Challenge 1093

Whatever They Say

In Shauna Checkley’s, Sourdough: In what way does the title “Sourdough” make an ironic comment on the content of the story?
In Peter Ninnes’s Finding Eloise: The narrator suffers from gradually increasing memory loss. What kinds of memories has he been losing? Does his account of Eloise reflect them in any way?
In Gabriel Peña’sWhispered Cries: Do readers need to be familiar with the legend of La Llorona in order to appreciate her role in Claudia’s story? What do women like Claudia need from the world outside their families?
In Marcel Schwob’s Two Famous Pirates: Was Stede Bonnet a real pirate? If not, what role does he seem to serve in this “pirate fiction”?
In Charles C. Cole’s The Truth About Floral Folk:
1. How does Calendula differ from Corey in terms of taxonomy? By domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus or species?
2. Trick question: How do present-day human beings differ from each other taxonomically?
In Odin H. Halvorson’s Will the Flashlights Pause?:
1. Normally, the readers of any story in which war plays a role will expect to learn what war it is and who the combatants are. In this story, such information is provided only to the extent that one set of characters is presumed to belong to “the Underground.” The organization’s role is unspecified, and the characters remain “offstage.” What might be the dramatic purpose of this “narrative silence”?
2. What is the moral of the flashlight’s role? Does the story overstep or illustrate the purpose of Bewildering Stories’ “stereotype” guideline?

Responses welcome!