Challenge 589

And Some Drops to Drink

In Oonah V. Joslin’s “Maybe the Brave”:
1. The poem has been characterized as a “chain poem.” How is such a poem structured?
2. Generic anti-war poems risk lapsing into platitude. What distinguishes those of the 1960’s?
3. In contemporary terms, what poems might be based on Natan Dubovitsky’s “Without Sky”?
In E. B. Fischadler’s “They Called Me...”:
1. At what point in the story can the reader reasonably foresee what the “monster’s” name will be?
2. Why might one surmise that the monster learned English from books printed in Braille? Would such books have been possible at the time?
In Sarah Ann Watts’ Winter Ship, “Rude Awakening”:
1. What is the function of water in chapter 13?
2. Kyran has come into significant contact with water twice before, in chapters 5 and 11. What function does it have in those chapters?
3. Can Razvan read Kyran’s mind or is he a good guesser? Why is Razvan surprised by Kyran’s “sacrifice”?
In Grove Koger’s “Effect and Cause”:
1. How long had the haunted house been standing? How many occupants had it had?
2. Can you think of any other ghost stories in which the ghost comes from the future?
3. Does the story reach a conclusion?
In Jedd Cole’s “Eyes for the Inquisitor’s Children”:
1. What is the Altar? What are the “annals”?
2. What does it mean that Pleiade “clipped her mother’s wings”?
3. Ibrahim lapsed from adherence to the “Myth” and became “dissipated,” but why did Hassan become estranged from his daughter? What “sin” or “sins” are the Inquisitor, Hassan and Ibrahim guilty of?
4. By what reasoning does the Inquisitor transfer his sin to Hassan? Is Hassan’s sacrifice voluntary?
5. What happened to Arielle? What does the Inquisitor do with Hassan after blinding him?
6. Does the Inquisitor kidnap or rescue Yusuf and Pleiade? Is he the children’s benefactor or is he a religious fanatic who commits murder, mayhem and abduction?
7. Might the story be a concluding chapter in a larger story or might it be a summary of a larger story?

Responses welcome!