Challenge 999

One for All

In Charles C. Cole’s Joe Avery Meets the King’s Men:
1. In what way might the implied characterization of the Elf King be supported by Goethe’s poem Erlkönig?
2. Is the capture of Joe’s pursuers planned? How does it happen?
3. When Joe returns to his office, to what two groups does his entrance-exit line apply? To whom does he show fairness?
In Gary Inbinder’s The New Boss Pays a Call on the Marshal: In what way is Duke Placco unprepared for his questioning by the Marshal?
In Brian Yapko’s Unanswered Questions: What, exactly, seems to be the “new evidence” warranting an appeal of the verdict in the Red Daggers case?
In Steven Lebow’s The Path of Life in Space:
1. The people sent to Mars are referred to as “colonists.” What are colonists? Tourists, visitors, explorers or settlers? If they go to another continent or another planet, are they expected ever to return?
2. When one of the spouses in a marriage becomes a colonist, does the recruitment constitute a decree of divorce?
3. If you were in charge of the program, what changes would you make, and why?
In Shawn Yager’s The Tipping Point: Why would Barbara, of all people, become the key to humanity’s evolving into a sordid, gelatinous blob of goo? Do the dissolving people constitute a point of social satire?