Challenge 874

Strictly Forebitten

In Natan Dubovitsky’s Near Zero, a lot happens offstage between chapters 36 and 37. Who might Yegor’s torturers be? Why haven’t they killed him outright rather than toy with him? What previous chapters might provide clues?
In J. H. Malone’s Drunk on Time, what special feature does Saul’s surveillance device seem to have?
In Ronald Larsen’s Snakebitten Dragon, the dragon can cure instantly all kinds of awful human ailments. Why can’t it cure its own snakebite?
In Howard Vogl’s A Hazy View on a Sunny Day, at what point might the reader suspect that Adele is not talking to George about real people?
In Nick Pipitone’s Spirit and Flesh, what would be the effect of including rhyme and meter in the structure of the poem? Would it emphasize the poem’s serious message or is prose more appropriate to the setting?
In Edward Ahern’s We Lepers, the author says that the title is taken from Father Demian’s way of addressing his flock on the island of Molokai after he, too, contracted leprosy. Does the poem explicitly or implicitly include spiritual, mental and emotional defects?