Challenge 1091

Risk Change

In Brenda Mox’s Camouflage: What change occurs between past and present?
In Charles C. Cole’s Connie, From Oregon: What if Charlie goes to the conference conclusion in Portland and meets the original Connie again? How might they feel about it?
In Robert Witmer’s I Got That New Retina Screen: Arthur Rimbaud’s poem Voyelles may refer to synesthesia or to an illustrated book he read as a child. Does it matter?
In Olaf Baumann’s Roswell: It Was My Fault:
1. What might the story tell us about the function of UFO’s in popular culture in the second half of the 20th century? At what point in the century did the “craze” subside if not actually die out?
2. How does the story emphasize that readers ought to take it not literally but figuratively, as a postmodern parable?
In Adam Stone’s ReBoot:
1. How might the capitalization in “ReBoot” subtly indicate not a correction but a repetition of a mistake?
2. The “ReBoot” (or “reboot”) procedure is time travel. The “rebooter” is displaced back in time exactly sixty minutes. Can the rebooter remain in her or his own timeline? Does the entire universe revert to what it had been an hour earlier? If everybody goes about rebooting, doesn’t all time stop? What would happen to the population if time travel functioned as in “Don’t Get Noticed” and its sequels? Doesn’t the story secretly establish that mistakes cannot be erased?
In Floyd Largent’s Forest Green:
1. Why does the story not overstep Bewildering Stories’ guideline about “Dream Stories” (#7 in the Review Readers’ Checklist).
2. Does David Bloom experience a reincarnation, technically speaking? In the forest world, does he belong to any recognizable Earthly species?
3. Is the doctor wrong to feel disconsolate at being unable to save Bloom’s life?
In Amita Basu’s Mirror:
1. What might be an advantage in refraining from naming the obvious historical character that the “I” character, Katharyn, refers to as “Uncle”? Why refer to him a “Guide,” which is a synonym for the “Uncle’s” legal title as “Leader” (Führer)?
2. Does Katharyn herself represent a historical figure? Adolf Hitler’s niece died in 1931, two years before he became Chancellor of Germany.
3. Whom does the story represent as the primary character: Katharyn or “Uncle”?
4. Why does Katharyn finally decide to tell “Uncle” to look at himself? How might he respond that the degrading ritual with Katharyn actually permits him to indulge in a recapitulation of self-history?

Responses welcome!