Challenge 485

Moperies

1. In Ásgrímur Hartmannsson’s “The Objectors of Thunderpunch”:

   1. Are the statistics about soldiers’ reluctance to shoot real or fictional?
   2. What other ending can you think of for the story?

2. In Lesley Mace’s “The Final Stunner”:

   1. Is the account a story or a vignette?
   2. Does “The Final Stunner” overstep Bewildering Stories’ guideline about naratives that end with “But it was all a dream” or the equivalent?

3. In Bertil Falk’s “The Spirit of a Library”:

   1. What plans, exactly, are the committee members discussing?
   2. What do Andrew McCoy’s avatars persuade three of the committee members not to do? Does it have anything to do with the library’s reconstruction?
   3. At the end, Nirvana Swann observes that Andrew’s status as a ghost explains his lack of interest in women. Why might she make that remark?

4. In Killion Slade’s “Dead as a Doornail”:

   1. Is the story a comedy, a tragedy or a mixture of both?
   2. Liz says that her Grandma Gertie was a Wiccan. Do Wiccans normally practice black magic?
   3. How did Liz view the “elementals” when she was a child? Does her opinion of them change?
   4. What crimes do the “elementals” not commit in Rick’s and Liz’s home:

   5. Does the reader have a reason to think that Liz is justified in choosing the brown door over the red door? “Follow your heart” would seem to be rather unhelpful advice in this situation unless Liz has already established a preference.

   6. Does the ending of the story overstep Bewildering Stories’ guideline against plots in which the narrator dies?

Responses welcome!

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