Challenge 935

Just Dessert

In David Samuels’ Red He Wept:
1. What elements of comedy occur in Moralt’s interrogating the alchemist? Why might comedy be a fortuitous stylistic choice?
2. What is the armed conflict about? Who are the opponents?
3. What common experience might bring about an alliance between the mismatched cousins Moralt and Luthos?
In Robert S. Dawson’s The Only Shelter:
1. What are “Tijuana bibles”?
2. How did the forest rangers happen across Paul’s remains? How did they know to come looking for Jeremy?
3. At what point might one suspect that Jeremy has killed and butchered Paul? What might be Jeremy’s motivation?
In Audrey Greathouse’s Half an Hour Glass: The narrator says, at the end, that his life is “now half as long as it had been an hour ago.” Is that necessarily true? Why does he think so?
In Mark Reasoner’s In Re: Crew of Spaceship ZPX47:
1. The defense command depicted is actually in Colorado Springs. What is located at Cheyenne Mountain?
2. Which are more unbelievable: the space aliens or the humans?
3. Could a county judge grant anyone — let alone a space alien — political asylum?
In Marion J. May’s The Perfect Gentleman:
1. Did Lilly stay on the job after saving Dingo from the river, or did she leave immediately?
2. How likely is it that Lilly is surprised to learn that DJ Dingo had a long career and was admired by his female co-workers?
In Richard Stevenson’s Homo Sapiens III: What subspecies are Homo sapiens I and II supposed to be?
In Shauna Checkley’s Serpentine: How does the serpent in the Garden of Eden story differ from Ouroboros? How does the poem make coherent use of both mythological symbols?
In Harrison Kim’s A Cult of Two: At what points does Jimmy tell Harrison the truth? When does he lie?

Responses welcome!