Should a bipolar person go on medication if doing so limits their ability to do “great things?” In this work of psychological fiction, Irena is a bipolar piano player that fled, years ago, from an eastern bloc country. Her troubled relationship ended, and her partner died shortly after their breakup. This put her in a deep depression and sent her to therapy for years where she was treated with medication for being bipolar. One day, her dead ex comes to her and tell her she should enter a world renowned piano competition with a $400,000 prize. Her therapist reminds her about her stage fright that ended her career, but Irena insists. She practices, and wins the competition and the money. She decides to move to New York and leaves the $400,000 prize money as a thank you gift to her therapist.

Is the specter of death the greater motivator of life? And, without that specter, would humans lack motivation to work and achieve? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Peter wakes up to a warning from his computer that the nanites in his grandmother’s body are failing, and she is slowly dying from kidney failure. He spends the morning working to find the source of the sickness and issues. After some work, he realizes that the nanites are producing a product that is slowly poisoning his grandmother; it’s murder! He goes to his 150-year-old grandmother’s house to tell her, only to find out she knows about the issues, and she is the one who created them. Even though she is the creator of the nanites, and is a celebrity scientist of sorts, she has come to the conclusion that without the fear of death, humans lack motivation to excel.

Is it okay to give credit to an unknown person? Is there value in taking credit for the success of your own hard work? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the narrator is on a road trip and decides to stop in for breakfast at a small-town diner in Gardenia. Like most breakfast diners, the local community is there. He strikes up a conversation with an older gentleman sitting next to him and learns about Elroy Goddard, the most powerful, wealthiest, and probably the kindest, man in their small town. He owns practically everything, and has helped out practically everyone in town at one point or another. Many of the streets and parks are named after him as well. The waiter says he’s her “uncle,” of a sort, and even helped her get the job. However, after additional questioning it becomes clear nobody has actually ever seen Elroy, and his actions and support of the town are more indirect than they seemed at first. The narrator leaves town wondering if Elroy is real at all.

How would you live if you knew there would be no tomorrow? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the earth is coming to an end. A free-floating planet, dubbed the “black sun” is on a collision course with earth. The narrator goes out into the darkness of the streets to walk, lost in thoughts about his life, about its happiness, and its failures. He hears a tv on and wanders into a house to find a little girl, watching the tv. She is alone in the house, she explains. Her mother left years ago, and her father left earlier in the week, leaving the house stocked with food for her. He talks to her, and they decide to face the end of the world together.

What might you learn by walking in another person’s body? In this work of body swapping philosophical short story fiction, Empathery has perfected the technology to move the consciousness of one person into the body of another. To promote their business, they have partnered with the local school. Carol, the narrator of the story, is surprised when her daughter and son both come home in new bodies as part of a two-day assignment for school. Later, her husband Dave comes home in the body of a co-worker as part of a work team building exercise. Carol is offput by the entire thing, but when Dave decides to take the kids on a weekend fishing trip, she comes up with an excuse to stay home. Over the weekend, she goes to Empathery and gets the body a younger and fitter woman than herself. She finds the entire process disturbing, never leaves the house, and takes the body back as soon as she is able.

What would you do to ensure your soul continues forever? Does comfort with death require truth? In this work of philosophical short fiction, the narrator goes to a pseudo-scientist/cult leader who says that by consuming the ashes of the dead, you are consuming their souls and spirit. She is visiting to seek her revenge because her mother and father got wrapped up in the ideology of the man. She tours the facilities, and learns about the “science” and faith behind the process. In the end, she exacts her revenge for what was done to her family.

How do you deal with a family member with a severe mental illness? To what extent do you allow them into your life, when doing so causes stress and harm to your well being? In this work of philosophical short fiction, the narrator is suffering from a severe mental illness, but clearly loves her daughter. Her daughter has suffered the attention of her mother’s mental illness for years and has done her best to limit her mother’s effects on her life. The narrator correctly intuits that her daughter is getting married. She is not invited to the wedding so to prevent there from being a scene, and drama. No matter, she continues to focus on “planning” the wedding until she is eventually arrested.