Challenge 560

Indefinite Infinity

1. In Sherman Smith’s Two Blind Men and a Fool:

   1. In Chapter 26, part 2: Why does Stella whisper “Elroy?” when she’s hiding from him?
   2. Why does Garrity tell Stella to “lock the place down”? What will that accomplish? And isn’t Elroy sure to catch Stella in the process?

2. In Michael O’Farrell’s “The Imageverse”:

   1. How does the essay convey tongue-in-cheek humor?
   2. (From contributor Jo Wharton Heath) How many years would it take a person to peruse Michael O’Farrell’s book of all printable and paintable ideas if the person could view an astounding 1,000 pages per second?
   3. How does the essay demonstrate mathematically the validity of Theodore Sturgeon’s Law, namely that “90 percent of everything is crap”?
   4. A theory holds that the surface of black holes is a hologram of all the information contained inside. If the universe itself is a holographic projection, where is the primordial black hole located?
   5. Challenge title: if n ÷ 0 = ∞, and 0 ÷ n is an indefinite number, what is 0 ÷ 0?

3. In Craig M. Workman’s “Taking It All In”:

   1. What happens to the narrator’s (you) mother? What happens to the narrator?
   2. How might our article “Subtlety and Symbol” apply to the story?

4. In Bertil Falk’s “A Cosmic Matchmaker”:

   1. Billie Occasion mistakenly bilocates to her apartment in 1959. Is the purpose only to pay homage to Finlay and Santesson?
   2. Billie Occasion’s efforts prove fruitless. How might she act as a postmodern matchmaker?
   3. What is the ironic outcome of Billie Occasion’s quest?

5. In Dorota Lipa’s “Moon Promises”:

   1. How does the title reflect the action in the story?
   2. Does the story overstep Bewildering Stories’ guideline about plots that end with “but it was all a dream” or the equivalent? Put another way: if the local cop on the beat shows up, will Moses Kulig have to explain his own disappearance?

6. In E. R. Warren’s “The Storm’s Edge”:

   1. What is the relationship between the lightning and the storm?
   2. What does “It will break me” mean? What does “it” refer to?
   3. What elements of humor can you find in the poem?

Responses welcome!

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