Challenge 593

Sympathetic Eyes

In Bruce Costello’s “Man to Man,” how might Steve be treated if the sergeant had not had the same experience as Steve and the police proceeded from a conventional notion of “spousal abuse”?
In Sarah Ann Watts’ Winter Ship, “High Prince Jirair,” Kyran receives the same kind of treatment he has experienced since chapter 5. But Jirair is unusual. Why might Kyran question Jirair’s very existence?
In James Howard’s “Riptides of the Mind”:
1. Why is the narrator depressed?
2. What “larger story” is implied in the poem? Who might have committed suicide? How does the narrator feel about it and why is he blamed for it?
In Heather J. Frederick’s “Lynn the Ordinary”:
1. What elements of the classic fairytale does the story have? Of a modern one?
2. What is the function of Lynn’s breaking her arm in a riding accident?
3. Why is the math teacher killed?
4. How do readers know that Lynn’s attraction to Mr. Green is harmless?
5. Send us a term paper analyzing the modes of humor in the story.
In Jeffrey Penn May’s “Nuclear Power and the Civil War Lizards”:
1. What is going on in the story? Is the narrator having hallucinations? Does the story overstep Bewildering Stories’ guideline about plots that end with “but it was all a dream” or the equivalent?
2. The story ends with the “lizards” reciting a kind of glossary, which is very helpful. How might the story accurately depict editors’ and readers’ reactions to submissions that are loaded with obscure allusions?

Responses welcome!