Challenge 695

Counterexamples

1. In Gary Ives’ “Christmas Pies”:

   1. In what way is the aboriginals’ understanding of the Crucifixion accurate? In what way does it fall short?
   2. How does the Rev. Philo Pleck contradict the theology he is supposed to profess?
   3. Can you think of a less anticlimactic conclusion to the story?

2. In John Gatley’s “The Places Between”:

   1. Why did Bill Ortiz’s wife leave him?
   2. Bill Ortiz has a busy schedule and must do some commuting. Does his subjective time correspond to objective time? Does the time he spends with Maddie match the time elapsed on his watch?

3. In Mileva Anastasiadou’s “The Collectors”:

   1. How might Ms. Hood and the psychologist be criticized on grounds of professional ethics?
   2. What does Mary expect to happen if she actually finds David?
   3. How do Mary and the “collectors” differ in their relationship to the past and future?

4. In Karin S. Heigl’s “The Crackling”:

   1. At what point can the readers reasonably surmise the gender of the first-person narrator?
   2. What is the “crackling”? What is its function in the story?
   3. A lot happens to the narrator, and the narrator’s prime function is to express feelings. What does the narrator actually do in the story?
   4. Does “The Crackling” overstep in fact or in effect Bewildering Stories’ guideline about stories that end with “but it was all a dream” or the equivalent?

5. In Morris Marshall’s “Food for Thought,” what makes the story a fairytale? How might it be made realistic?

6. In B. Z. Niditch’s “Proust and Vermeer,” how does Baudelaire’s “Les Phares” or “L’Invitation au voyage” evoke something similar?

7. In Robert Shmigelsky’s Fairy Roulette,” would you drink from a bottle found abandoned in the countryside?

Responses welcome!

Copyright © December 12, 2016 by Bewildering Stories
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