Challenge 120

Exposition

1. Julian Lawler’s Battle Seer is in full flight of exposition. Chapters 1 and 2 have been devoted to Palance Demondread and some colorful and mysterious stage-setting. But the Anchoress of Corinn Ada, in the Prologue has to lurk in the back of the readers’ mind, and she mustn’t be forgotten. How do you think Julian will bring her back and tie in her story with Palance’s?


2. Alexandra Erin’s first installment of “The Pendant Strikes!” is an act with three or four scenes. How does Alexandra set up our expectations of the Pendant? And what do you think of him at the end?


3. Is the ending to “The IOD’s” plausible in terms of the story? Does it suggest a “larger story”? If so, what might it be?


4. R D Larson uses a real person as a main character in “The Whimsy.” We have a precedent for that in Ásgrímur Hartmannsson’s “Weekender,” in issues 111 and 112. In both cases it’s a friendly gesture, and the people involved agreed to make a “cameo” appearance, of a sort. Do you know of any other stories that do the same thing? What limits are there? What cautions would you consider if you wanted to use a real person as a character?


5. Steven Francis Murphy’s “Tranquility Lost” will be a very interior story that plays out in a setting we can easily visualize. Take away the mirror in McAllister’s quarters: how would you have handled the exposition without it? What do you think of the setting, namely on the Moon? Where else would you have staged the action?

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