Challenge 164

Poltering with the Poltergeists

Have you noticed something odd... strange... nay, downright spooky about this issue? It’s loaded with ghost stories.

Every single one of the short stories has something to do with the supernatural.
Tala Bar’s flash fiction “Passages” is a fantasy and seems to qualify, and Mary King’s poem “Poltergeist” gives us the title of this Challenge.
Even euhal allen’s The Bridge has Things That Go Bump in the Dark of outer space: hitherto unknown aliens come out of nowhere, and they’re even scarier and more powerful than the Skeltz.
The Letters department talks about what can only be described as the Halloweenish nature of current events.

Is this trend a sign of the times? D. A. Madigan’s Astoreth may know... Only ‘Q-Ball’ Quilter’s and Steven Utley’s essays bring us out of the haunted house, and even they confirm our unofficial motto: “No story is as bewildering as reality.”

Now, here’s the Challenge: of all the stories in this issue, which two do you think take the most rationalistic point of view? One of them is obviously “Into the Shadows of the Stars: the Dark Future.” What is the other one?

Responses welcome!