Challenge 155

How the Worlds Work

1. In The Bridge, III, euhal allen creates a very interesting and sympathetic character in Charlie, a colorful rustic with a green thumb and a fertile imagination. The Challenge is: What is Charlie’s role in the story?

   1. Imagine “The Starhell Mutiny” without Charlie. Where would the innovative terraforming ideas have to come from? And what would that do to the other characters and the dramatic action?

   2. How does the author maintain a tension between Charlie and the regular Starhell engineers while allowing the engineers to seem more prudent than hidebound?

   3. What other, female character in The Bridge plays a role similar to Charlie’s in terms of Starhell’s culture?

   4. What do the roles of “commoners” imply in terms of Starhell’s — and the story’s — political and cultural viewpoint? How believable are these characters in cultures outside North America?

2. Three-quarters of the way through Rachel Parson’s “Nightmares,” we have to ask:

   1. Are all the male characters evil? Can you name any who aren’t seriously flawed in some way?

   2. Obviously, the story is not necessarily anti-male: many — even most — of the female characters have serious shortcomings, as well. What faults has Rhiannon herself had to overcome?

3. What do you think the cat that Sam Sabre has found is going to turn out to be?

4. If you were to add anything to Aryan Kaganof’s “Atoning Stoning,” what would it be?

5. Both Jörn Grote and D. A. Madigan invoke technology of some sort to accomplish semi-mystical ends:

   1. Does Jörn’s “Death Unstung” end with a vision of heaven in a life after death?

   2. What satirical elements can you find in D. A. Madigan’s “Halo”? It is a vision of heaven on earth: do the guardian angels make humanity irrelevant?

6. Was Richard H. Williams wise to have his time-traveling student fall ill before he could finish his visits to the past? The Challenge is: Write a story in which David Weiss recovers and completes his itinerary.

7. Have you seen any of the films Steven Utley mentions? And what is Mary Ann’s phone number?

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