Challenge 735

We Interrupt This Program...

In Gary Clifton’s “Contact,” Harper, McCoy and Maggs Wilson espy a person of interest, Lola Blue, entering a hospital elevator. The elevator is going up, and the doors close before the three detectives can reach it. How might the detectives organize a search on foot, to try to intercept her? Keep in mind their relative physical condition and athletic abilities.
In Hannah Spencer’s “Ravensong”:
1. Why might Mrs Proctor choose Major Wilkinson to behold the vision of Bran?
2. Where is Bran buried?
3. What are the most important differences between the British mythology and the Nazis’?
4. What do Major Wilkinson and Bran actually do? What do they accomplish?
In K. C. Gray’s Of Monsters and Madmen:
1. “He” is used as a character’s proper name. Does it cause grammatical confusion? Who or what, exactly, is “He”?
2. Does Tessa transform into “He’s” counterpart, “She,” at any point? If so, how?
In Charles C. Cole’s “The Subtle Hydropathist”:
1. How does the young reporter feel about Chastain and his work? Is he sympathetic? Skeptical? Judgmental in any way?
2. Is the reporter’s editor right or wrong to spike the story about the real curative powers of Chastain’s water source? Why might one expect that the discovery of the newly discovered bacteria won’t be lost or suppressed?
3. What does the story imply about attitudes toward effective “faith healing”?
In Christopher Stanley’s “The Violent Birth of Blue,” a rogue planet brings a second “apocalypse” to Earth. Discounting the Heavy Bombardment era in the early Solar System, what is the first apocalypse? Might the prose poem parallel the moral of Robert Frost’s “Fire and Ice”?
In Oonah V. Joslin’s “Losing Definition”:
1. Might one expect that the “Junior” dictionary to be in print or on line? If it’s on line, why would any words and definitions be expunged?
2. What does the poem imply concerning culture change? In what way might it echo the discussion of "The Veggie Uprising” in the discussion “Saint Cabbage”?
In Alison McBain’s review of Gary Beck’s Virtual Living, the review ends with a poem on a “positive note,” namely “Electronic Egypt.” In what way does history reveal both the advantages and limitations of mass communications in such a society?
In Ronald Linson’s “Tapping the Line,” the space aliens are surprised that Earthlings have achieved quantum communications. In view of the aliens’ history on Earth, does it seem entirely plausible that they would be caught off guard or that their own communications security would be so lax?
In Morris J. Marshall’s “Back in Class”:
1. In what way does Krista’s mysterious new student practically signal to her that he is a spy? What would a real undercover operative look like in her classroom? Hint: see the answer to “What is the mark of a successful spy?” in “Don’t Get Noticed.”
2. Does Detective Tran seem passive in dealing with Krista and her information? Has she told him yet about the difficulty she has in keeping her mood cycles under control?