Challenge 690

Party Overboard

1. In Denny Marshall’s “Work on Terra Five” and Bertrand Cayzac’s “Second Martian Eclogue,” please send illustrations and music!
   In addition, how might “Work on Terra Five” support or contradict the essay “Space Colonies: the Dark Side”?

2. In Boris Kokotov’s “Utterly Presidential”:

   1. Does the story satirize the 2016 U.S. presidential election in any way?

   2. The U.S. Constitution says that a president must be a “natural-born citizen.” Has the question of meaning been resolved definitively? Does it exclude artificial intelligences? Which was the first president not to be born a British subject?

3. In Gary Clifton’s “Dead Ends”:

   1. Kravitz comes into Wanda’s apartment, pistol in hand. How does he expect to get away with shooting Wanda?

   2. Jake Kravitz has gotten away with a lot of disreputable behavior for a very long time. Are Ben Ripley and Bea Jackson liable to get in trouble for catching Kravitz and incidentally exposing incompetence in the Police Department?

4. In Patric Quinn’s “Dinner at Sea”:

   1. How many people other than the Senator and his aide know about the secret plan to dispose of the elderly? Is the aide’s view of modern communications realistic or out of date?

   2. How might party guests be dealt with if they don’t drink alcohol?

   3. Killing off old people is a time-honored theme in science fiction. What other stories can you think of that deal with it? Is Isaac Asimov’s Pebble in the Sky (1948) the earliest?

5. In Edward Ahern’s “The Consubstantial Man”:

   1. When Beatrice returns from her two-week “vacation,” at the end, do you think she has taken a swig of Frankie Witt’s restorative potion? If so, what physical change may have taken place in Beatrice, one that she alludes to early on?

   2. Frankie’s potion heals cuts rapidly. What other effects does it have?

   3. What further adventures can you anticipate for Frankie and Beatrice? Remember: “Wherever there’s money, there are people trying to get their hands on it.” How might government, business and organized crime become further involved with the heroes?

   4. Bonus question: What does the title mean? Protestants refer to Communion as “consubstantiation”; Catholics, as “transsubstantiation.” What is the difference? Is it as important today as it used to be? Does it have any conceivable connection with the story?

Responses welcome!

Copyright © November 7, 2016 by Bewildering Stories
What is a Bewildering Stories Challenge?