Challenge 648

Stepping on the Line

In Justin Haselden’s “The Bodhisattva’s Blessings,” how does the story bear out the adage, “The ancient world was not so long ago, and not so far away”?
In Ludmila Sharga’s “Angel at My Calling”:
1. The white line that marks the lanes on the road is mentioned more than once. Does it have some kind of symbolic function in the story?
2. Who was the “client,” and how does Nika come by her money?
In J. P. Flores’ “Mud”:
1. Does the casual discovery of the Holy Grail confirm the story as a satire? If so, what does it satirize? If the story is not a satire, what is it?
2. Peter and Rinaldi have a curiously childlike belief in magic. Why not clone a real magician, like Merlin?
3. Which story about Mud’s childhood can we believe? Is either relevant to Mud at the age at which he is retrieved by those who left him in the monastery?
4. What is Mara’s backstory? Why is she part of Peter’s and Rinaldi’s plot? Why must Mud rely on her as an artificial “conscience”?