Challenge 199

Ins and Outs

What might one infer about male-female relationships from Tamara Sheehan’s “Cassidy V”?
What slogan of the 1960’s does Lewayne L. White’s “Constellation” recall?
Do you think the TV series The Outer Limits might be interested in Rick Rose’s “Rewind”? Is it too upbeat? Could the TV series afford the sets required?
In P. S. Gifford’s “All in a Day’s Work,” what kind of boys are Tom and Simon? Are they lazy? Foolish? Ignorant? All three?

What incident could you insert into the story — perhaps as a flashback — to illustrate their character and justify their burglarizing an archeological site? And where might they get the idea that they might find buried treasure, of all things?

Why is it in character that Tom and Simon hear the news about the old blankets from their mother rather than the radio? From her point of view, why should she pick that particular news item to tell them about?
In Forrest Armstrong’s “In Memory of Dexter Roberts,” how does Mr. Holden befriend Dexter and Dean? How does he motivate them; or do they simply have coincidental interests?

The universe in the story resembles, on the edges, one of Deep Bora’s alternate Solar Systems. How can Mr. Holden be so well educated and yet have such a bizarre view of outer space? Has “hard creationist” dogma become so pervasive that it has wiped out almost all prior knowledge?
How can Dexter build a rocket ship in such a regimented and impoverished society? Would you recommend that his quest end in a catastrophe such as the one that befalls Lane in Ian Arbuckle’s Made It Way Up?
At the end of John Hawfield’s “A Minor Fear,” in issue 198, what do the initials “S. J.” on Sarah’s locket stand for? What does that clue tell us about the rest of the story, particularly the confusion between reality and dream?

Responses welcome!