Are self-help movements just modern snake oil? In this work philosophical short story fiction, Graham is a self-help junkie, spending $1,000’s per year to attend seminars and buy various self-help books. His motivation peaks and he decides to move to Los Angeles to be a screenwriter. His money quickly runs out, his health declines, and he is forced to return home in shame as a failure. He blames the self-help gurus that told him to pursue his dream and believes they are charlatans selling fake dreams. He attends yet another self-help guru’s event, this time to try and convince those attending the whole thing is a farce. Instead, he meets the guru in the hotel bar who tells him he has already moved past self-help, and he needs to create his own path. He does, and creates a form of yoga called Maneuverism. His program quickly grows into a worldwide phenomenon, until at his height, he walks away from it all, telling his follows to find their own path.

Is the story of life finding meaning in the meaningless? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Randy is a small suburban thief. Just in and out. Grabs a few small things that won’t be missed and locks the door and turns on the alarms as he leaves. On this particular day, he finds someone waiting in the house with a pistol. This stranger person confesses the gun isn’t for Randy, but for himself as, every day around 1pm, he has been dying in an endless loop of the same day. Randy doesn’t believe if, but has sympathy for the man because he lost a loved one to suicide. They talk, until the man raises the gun to kill himself. Randy takes the gun from him, the man stands to attempt to get it back, slips on the flood, hits his head, and dies instantly, right on time.

How do you keep the vitality of youth? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the narrator is an elderly man who lives with his elderly, walker-bound wife. His life takes a turn for the exciting when he accidently realizes he can see in the bathroom of the house across the way. The young man renting has a new girlfriend, and watching her each day awakens in the man a sense of joy in seeing the vitality of youth. The situation changes when the visiting girlfriend goes to Germany for the summer as part of a study abroad. At the end of the summer she returns, and returns to showering in the bathroom across the way. This time, however, as the narrator watches her his wife comes into the garage, catching him staring. Likewise, the woman and her boyfriend across the way simultaneously catch him as well.

How do you stop progress? How do you stop small towns from being developed? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Uncle Jed is an elderly farmer who hoped he would go his whole life with nothing particularly interesting ever happening to him. He served in World War II, and that was enough. He was hoping to farm and eventually die, as part of an uneventful life. However, after his wife Sadie dies he takes greater interest in expressing his frustration with the development happening in his small town. He stalls his tractor in the street, causing traffic jams. He refuses to accept mail at his house. He takes hug jars of change to the bank for processing. The town continues to build tract homes and, it is only in death, that the narrator, his grand-niece, realizes he may have been right all along.

Should medical research be driven by money? Should rich donors drive medical research focus? In this philosophical short story fiction, Liz heads to a medical research office with her son Micah. When Micah was born she was paid $1,000 by the research company for them to draw and review his DNA. The payment required a one follow-up appoint. Upon arrival Liz finds out the medical company is attempting to win the Z Prize, a prize funded by wealthy donors to find a treatment for the physical and mental deterioration of age. The researches explain Micah has a gene variation that makes him very likely to get Alzheimer’s later in life. This, however, makes him the perfect candidate for testing the company’s new gene editing treatment. Sure, it’s outside of the bounds of US regulations so it will be have to be done in the Caribbean, but if it works, Micah could prove their drug works, put an end to Alzheimer’s, and keep himself from getting it as well. The medical company would win the Z Prize, and Liz would receive a million dollars as payment for allowing them to test the new treatment on her son. She has 48 hours to decide.

It is okay to steal from a faceless company to save your family? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Joe and Ellie are stuck in a house they can’t sell. They have already bought their new house, but their old house has asbestos, lead paint, and black mold in the basement. Buyers don’t want to touch it and the financial burden of carrying a mortgage on two homes is set to bankrupt them. It is also causing them to put off starting a family. Joe gets an idea, he will hire a long-time friend to burn down their old house, thus allowing them to collect the insurance proceeds. Things go wrong when the friend accidently burns down the wrong house.

Is a digital copy of a loved as socially valuable as the real person? Is there an advantage if being able to permanently lose the ones we love? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Rachel receives a letter while at University informing her that her Uncle Stewart has passed away. She returns to the small town for the funeral and talks with Grandma Ruth, the local restaurant owner. Grandma Ruth sets Rachel up a date, but things don’t go quite as planned. Rachel confronts Grandma Ruth and finds out that she has slowly been replacing the town citizens with robot copies in order to keeping the dying town’s population from dwindling to zero. The story ends with Grandma Ruth asking Rachel to take over the responsibility of maintaining her families, and the towns, robot population.

Is it dishonest to have someone “pilot” your dates? In this work philosophical short story fiction, Simone works for Connect2, a dating service that allows “pilots” to be inside the mind, and control the body of, paying customers that are on dates. By piloting hosts to be the best versions of themselves, they are able to help their clients have successful dates that lead to long term relationships. However, things go wrong when Simone is piloting Alexis, a long-time client who ends up on a date with someone she knows in real life. Simone pilots Alexis through a sexual encounter with her friends, and gets fired from her Connect2.

What would be in the personalized room of your greatest terror? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Winston’s father suggest he read 1984 because he shares the same first name as the main character. Winston reads the book, and its themes of War is Peace, Ignorance is Strength, Freedom is Slavery, and wonders what would be in his Room 101; the room that contains are greatest fear? Years later he is serving in the Middle East with a military contractor and find himself in a tense situation with a little girl, holding a baby with a bomb strapped to her chest, and realizes his greatest Room 101 fear has come true.

What if there are infinite possibilities, but not for you? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the billionaire Lathar Jackson visits Ethereon Flux to try out their groundbreaking technology, the ability to observe, and send paying customers to, better parallel universes of their lives. Every choice we make creates a parallel universe where that choice was made and, for the right amount of money, Ethereon Flux will allow you to see them, and move into the best one. However, when Lather is hooked up to the machines, they realize he isn’t generating parallel universes; in short, he isn’t exercising free will. He is not actually making choices! Ethereon Flux detains Lathar for study as the government has concerns that it might not be allowed to punish criminals that were deemed not to have exercised free will. After doing more and more absurd things in an attempt to unsuccessfully prove he has free will, he dies in the facility.

How does our mind make meaning of fragmented childhood memories? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the narrator recounts his childhood association with foul-mouthed Dave, a “spaz” who was frequently sent to the “Spaz Box” by teachers. The narrator does a meta-analysis of his childhood memory of watching Dave get violently attacked by his older brother. He also does an analysis of his childhood memory of Dave saving (or was it pushing?) a little girl who broke her arms in a fall. Through a review of his childhood memories, the narrator attempts to piece together the truth, while also understanding that even his most vivid memories may be incorrect.

How should we treat the unhoused (zombies)? In this philosophical short story fiction, Chad is a new employee in the city parks department. On a rainy day, a park-goer reports a zombie has locked himself in the park restroom and refuses to leave. In this world, zombie’s do not eat brains or attack people, but carry a disease that causes them to continue thinking, speaking, and functioning, after death as their body slowly decays around them. The Court has said zombies have the right to urban camp at night in parks when there are insufficient shelters, but they are not permitted to stay in the parks during the day. As part of his duties, Chad heads to the bathroom and meets the zombie John Smith, who has locked himself in the stall. He is trying to stay out of the rain as rain causes his skin to decompose faster and, ultimately, will cause him to discontinue sooner. Despite the horrible smell of rotting flesh and grotesque deformities of decay, Chad speaks to John with empathy and John agrees to leave the stall and move on.

When is it okay to lie to your child? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Peter is on the phone with his wife, who is at the veterinarian’s office with their dog, Bingo. Bingo has swollen a plastic object which is stuck in his stomach and may not pass. Their young son, Max, is frantic with concern about the family dog, however, the father is concerned about the almost $1,000 bill that will come with a potential surgery to remove the item. Peter leaves the final decision in his wife’s hands, but lies to her son and tells him they are going to do the procedure and that it will be quick and painless with a vacuum cleaner type object to pull the item out. Peter decides to stick to his lie and distract his son by offering him a soft drink as a treat.

How does our limited life span determine our choices and our view on the preciousness of life? How would these views change if we lived forever? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, a traveling salesman sits at the bar after a long day drinking bourbon. He is approached and cleverly pitched a new product he has discovered on a distant rim planet, Life. The product stops the aging process. The first batch is free, and the salesman returns eight years later to get into the distribution business.