Challenge 835

Destination: Anywhere

In Bev Jafek’s The Creature That Lives in Angkor:
1. What is the function of the tense shifts between the narrative past and present?
2. What is the significance of the wave form in the history of Angkor?
In Mike Acker’s Newscast Evolution, does the poem distinguish between television newscasters and war reporters?
In Robin Helweg-Larsen’s Many Ways to Drown:
1. Is being sucked into a swimming-pool drain fact or an urban legend?
2. How many disasters does the poem enumerate? To what are they attributed?
3. Does drowning in girls’ “large-eyed innocence” and “pools of enchantment” qualify as a disaster?
In Alexander Leonard’s Now Moving Organics:
1. What is the difference between Cronocorp’s teleportation device and Star Trek’s transporter?
2. How might Cronocorp’s device be used as a weapon? What disruptions might it cause?
3. Shawn says that Cronocorp is munificently philanthropic. What might it do to help workers faced with technological obsolescence?
4. Are Shawn and Cronocorp right to be wary of Don Wallace’s activism? Why does Shawn bother to negotiate with him?
5. At the end, Don Wallace starts walking. Where might he go? Is he even sure he is on Earth?