How important is it to forget the past? If you could trade a year at the end of your life for a day in your past would you do it? In this work of philosophical short fiction, Misha is working the family store (Shop of Yesterdays) by herself for the first time. The store she works at is a memory retrieval facility. All the memories of humanity are stored at the facility and accessible for reexperience. The price, however, for each day relieved is a death one year earlier. On this fateful day a man comes in with less than a year left and asks to sell his remaining day to relieve his “last good day.” After additional inquiry the man tells Misha this was the last day in his life before he “learned something he wasn’t ready for” and he was unable to let go of the information he had learned. It changed, and ruined, his life after that, forever.

How do you weigh the rights of the individual against the needs of the general population? In this work of philosophical short fiction, a zombie virus has ravaged the planet for over 30 years. While generations have been wiped out. Dr. Vivian Totter has developed a vaccine for the zombie infection and is being escorted to a nearby compound to accept an award for her world changing work. She is taken in an miliary vehicle across opens lands still infested with zombies. Their first overnight stop is in a city that causes her to find out that her mother was mentally disabled, raped, and later killed by zombies. With this revelation fresh in her mind she heads to her final destination, only to be confronted by members of the general population who assert the vaccination is killing a percentage of all those being forced to take it.

Is “unearned money” inherently evil? Is banking, or investment instruments that seem to produce nothing tangible, “unearned money?” In this work of economic philosophy short story fiction, the narrator is invited to his friend’s house, who has lured him, and other friends there, with stories of his “Money Box.” The Box turns out to be real. Simply put a $50 or $100 bill into its sleek slot and in seconds it will spit out a greater amount of money. The Box is all black, makes no noise, and seems to have no moving parts. Each month, his friend invites him and other over to use the Box, but he never uses it himself. In time, however, the narrator begins having terrible dreams where he is being tortured. Others using the Box are having similar dreams. Eventually the dreams become real and each person has evil and injuries befall them. Finally, the friend comes to the narrator’s house with the Money Box and gives it to him. A message on the box becomes clear, the rules are set, the narrator is the Money Boxes new owner until it releases him.

Would you look into and/or change the memories of your significant other to save their life? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Carson’s girlfriend Alice has been kidnapped. However, in this future, the technology exists to remotely extract the data from her mind, place it into the cloud, then download to a synthetic body. This renders the prior body totally valueless to the kidnappers, and will save Alice’s life. There is only one problem, there was a manufacturing defect in the new body’s memory storage capacity. Carson is given a choice, allow AI to delete a year’s worth of memories from Alice, or go in himself to choose which memories to view and delete. Carson decides to do the work himself, and finds out Alice has been having an affair with his brother and they have established a deep emotional connection. Carson is forced to make a hard choice about what (or who) he is going to purge from Alice’s memories.

Do what extent are we responsible for improving the world? To what extent are those that do evil in the world responsible for their actions? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Roz is a retired lawyer who is assigned as a volunteer case work for Deshaun, a trouble teenager who has been in and out of foster homes his whole life and was recently released for juvenile detention for getting into a serious fight. Roz attempts to help Deshaun, but he seems unwilling to trust anyone, and views Roz only as a resource to be exploited. Deshaun runs away from his group home while on detention and is at risk of being in violation of his probation. Roz contacts him and he asks her to pick him up. She feeds him and takes him to her place to sleep for the night. The next morning he is gone, along with her family Menorah. Some time later he contacts her, now in prison for other crimes, they meet and he apologizes for not accepting her offers of help.

Does life have the right to force its continued existence, even at the expense of other life? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, a pilot has been tasked with making the long journey, over the vastness of space, and over an unthinkable amount of time, to find a specific plant and spread panspermia capsules on the planet, ending the potential natural evolution of the planet, and seeding it for the eventual evolution of his own species. However, now that the moment of truth has arrived, the pilot has doubts. Does he have the right to potentially end the natural evolution of other species? Is it fair to be push life into being knowing that there is the risk of horrible pain and misery? In the final moments, he betrays his mission, and chooses not to drop the capsules on the unsuspecting planet.

Can incorrect actions (done in ignorance) still be honorable? To what extent do you have an obligation to meet and access evil, before vilifying it? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Sir Timult has committed himself to killing all the dragons remaining in the world. In fact, he has already killed several and is ready to kill the greatest of them all, “Deathwing.” However, upon entering Deathwing’s chamber he is invited by the dragon to first sit and talk. Sir Timult agrees, and learns that dragons frequently transform into humans and live among them. In fact, Sir Timult learns, some of the greatest healers, poets, and thinkers of his time were slayed by his own hands while they were in dragon form. Deathwing, in human form, is Lawrence the Weaver, a kind old man renowed for his weaving ability. In fact, Sir Timult has one of his weavings in his very own house! While some dragons have killed some people, these “evil” dragons have never killed anyone. Sir Timult is struck with grief, and takes his own life.

What does it mean to be an “all natural” food? To what degree should we determine a food additive is safe before using it mass produced products? In this work of philosophical short fiction, Dr. Loriah Harp works for Natural Light Foods and is the creator of acetylsterolstearate, a food additive that makes Natural Light Mayonnaise possible. She loves the product she helps create and feeds it frequently to her family at meals. Her life was perfect until her son Alex, started having health issues. New results in mice are showing that her additive, and her product, are causing health issues. Loriah wants the product pulled, Jeff, the Natural Light Foods’ CEO does not. Loriah decides to go public with the new information, ending her professional career.

How much does the truth matter when the accusation is enough to ruin lives? In this work of philosophical short fiction, Neil Daniels was a school counselor, two of the students at his school are Jesmyn and Melissa; they are inseparable. After they are discovered doing cocaine in the locker room Jesmyn is brought to Neil’s office. As part of a plan, Jesmyn quickly gets out of her seat, plunges her head into Neil’s lap, just as Melissa opened the door and snaps a photo. This photo is enough to end Neil’s marriage, cost him his reputation and job, and force him to spend his remaining days teaching ESL in Mexico.

When should you try and change your fate, and when you should simply accept it? Is there useful peace in simply accepting your fate? In this work of fate-based ethics fiction, the narrator is walking down the street to the store when he sees a man neck deep in a muddy hole. He stops to try and help the man, but the man refuses, arguing the universe has put him in this hole, and it is not his place to go against the universe. The narrator tries to help the man out of the hole, but he fights back, refusing help. A lack of acceptance of your situation, the man argues, is what gives rise to strife and violence. He will be at peace and accepting of his situation. Slowly, the man’s head goes into the mud and he dies. The narrator walks on.

What protections should a person of diminished capacity accused of murder have? Should intangibles be given consideration, or only facts? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, John is found by police on the side of the road pulling a knife from a woman’s chest. He is arrested, put in jail, and awaits trial. His attorney insists that he plead guilty, but John asserts his innocence and refuses to cave to pressure. Mandy, the Sherriff’s wife, brings him meals and is struck by his religious faith. She brings a reporter to talk to him to publish his side of the story. This brings an additional investigation from outside lawyers and brings to light additional information. The story ends with John going before the Grand Jury and telling his side of the story.

Is it important to see and understand the perspectives of everyone in society, or is it better to live a life with less strife by spending your time with a select group of people? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the narrator wakes up one day to find his vision has started to blur. He tries to see an eye doctor, but appointments are backed up for months. It seems every human in the world is suffering from the same, new, affliction. Under this new disease, at certain distances, half of the population. The pattern isn’t related to race or gender, and seems entirely random, but does not change over time. But the problem is serious. Some husbands can’t see their wives. Some servers at restaurants can’t see their patrons. To solve the problem, and for safety, people start to group together that can see each other. This splits neighborhoods and restaurants as they focus on serving only people capable of seeing everyone in the community. The transition period is awkward, but in the end, everything gets worked out. Finally, scientists invent glasses to allow everyone to see each other, but it seems a waste at this point. Everything has been sorted out already; no need to see everyone as things are generally fine the way they are.

Do we need our emotions, even are most negative ones, to grow from an experience? Is offering someone money for something you know they can’t refuse a type of stealing? Is it wrongly voyeuristic to want to experience someone else’s emotions? In this work of Gatsby-like philosophical short story fiction, Reginald is a member of the aristocracy with a strange habit. He buys and bottles the emotions of commoners. In fact, the night the story takes place, he is hosting a “tasting” for his aristocratic friends. They will sample emotions like Joviality, Joy, Remembrance, and Contentment. However, plans change when one of the guests arrives late, already a bit drunk, with a woman as his guest. While she is lower class, she does not shy away from asking to taste the strongest vintages in the wine cellar. As the night wears on, a conflict breaks out as the woman insults and chastises Reginald for buying the emotions of commoners and preventing them from feeling and processing their emotions properly.

To what degree is it appropriate to merge social networks with organizational goals in order to extract greater work from your volunteers? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, a young girl hears a voice from behind that promises to fulfill her wishes, but at a price. First, she wishes her abusive father dead, but it comes at the price of falling asleep for a week. Later, she sacrifices her leg in order to prevent the harvest from failing. She finally leaves her home as payment for her parents getting the money from her marriage dowry, while she escapes the unwanted marriage. Homeless, she is discovered by a rebel group fighting against their tyrannical king. They learn about her power and, bit by bit, ask her to sacrifice herself to aid them in their fight. She falls in love with one of the men in the struggle and continues to give more of herself to the fight. She goes blind and loses an arm, all as payment to the voice for favors it will do for her, and for the struggle. Finally, the young girl is asked to make the ultimate sacrifice and pay for a favor from the voice with her life.

Would you rather live in complete happiness, or have knowledge of good and evil? In this allegorical work of philosophical short fiction, Adam lives in a biblical paradise. One day, a strange man in the garden, wearing a snake necklace, offers him a fruit from the tree of knowledge. He declines, saying “Father” has forbid him from eating it. Later, Eve comes to the garden as well. She is offered the same fruit and accepts. After eating the fruit she realizes she is in a stasis chamber on a space voyage that has gone wrong. She heads back into the computer-generated paradise to try and get Adam, the only other remaining member of the crew, out of stasis, by convincing him to eat the same apple she did.

What are the long-term implications of haves and have-not to genetic medical advances? Should medical services that can be afforded by one, be freely made available to all? Do gatekeeping technologies make it progressively harder for the poor to change their status in the world? In this work of philosophical short fiction, the Dios are a group of super humans who, because of their wealth, have, over generations, made mental and physical enhancements to themselves. Those changes have compounded over time, making them a different, and superior, race. The only humans left on earth are those who didn’t start the enhancement process generations ago. Some, however, sometimes agree to go to live on Mars with the Dios as their pets. The narrator is one such person, that is, until he starts to ask too many questions.

What good is a soul in the modern age? What would you lose by giving it up? In this work of ethics fiction, the narrator checks into a hotel run by the Devil so he can give the Devil his soul. The Devil visits him in his room and, at first, is confused. Doesn’t he want to trade it for fame, money, or immortality? Nope, he just wants to be rid of the thing; it’s more trouble than its worth, and doesn’t seem to serve a useful purpose in a modern society anyway. The Devil takes his soul, offers him dinner, and a free night at the hotel. The man wakes the next morning, refreshed, as a maid knocks on his door. She wants to leave the hotel, but doesn’t have the courage. He agrees to help her leave, but their project fails. He ends up leaving on his own.