Challenge 941
Give Us Pause
In David Barber’s Pioneer 10 at the Heliopause: How does the story depict a possible future evolution in attitude toward the meaning and function of spaceflight?
In Gary Inbinder’s A Broken Vessel:
- Is the poem an obsequy for the literal coffee cup? In what way does the poem characterize any funeral rite?
- How does the poem touch upon the classic topics of memento mori, ubi sunt and, perhaps ironically, sic transit gloria mundi?
In Rachel New’s Predictive Text: The Orinoco algorithms seem to know “You” and “Her” better than the two human characters know themselves or each other. Is artificial intelligence manipulating the two persons or is it pointing to figurative doors that are already open? What drawback is there in using Orinoco for romantic decision-making? Does it really do anything that has not been done before?
In Christopher DeRosa’s The Mage’s Tale:
- The story borrows the ideas of a labyrinth and a bull-like creature from the myth of Daedalus’ construction for King Minos. How do both elements differ between the two stories?
The legend of Daedalus contains a few elements of magic. Does it contain anything like the sorcery that Penelope practices in “The Mage’s Tale”? How effective does Penelope’s magic seem to be?
In D. A. Cairns’ Guinea Pig: Does the conclusion overstep Bewildering Stories’ guideline about “dream stories”?
In John W. Steele’s Iceberg: How does Buckland avoid being eaten by his own monster?
What is a Bewildering Stories Challenge?
