"She Rode a Horse of Fire" by Kendare Blake * How does Friedrich view women in the story? Why is this important to the plot? * Where does the reader get hints of the supernatural in this story? What effect do these elements have on the characters and plot? * Who do you believe the three people in the tapestry are? Who do they represent? "It''s Carnival!" by Tiffany D. Jackson * Why does Cindy decide to tell her story after so long? Does it change your view of her? Why or why not? * There are many points in the story where Cindy alludes to her revenge. Track these instances of foreshadowing. How does this foreshadowing make the revenge even more sweet to Cindy? * What can the reader infer about the social status of Cindy and Darrell? How do their backgrounds contribute to the conflict? "Night-Tide" by Tessa Gratton * How does the narrator believe Annabel Lee died? What is the reasoning she gives? What does this say about the relationship she had with Annabel Lee and how she still feels about her? * The narrator asks, "If I had been the one to die, would I be the darling, and Annabel Lee the I know what you are?" How would you answer this question based off of what you have read in the story? * Track the images of purity and innocence throughout the story. How is it juxtaposed with the way society views the love between the narrator and Annabel Lee? "The Glittering Death" by Caleb Roehrig * How would you characterize Laura? How does she change from when she''s first captured by the Judge until she''s rescued? What causes these changes? * Examine the setting in the story. How does it contribute to the conflict? How does it lead to the Judge''s downfall? * What statement is Caleb Roehrig making about the victimization of females? Identify elements in the story that help express this. "A Drop of Stolen Ink" by Emily Lloyd-Jones * What role does power play in "A Drop of Stolen Ink"? What characters have power? Over whom? In what ways is this power reversed? * How are the three pieces of information that Augusta gives the reader about identity theft foreshadowing? Examine each and explain how it connects to things later in the plot. * Look at the last three lines of the story.

How was this the perfect crime? How wasn''t it? "Happy Days, Sweetheart" by Stephanie Kuehn * The narrator says, "I had hope, is what I want to say, and maybe that''s what tragedy really is. A dream ceded to less." How does this relate to what happens in the story? What is the true tragedy of the story? * When the narrator talks about Jonah, she says that his apathy toward his successes was because "It only meant he had nothing to lose." What does the narrator have to lose? Why are success and awards and accolades so important to her? * How does the narrator and her views change throughout the course of the story? Track her characters throughout the story and analyze the impact of this change on the plot. "The Raven (Remix)" by amanda lovelace * Evaluate the blackout poetry. Instead of simply rewriting the poem, amanda lovelace chose to keep it in its original structure but blackout specific words and phrases. What effect does this have on the poem? What does it add to the piece? * Does Lenore exist physically within the world of the speaker or is she imagined? Identify elements to support either interpretation. Examine the last line.

What is the speaker dreaming about? Why is the speaker on the floor? * Compare and contrast the two versions of "The Raven." In what ways are they alike? In what ways are they different? "Changeling" by Marieke Nijkamp * Changeling makes the statement, "I''ve found cruelty knows no class." What does she mean by this? Where do we see examples of this throughout the story? * While there are plenty of examples of physical torture in the story, where does Marieke Nijkamp present examples of mental torture? What affect does the mental torture have on the story? * The last line of the story is Jester telling Harper, "Now we take you home." What is home? What are the different views of home throughout the story? "The Oval Filter" by Lamar Giles * Tariq, Courtney, and Morris have different personas; the person they create for those around them and then the person that they truly are. Examine both sides of these characters and explain what this shows about them. * Analyze the idea of plans and expectations in this story. What characters have specific plans and expectations? How are they thwarted during the course of the story? How does this change their lives? * "The Oval Filter" starts and ends in the same place. What is the significance of this? What message is the author making by doing this? "Red" by Hillary Monahan * Red comments about Boston, "All great cities have their multitudes, great wealth and great poverty coexisting in inequitable truce that sees those who have doing what they want and those who do not have suffering.

" How do we see this in the story? Cite specific examples and the affect it has on the text. * Examine the description of the bouncers when Red first gets to the club and at the end of the story. What is ironic about this description versus their actions? * Analyze the idea of staying in your place and where you belong in the story. What is the statement Monahan is making about this? "Lygia" by Dahlia Adler * The narrator seems fixated on body parts and reduces Lygia to the physical. Track instances where the reader sees this. Analyze the affect this has on the story. * The narrator is addressing Lygia the entire story. What effect does this have on how the reader experiences the story? How would the story change if the narrator was talking to the reader instead? * What do you believe has happened when Roberta walks down the staircase? Is it Roberta? Is Lygia back? Is it the narrator''s altered state? Is it something else? Make a case for your view.

"The Fall of the Bank of Usher" by Fran Wilde * Examine the point of view of the story. What does the reader gain by having Mad tell it in first person? What could some possible drawbacks be? * When Mad discusses her and Rik''s early years, she states, "We learned a valuable lesson along the way: we were stronger as one." Is this true? Are they stronger as one? * What role do language and codes play in the story? Identify different versions and how it affects the plot. "The Murders in the Rue Apartelle, Boracay" by Rin Chupeco * Why is the opening scene so important to the story? What does it establish and set up? * Why is it important to Ogie that he solves the murder? What''s his motivation and how does that affect the plot? * What red herrings does Rin Chupeco place within the story? What effect do these red herrings have? What clues are placed in the story about who the murderer is?.