Challenge 209

Dancing Toward Summer’s End

Tamara Sheehan makes use of imagery to an unusual extent for prose narrative in Tenth Man. What similes and metaphors do you find particularly striking and effective?
Bill Bowler’s “A Robot’s Faith” is transparently an allegory of human experience. What stages does the robot go through in its progression from religious ritual to moral dilemma?
Donna Gagnon’s “Five Minutes More” is a one-scene play in which the character of Jessica is highly ambiguous. Is she a ghost, a delusion, or a real character? How does each interpretation affect our perception of Daniel?
How might Steven C. Levi’s “Bandersnatch George” and E. S. Strout’s “AMANDA” both be read as satire from the Green front in the ecological wars?
J. A. Tyler’s “When the Lights Go Out Again” can be read as satire on the genre of soap opera. How might it be read as a satire on world politics?
How do you interpret Thomas D. Reynold’s “Invisible Boy”? Why is the boy invisible? How did the pair of shoes get onto the power line?
Dan Malach’s “Together Forever” suggests a question: What happens when one Siamese twin dies before the other? Rewrite the story mentally by converting the twins to an elderly but otherwise normal married couple. What does the story gain or lose?
Where does Don Webb’s translation of La Cigale et la fourmi depart from the rhyme scheme of the original?

What relationship is there between the poem and Thomas D. Reynold’s “The Fiddler and the Cricket”?