Challenge 891

Discerning Intent

1. In Richard Ong’s Fallen Angel: Every image invites a story. What is your interpretation of the image? What story do you think it might suggest?

2. In H. E. Vogl’s You’ve Got to Make a Profit:

   1. Are Ted’s skills obsolete? Are they “profitable” only in counterfeiting?
   2. Would duplicating and selling greeting cards be a civil or criminal case?

3. In Ed Blundell’s Sundown:

   1. Were the Druids ever more than latecomers to Stonehenge?
   2. Is the aging of time a personification or can it be taken literally? If literally, what will happen to it?

4. In Henry Alan Paper’s In Another Country’s Other Country:

   1. At the dining area of the blind, does the narrator interpret correctly the head waitress’s sign language? What else might she mean other than what he thinks?
   2. Why is the narrator subjected to a mass assault? Because the group of diners are blind? If he violates a social norm, what might it be?

5. In C. M. Barnes’ Shadow Hour:

   1. At what point in the story is the mountain lion presumed to be female?
   2. The deer carcass and the stench of decay form a leitmotif throughout the story. What might they signify in terms of Alec’s experience?
   3. What is the significance of the condom that Alec finds at Dave’s house?
   4. What happens to Dave’s dad? Is Alec mortally wounded by an animal?
   5. Who is carrying the rifle in her “dainty white fist”: Jennifer, Claire or Mira? Is she going to shoot Alec? If so, what difference will it make? To what extent might Alec be identified as an anti-hero?

Responses welcome!

Copyright © February 15, 2021 by Bewildering Stories
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