Challenge 91

Power and Women

Please read the rest of the issue before embarking on the Challenge.

As noted in the Readers’ Guide, this issue’s stories seem to touch on two main themes: friendship (in the novels), and medical care (in the short stories). Those topics are very general; we can read the stories other ways. Let’s look at a couple:

1. What is power? And how is it used?

   It comes down to who is doing what, and why. Let’s review the means briefly:

   “Rude Awakening” shows detective Tamara Tomson on the trail of what turns out to be a terrorist.

   “The Big Insomnia” depicts the use of medical technology in defiance of death.

   “The Seeker” depicts an enhanced medical android who can also be seen as a kind of terrorist.

   “The Organ Grinder’s Monkey” stages a classic clash of the good of the individual versus that of society.

   What means do the protagonists use? And what are their ends?

2. The novels all portray personal relationships in action. What similarities can you find in this issue’s installments of The Prophet of Dreams, Gaia and Made It Way Up ?


3. A funny story received on the Net long ago told of a riddle posed to king Arthur. Captured in a battle, Arthur is released on the condition that he return to his captor in one year with the answer to the time-honored question: What do women want?

   Arthur’s opponent really wants to know the answer more than he wants to make Arthur a permanent resident in his dungeons. Arthur asks everyone; at last, a witch says she’ll tell the secret provided Sir Gawain marries her. The witch is utterly repugnant, but Gawain will do anything for Arthur, the Round Table, etc.

   On their wedding night, the witch appears to Gawain as a beautiful young lady. She gives him the choice: she’ll be beautiful by day and a hag by night or vice-versa. Gawain considers the choice of happiness or unhappiness in public or at home. He says, “I’ll leave it up to you.” At which point the witch tells him he has discovered the secret on his own, that women — like men — want to choose what they are going to be. And she chooses to be beautiful all the time.

   Now, one of our male authors has stated, in a side conversation, that depicting believable female characters is an almost hopeless challenge. I take that as a challenge in itself. How would you go about researching how to develop characters of the opposite sex?

   Here’s where I’d start. Bewildering Stories is a remarkable database of information on the subject. We have bibliographies of several female authors: Tala Bar, Susan M. Gibb, Fran Jacobs, Susan Jane, Susan Kingsolver, and Caroline Misner. And we wish there were more.

   1. How do they depict female characters?
   2. Change the names of the female characters to male and vice-versa. What other changes does that require?

   Is there really a “battle of the sexes”? How often are men and women really on the same side?

   Best of luck!

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