Discuss the romanticization of the Knife Fight. Discuss the mythos of violence. In the story "The South," the protagonist is drawn mystically into a knife fight that he is totally unprepared for. In "The Encounter," one man kills another and then weeps over the senselessness of the killing. Is the author trying to entertain the reader, or does he have something deeper to say about these conflicts?

Discuss coming of age. In "The Night of the Gifts" the story is about a protagonist who sees his first killing, and experience his first sex in one night. In the more mystical story "the Circular Ruins," the sorcerer creates a man by dreaming, before realizing that he also is a product of dreaming. Do these experience change the protagonists? Do they learn anything from them?

Discuss fantasy stories. The author has a mysterious and mystical side...