Challenge 959

Talismans of Ambiguous Fortune

In Nemo West’s An Auspicious Relic:
1. In view of the story’s setting in place and time, why might one presume that the legend of the wreck of the Spero is nothing more than a tall tale? Or, if it actually occurred, it did so on some other planet?
2. Sam produces an artifact allegedly from the Spero. How carefully is it examined? How would anyone other than Sam know whether it is genuine?
3. More than half of a search party led by Dalton Tham perished in Toboso Marsh. Sam, Triss and Chelle have explored the Marsh for years and plan to set out into it again. Do they know something that other explorers don’t? Or are they heedless of danger and extraordinarily lucky?
In Pat O’Malley’s Godsmith:
1. What might be the satirical nature of the story about The Gleaming and S. D. Hoover’s love affair?
2. How does S. D. Hoover’s history differ from that of Harry Houdini?
3. At what point does S. D. Hoover’s career diverge from the common practice of spiritualism in the 19th and early 20th centuries?
4. Why does the museum not guard the “god” machine exhibit more carefully than it does? Is the ending a joke at the expense of religion or of disbelievers?
In Shauna Checkley’s These Lesser-Known Eves:
1. From what works of literature are the various “Eves” taken?
2. Why are the women called “Eves”? Are they married to lesser-known Adams? What do the Eves all have in common?
3. What might “you and me” [sic] be arguing about? And why argue “outside / the women’s clinic”? Why is the location important?
4. What is the function of “the elderly cat”?
In Boghos L. Artinian’s Unidentified Swimming Objects: Microscopic intervention at the cellular level implies that an analogous operation might be taking place with humans’ sightings of UFO’s. Why might the analogy seem unlikely?

Responses welcome!