Challenge 1013

Accident Prevention

In Charles C. Cole’s Joe Avery Meets Mother Nature and Joe Avery Meets City Hall: In what ways do the human and exotic authority figures resemble one another? How do they differ?
In Jeffrey Greene’s The Wig: Does Yvette Bliss’s wig consist of synthetic or real hair? How does the distinction apply to her description at the outset of the story?
In Kjetil Jansen’s Where the Bear Dances:
1. The time travelers justify their attempts to change history by preventing fatal accidents. Why do they fail with “the target”? And who is “the target,” anyway?
2. Almost all the events recorded in the notebook and discussion have actually occurred in our timeline. Which are the exceptions? What might their function be?
In Sophia-Maria Nicolopoulos’ And Then There Shall Be Rain: What does the Smog Man appear to represent in Khalilah’s life?
In Bruce Costello’s Double Edge:
1. How many coincidences does the story rely upon?
2. Did the narrator have a reasonable chance of discovering earlier in his life that he had a son? Why might he have had that chance?
3. Is the story likely to end merely with revenge?
In Denny Marshall’s Walking the Shoreline:
1. What element or elements might give the planet’s atmosphere a greenish tinge?
2. How likely is it that the micro- and macrobiomes will allow the presumably unprotected space alien to return safely from its stroll?