth About Flying Saucers,” Catfish Russ has General Clark unload in detail almost all the mythology that has built up around UFO’s. Can you think of anything that might have been overlooked?
What do you think is the most striking image in Tamara Sheehan’s “Us and the World”? Are there any indications that the story might be an autobiographical allegory?
Mary B. McArdle’s “Vintage Fashions” can be read as a period piece in Southern regional literature. How does the author keep the story from lapsing into the genre of a dry catalogue of styles and fashions?