Challenge 868

What’s to Sneeze At?

In Bill Kowaleski’s Botched Operation: How does the motivation of the Cygnian anti-Earthling faction differ from that of the “Aliens Out” equivalent on Earth?
In Coleman Bomar’s The New Fatherhood: What is the function of the microchip implant? Is its use beneficial or does it perpetuate unhealed evil?
In Jeffrey Greene’s “The Resurrectionist”: How does the story reprise a genre established by Thomas R. in the early years of Bewildering Stories? How is it like and unlike the interview with Maria Etxea and similar works?
In Tom Vaine’s Omega Brown and the Tellerian Shapeshifter: Does Omega Brown’s and Hoonra’s struggle with the shape-shifter take place simultaneously with their contact with other people who have also been marooned on the planet? If not, what is the sequence of events?
In Howard Zaharoff’s Escher Dines Alone:
1. How does Maurits Escher’s artistic style differ from that of his experience in the restaurant?
2. What artists of the late 19th or early 20th century might have appreciated the café menu?
In Douglas Young’s Yellow Weeds:
1. What might the colorful weed be?
2. How many negations does the poem use? What might their function be?
3. Is the weed really “calm”? Might not even a Buddhist gardener find it invasive and allergenic?
In Natan Dubovitsky’s Near Zero:
1. What allusion does Capt. Warhola’s name seem to contain? Why does she say “you Russians”?
2. What is the precedent in Antiquity for the snuff films that Sara Warhola describes?
3. What constitutes “social order” according to Warhola? How does it seem to be maintained?
4. How likely is it that the latest incarnation of the state security apparatus does not know where Mamaev lives in Moscow and St. Petersburg? Why might Sara not care whether Yegor believes her?
5. Sara implies that the Khazars rule southern Russia. For how long?

Responses welcome!