Challenge 954

Sewing Memories

In Emil Draitser’s Salty Water:
1. What relief do Fima and his mother enjoy when they finally return to Odessa? What deprivations do they still endure that are, to a degree, like those in Shurab?
2. “Stalin considered all Russian POWs traitors to the Motherland.” What American politician has echoed the sentiment about American prisoners of war, although more as contempt than condemnation?
3. In 1945, what is the nationality of Fima and his relatives? What is their primary identity? What makes the story one not merely of nationality or ethnicity but of refugees the world over?
In Danko Antolovic’s The Ancestors’ Long Shadow:
1. What science-fictional technology does Atua use that is also a standard dramatic convenience in the Star Trek franchise?
2. Who might the “Ancestors” have been? Why and how might they have disappeared, leaving only Atua as a souvenir?
3. Atua is not an oracle or other instructional device, but it will respond usefully when asked “the right questions.” What are the right questions?
In David Barber’s Hard Being a God:
1. Is the story akin in any way to the Strugatsky brothers’ story of the same title?
2. How does the plot satirize the “grandfather paradox” of time travel stories?
3. Aside from honoring cameras planted by archeologists from the future, why might Stone Age cave paintings have been made deep underground?
In John D. Connelley’s The Devil’s Biscuit: After hearing his mother’s explanation of “the Devil’s biscuit,” Billy listens to the Garden of Eden story in church with renewed appreciation of its moral. What moral might Billy’s mother take from the story?
In Shauna Checkley’s Confessions from the Quilting Circle: At what point in the poem is the moral announced? Would it have been as effective in its traditional place?

Responses welcome!