Challenge 1118

Unsolved

1. In Roger Helms’ You Don’t Know Jack:

   1. In how many instances does Diane display remarkable carelessness concerning her own life? What technology of today would relieve her of having to worry about battery failure?
   2. How does the hobot acquire his unusual depth of self-awareness?
   3. In what way does “Mono” or “Jack” differ from the robots of Isaac Asimov?

2. In Joli Huelskamp’s The Effigies of Emory Street:

   1. How likely is it that Frances altered the Anderson children’s “scarecrows”?
   2. How does Frances plant seeds of public disapproval of the “effigies”?

3. In G. W. McClary’s The Goetari School:

   1. Why might it seem possible, even probable, that the narrator would venture into a strange tunnel?
   2. Why is the city located underground? Does it have a name? Why is it “crumbling”?
   3. Why is the farmer punished when he has no chickens and no egg to offer?
   4. What seems to be the unspoken purpose of the Goetari School?

4. In Andrew Moore’s Between Wild and Home:

   1. In what ways does the story resemble a classic fable? In what ways does it not?
   2. Could the characters and story be transposed to a purely human setting?

5. In Gary Clifton’s A Conflict of Causes: How might Eddie Fred Turner’s ultimate status in the Klan be characterized?

6. In Robin Helweg-Larsen’s Clearing the Cache: How might reincarnaton confer benefits? What might be its drawbacks?

Responses welcome!

Copyright © December 1, 2025 by Bewildering Stories
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