Challenge 805

Pick Your Take

1. In Ken Poyner’s Building a Ready Workforce, in what way might the story-poem be seen as a retelling of the myth of Pandora?

2. In James Robert Rudolph’s How One Builds a Life: How might readers, on reflection, interpret the title? As moralistic or advisory? Ironic? Sarcastic? Justify each intepretation.

3. In Michael R. Burch’s Escape:

   1. To what does the name “Denali” apply besides automobiles?
   2. Would it be fair to say that “three-Denali garage” constitutes product-placement advertising? What does the reference to automobiles really signify in terms of the poem?

4. In Roy Dorman’s Death by Daffodils:

   1. Does the title give the story away in advance?
   2. Kyle is depicted as systematically evil. Is Jackie depicted as innocent and desperate? Why might readers think she is impulsive and foolish?

5. In L. S. Popovich’s Echoes From Dust, chapters 10-12:

   1. Riku’s “classmates” resent her lack of support in the trials. Given what the characters know and don’t know, is their reaction unfair?

   2. Could Riku discover her latent talent in any other way than by being immobilized in fear? Is her discovery sufficiently prepared or does it come as an afterthought in dramatic terms?

6. In Andrew Konicki’s At the Fifth Hour:

   1. What is the function of the character sleeping in the barroom?
   2. What is the function of the “rat-catchers”? From the readers’ point of view, are they a real or imaginary menace?
   3. How might the plot have avoided the use of a deus ex machina resolution?

7. In Eric Neher’s A New Familiar:

   1. Which make worse neighbours: Jack and Carol or the witches’ coven next door?
   2. Does the cat act entirely out of character for an ordinary cat?
   3. Suppose the cat does not really exercise mind control. How might the story end as a comedy with John and Theresa as well as with Lisa and Carol?
   
   

   Responses welcome!

   Copyright © April 22, 2019 by Bewildering Stories
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