Challenge 696

The Lay of the Land

1. In Shola Balogun”s “The Griot’s Hymn,” what is a griot?

2. In Douglas Young’s “A Life Worthwhile,” does the conclusion cancel out the rest of the poem?

3. In Denny Marshall’s “Time Shift 33”:

   1. What might the title refer to?
   2. Does the action resemble that of a Roman arena?

4. In Richard Ong’s “Vulcan’s Forge,” which character in which story of this issue might the image best symbolize?

5. In Rob Crandall’s “Karlo’s Curiosity Shop”:

   1. The story is based on a series of extraordinarily fortuitous coincidences. How many are there?
   2. What might Karlo have done if someone other than Jimmy had discovered the baseball card? Why does Karlo wait for Jimmy to find it rather than take it to Jimmy’s grandfather?

6. In Bill Prindle’s “Cat With a Young Woman”:

   1. How many men does Junie meet? In what ways are all but the last unsuitable for her?
   2. Is Junie perfect? What improvements does Fred suggest?
   3. What people does Fred reject?
   4. What is the function of the nickname “Dub”?
   5. The story is a fantasy, but it has elements of the classic fable. What are they?

7. In Channie Greenberg’s “As Dead as David”:

   1. How many characters does the narrator mention by name? Which are the most important? Which is fictional?
   2. Who is “Wife”? Why might the narrator refer to her by status rather than name? Does he do so consistently?
   3. Where or what is Cluj-Napoca? What did the narrator do there, and why? Did something similiar occur in Romania?
   4. How did Janice get her promotion? Why might the narrator not object?
   5. What does the story show of the narrator’s state of mind?

Responses welcome!

Copyright © January 2, 2017 by Bewildering Stories
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