Challenge 425

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In Rene Barry’s “The Children of Arnborg,” chapter 2, Emma recounts to Stuart the history of her vampire family. In view of her story, how do you feel about the priests, the Inquisition and the peasants with their traditional pitchforks and torches?
Arnold Hollander’s “I’m Alive” appears to transgress Bewildering Stories’ restriction on stories in which the narrator dies, but an exception seems warranted in this case.
1. What would happen to the poem if the action were described from an objective, third-person viewpoint?
2. What does the title suggest as a possible explanation for the narrator’s seeing what he could not normally be expected to see?
3. What “larger story” might be implied by the action?
In Karlos Allen’s “Comparative Literature”:
1. The space alien says in effect that science fiction deals with commonplace topics. Is that good or bad?
2. At the end, the alien snorts that “everybody does Star Trek.” Is that true even on Earth? What analogs can be found in the literatures — current or ancient — of cultures other than that of the 20th-century USA?
  
  If any can be cited, e.g. Gilgamesh, The Odyssey, how does their ethos differ from that of Star Trek? For that matter, how does Deep Space 9 differ from other versions of the series?
In Maia Lena’s “Too Pale for a Lifeguard”:
1. How does Paine feel about leaving Ray stranded on the beach? Does she display more than morbid curiosity?
2. What emotional conflicts is Paine prey to?
3. What is the story really about?
In Jeff Bowles’ “Death Mask,” Gnaeus was able to wrest the magic necklace from a “Gallic whore.” How does the incident justify and foreshadow the dénouement of the story?
In Ilan Herman’s “Seven Degrees of Bogus,” up to part 3:
1. The readers have not yet seen Alan Abalian’s “The Tingle.” In parts 1-3, how many characters other than the author read the story?
2. What is the fictional readers’ reaction to the story? What impression do they form of Alan Abalian?
3. What amateurish mistake do the readers make in interpretation?
4. To what extent are the readers of Abalian’s story justified in taking security precautions? What objective evidence would seem to indicate that they are overreacting?
5. How many of the characters actually talk to each other face to face? What does the infrequency of personal contact imply in terms of satire? In terms of present-day communications?
6. Bonus questions: How does “Seven Degrees of Bogus” resemble André Gide’s novel Les Faux-monnayeurs (‘The Counterfeiters’)? What other examples can you cite of a “story within a story”?

Responses welcome!