Challenge 1141

Easy Come. Hard Go

In Zachery Brasier’s At the Hyperbolic Earth Convention:
1. What shape do the believers in a “hyperbolic Earth” believe the planet has? Is it a cube with four indented sides or is it some other solid covered with dents?
2. Is John Smith really a hyperbolic Earth believer? Is he a spy or is he merely being excessively polite?
3. How are the anti-science believers depicted? With derision? Favor? In some other way? How are they distinguished from one another in personality and belief?
4. What decision does Jarod finally make? Is it his own or is it imposed by someone else?
In Sandra Crook’s The Chosen One:
1. How long has Ellie been Tom’s and Helen’s adoptive daujghter?
2. In what way or ways does Tom display ignorance or carelessness concerning the care of children and infants?
3. Ellie admits to killing Taylor or, at least, doing away with the infant. Where is she, at the end, when she can no longer live with Tom and Helen?
4. Is Ellie a personification of evil, of childish jealousy or both?
In Henrietta Pertuz’s Shoulder Season:
1. What is “shoulder season”?
2. What is Ash’s concluding emotion about her meeting with Cale?
In Mike Rogers’ The Mask of Shikyo: How much violence is perpetrated — and by whom or what — in resolving a case that required virtually no sacrifice?
In John Eric Ellison’s We Woke Up To Sky! What is the cause of the catastrophe? Is it a natural disaster or an act of war? Why doesn’t it matter?