Challenge 931

Down Home

1. In John Rossi’s The Adventures of Dead Dan: The Old Religion:

   1. What, exactly, is the old religion? Why is it “old”?
   2. As a revenant, how does Dan differ from androids or robots?
   3. At the end, does Dan’s mother know what he is?
   4. What causes the mysterious light to emanate from Dan’s room after he pretends to go to bed?

2. In Bill Bowler’s Klunk,

   1. What is the difference between an android and a human being? On what grounds might the anti-android militarists argue that they are right to fear that androids will replace them?
   2. The seasons of Alphane 3 change from moderate to extreme cold in a matter of hours. Why might the original and later colonists have been unprepared for such a perilous climate?

3. In Shuvayon Mukherjee’s Rain on the Highway:

   1. Why does the narrator’s mother commit suicide? Does he know? Did she give him enough warning? Why does he blame himself?
   2. Why does the narrator suspect the young man of contemplating suicide? Given the evidence, what are the chances that the narrator would be making a mistaken assumption?
   3. “I put a hand on his shoulder.” In what countries or societies might such a gesture be considered normal between strangers?

4. In Norm Rosolen’s Dan and Sylvia, a neurologist speculates to Rose that her father may have paraphrenia. Medical ethics aside, why might the neurologist’s diagnosis in absentia be wrong? Is it entirely clear that Dan does not know what he is doing in imagining Sylvia?

5. In Charles C. Cole’s Cards of Comfort:

   1. What is the dramatic function of the two half-smiles?
   2. How does Merwyn feel about Rupert’s disappearance?

6. In Kelli Simpson’s In the Hometown of the Devil:

   1. What sins do the the three stanzas illustrate?
   2. In the last stanza, the sister and brother are not entirely neglected; they have a place to live and something to eat. How might the three stanzas be combined to form a short story?
   3. The refrain refers to “the place that God forgot.” It’s a formal way of saying “goddamned” or “godforsaken.” But an omniscient deity cannot forget anything. In reality, who does the forgetting? And what does the “devil” cause them to forget?
   4. Bonus question: What further stanzas can you write for the same poem or for a poem that echoes the refrain?



Responses welcome!

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