Challenge 983

Rave Grobbing

1. In Charles C. Cole’s The Wolf, Three Pigs and Red: In what ways do the fairytale characters display unexpected facets of their personalities?

2. In Gary Inbinder’s On the Trail:

   1. Does Hugo van Dorn match his sister Cassandra’s expectations? At this point in the story, does his role seem likely to be more than that of a pawn?
   2. Is Roxy already playing a larger role than that of informant for Max Niemand? Does Max show any sign that he might be aware of it?

3. In Victor Kreuiter’s Marvin, I’m Glad You’re Here:

   1. Does Marvin actually survive to enjoy retirement from his career in crime?
   2. Do “Kill Permits” and the rescuscitation of the victim, unlikely as it may seem, actually reduce the crime from murder to something else?
   3. Why might decriminalized crime be more difficult and expensive to regulate than crime pure and simple?

4. In Jeffrey Greene’s The Girl in a Lab Coat:

   1. Does Teresa ever take a bath or shower? Or brush her teeth?
   2. At what era in time might Teresa’s “white coat” impersonation have succeeded in a large hospital? Why would she be quickly identified as an intruder today?
   3. How might Teresa’s personality fugue reveal as much about her parents as it does about her?

5. In Joel McKay’s The Ministry of Labour Transition:

   1. In what ways does Julia’s characterization contrast with Ray’s?
   2. What is the purpose of “rewilding” most of Canada? Why does an area just east of the Rocky Mountains secede and join the USA?
   3. Could even Canadians be forcibly dispossessed, uprooted and deported to a distant part of the continent without resisting?
   4. How did this mythical Ministry originate? Is it engaged in industrial-strength “greenwashing”?
   5. How do Ray’s traffic accident and its consequences reflect the government policy that he enforces?

6. In Gary Clifton’s Charlie Poor Dog: The story consists almost entirely of cultural stereotypes. What are they? Whom is the action of the story most likely to gratify? To offend?

7. In Sultana Raza”s Bridge to Kemet:

   1. What is “Kemet”?
   2. Without archeology and museums, what has been — over the millennia — the ordinary fate of sculptures, “regal lines” and “dynasties”?

Responses welcome!

Copyright © January 30, 2023 by Bewildering Stories
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