Challenge 1011

The Road Downhill

In Charles C. Cole’s Cupid Is as Cupid Does:
1. What is Cupid commonly supposed to do? In this story, what does he actually do?
2. Is Cupid’s advice, in the conclusion, confined to love affairs?
In Gary Clifton’s The Road to Bakhmut: The story says nothing about the causes and objectives of the current Russian-Ukrainian war. Who and what are at the center of the story?
In Anthony Lukas’s Deal with a Devil:
1. Which is the most interesting character in the story? Why?
2. Satan is depicted as having committed a serious administrative error. What is it?
In Rachel Lynn’s Roadkill Revolt:
1. In the Spirit World, is roadkill still crippled by its mortal injuries?
2. Are the Spirit animals able to contact humans? Can Spirit animals contact live animals of other species?
3. The animals’ bothering the humans’ noisy parade is said to seem almost purposeful. Is the moral, then, that animals can be as much or more of a pest than humans if they really put their minds to it?
In David Rudd’s Lithe Spirit:
1. At what point in the story might readers reasonably surmise that it has an invisible character, namely a ghost?
2. In what ways does the ghost make a nuisance of itself?
3. Why does no one suspect that the answer of “Present” at the Absent Friends roll call might be an ill-advised practical joke?