Are all religious leaders who say they know the will of God, a cult? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, two young boys, Fletcher and Mark, throw rocks at rusted cars in the local dump. While throwing rocks they discuss the recent proclamation of “the Sister” who has told them the end is coming in just two short weeks. The boys discuss if they believe the Sister, and the unfairness of their lives ending before they have had a chance to fully live. They discuss running away from the group to get additional time before the end, but decide the few extra weeks is not a good trade for an eternity of damnation. In the end, the decide to spend their remaining time in each other’s company, trying to enjoy life and be happy.

Are you simply what you repeat? In this work of philosophical short fiction covering the power of repeated action in changing ideas, a weak spirited loser is contacted by the government and informed he has a twin that is the head of a powerful mafia organization. The government will pay him $1 million dollars if he goes through their program to learn the mannerisms and speech of his mafia twin and replace him in the organization. As the twin learns how to act like the mafia boss, he becomes more like him until he escapes the training program with the money and a new personality.

What is the value of a book? Is hope worth dying for? In this work of philosophical WWII era short fiction, three prisoners in a Nazi concentration camp find a bible. A book in Birkenau. They know that if it is found in their position they will be punished, if not killed, and yet, they decide to hide and keep this hidden treasure. They know, for their own safety, they should burn the evidence. Or, should they trade it for food? Or read it? While the risks are great, they decide they will die before giving up the book. They also consider sharing it with others, at least, until they day comes they are caught.

To what extent should we use modern values to judge those working within the unjust rules and prejudice of their time period? Do unjust customs excuse unjust actions in response? In this work of historical ethical fiction, Benedict and the narrator elope and honeymoon in Scotland. Benedict is wealthy with a large estate and so, when they come back, the narrator is to become the lady of the estate. However, she quickly learns Benedict has a secret, his older brother of diminished mental capacity, has been declared dead and is being secretly kept in the attic of the house. This was done when Benedict was born so that he, and not his older brother, would inherit and control the family estate. The narrator is offended by the situation, but facing acceptance (and lower social standing) or divorce, she opts to continue the family lie.

To what extent are allegations of past wrongdoings newsworthy and relevant to voters and political campaigns? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Mayor Ted is retiring and has requested that Brendon run to replace him. After consulting with his wife, Brendon agrees to run and throws himself into the campaign. As momentums builds, he is contacted by the local newspaper about a former employee who says he attempted to kiss her on a business trip ten years earlier. A few weeks later, one of his son’s teachers comes forward saying he groped her in the parking lot of the school. Brendon denies the allegations, but knows the first allegation is true, while the second was caused by him tripping on an uneven portion of sidewalk. Regardless, his wife decides to temporarily leave him to gather her thoughts, his female campaign manager resigns, and Mayor Ted withdraws his support over the “optics” of the allegations. Brendon limps to election night alone, but, much to his surprise, wins.

Can atrocities happen without anyone having alterative choices to stop it? Does superior technology presuppose superior morality? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the Rigel and the Musca are in a territorial race to the edge of the galaxy. Earth, a habitable planet with an underdeveloped civilization is needed for real estate development so it can support forty billion additional aliens. Vega is the alien real estate developer who has come to earth to offer a choice; support your colonization, and have technology shared with you prior to alien arrival, or fight us, and face your complete extinction at the hands of superior technology prior to alien arrival. Left with no good choices, humanity decides to fight.

Who deserves more credit, those who correct past wrongs, or those who never commit the wrong in the first place? Is it ever too late to do good? In this philosophical short story fiction, Lev is nearing the end of his life as a pawn shop owner. Upon reflection, he feels he frequently took advantage of those who were most in need, and wants to “examine his account with God.” To set things right, he goes about the process of freely returning all the items he has in his store to their original owners. Some items have been in his store for years, however, some owners, now decades older, he is still able to find. He returns the items he finds, and listens to their stories about why they originally sold them.

How would society, and human interactions, be different if we were each allowed one free killing of another? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the narrator works as one of two designers at an athletic shoe factory. Ally, the other designer and a missed love interest, takes him to lunch to inform him their departments are being merged and she will be the head of the department. In effect, she will be his boss. After they leave the restaurant, the narrator decides to finally use his “one free kill” and shoots and kills Ally, not for love, he says, but for work.

Should you set aside religious convictions to allow a medically necessary procedure to save your life? Is it wrong to interfere with those who make the choice to die for their religious convictions? In this medical and faith-based philosophical short story fiction, Jenny is a devote Christian whose life is threatened by a terminal illness. However, she can be saved by the use of stem cell technology, which she considers cloning. As such, she declines the procedure and, against the urging of her husband, accepts her pending death. Her husband secretly dismisses her wishes and lies to the doctor so that, when she is near death, she is able to accept the life-saving stem cell procedure. Jenny lives, and divorces her husband for refusing to follow her religious wishes. Her husband regrets nothing.

If you could meet your clone, would you want to? What if you found out your clone was gay? In this work of philosophical short fiction, through a mix-up of process, Douglas Junior is a blue collar finds out he has a clone that has been unknowing living for years. Because the process took place after Douglas Junior was an adult, the clone is 20+ years younger than him. Excited by the prospect of being a “father” and meeting a younger version of himself, he reaches out and they meet over a meal. Things don’t go as plan as Douglas Junior learns his younger clone has excelled in math and science, is a budding astronaut, and is gay. None of this makes sense to Douglas Junior and the interacts quickly break down to argument. Faced with confusion, Douglas Junior decides the scientists are wrong, Douglas Junior Junior isn’t his clone.

What is the difference between getting inspiration from, and plagiarizing, someone else? Can industry standard behavior, none-the-less, be unethical behavior? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Evan is a graphic designer. Evan finds out he won a gold medal award at the yearly ad industry awards for one of his designs. The problem is, he lifted the exact design from an Australian ad that was 20+ years old. To be fair, the copied ad was one of three options he gave the client, and the other two were original works. Afterwards, the client so loved the copied design he insisted that Evan make no future changes. Furthermore, Evan withdrew his ad from contest consideration, but the client resubmitted it on his behalf without his knowledge. His firm acknowledges that, “everybody does it” from time-to-time and his actions were only “technically…unethical behavior.” Regardless, when the client finds out, the client insists that Evan be terminated even though he loves the ad and (because it was copied) saved money on the hourly rate. Given the choice between an employee and a profitable client, the firm terminates Evan.

If all options were possible, what policy changes would make voting, and democracy, work better? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the narrator lives in a world where all public political affiliations are illegal leading up to, and shortly after, their every-ten-year elections. No colors, no symbols, and no public speech so as to limit political misinformation and post-election turmoil. Additionally, everyone is required to vote, unless they are granted a government exemption. This is meant to create a more stable democracy. The narrator’s party ends up winning the election. At the end of the story, the evil side of this “improved” democracy shows itself; those that lose the election are summarily rounded up and killed by the government.

How do you decide which species get to thrive, and which should die off? In this work of philosophical short science-fiction, the archeologists of the planet have uncovered a hidden chamber. In it, they have found a small group of “ancient” people in hibernation. They decide to free one of them so they can learn more about their culture, and decipher the hieroglyphics all around the chambers. What emerges is a huge surprise; a talking, intelligent, female cow. A cow that is the intelligent version of the very animals his people eat. She calls herself, “human.” Over the weeks, the archeologist learns the basics of her language to communicate. It seems her people lived hundreds of generations ago, but were stricken with a disease that was killing off the world population, she is dying of it too. They went into hibernation. The archaeologist shows the human that today humans exist, but they are treating like livestock and lack her level of intelligence. It turns out there was a mutation that allowed humans to survive, but that same mutation gave them the intelligence of beasts. Working together, they realize they could cure their livestock humans, but this would cause the new dominant intelligent species on the planet to die off. They decide it is better to put her back into hibernation.

Do the ends justify the means? Is bribery and corruption acceptable if, at the end of the day, it serves the greater good? In this work of philosophical short fiction, Reverend Clarence Washington has been the senior pastor for nearly forty years at Gethsemane Baptist Church in New Orleans. Post hurricane Katrina is he working hard to get his church, and the surrounding area, improved so he can better serve his congregation and the community. Clarence is called by the mayor because there was a mugging in his ward just a few nights earlier. This scares the bankers who are putting up the necessary building loans. Clarence goes to the local gangs and pays them to keep the streets safe for visiting tourists and white people. To smooth things over he crates a multi-congregational coalition in support of the project. The mayor visits Clarence and tells him the budget for the renovations will need to be cut, there simply isn’t enough money for everything he wants. Of course, there are “overhead expenses” for the mayor’s campaign. Clarence’s wife is also on salary from Clarence’s church. Seems corruption goes both ways. In retaliation, Clarence calls the FBI to tell them about what’s been going on in the mayor’s office.

What does it mean to be alive? How do you know if violence is ever okay? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the male owner has purchased a female service android for his house. She talks, she has sex, and she serves her male owner in every way. Over time, her male owner becomes more aggressive and more violent towards the android woman. He punches her and, later, rips her arm off and beats her with it for incorrectly mixing his nightly drink. He takes the android to Joe, the local android repair person. Joe repairs and reprograms the android woman so that, the next time she is attacked, she fights back and kills her owner.

Does empathy and moral choice only require that we better understand things from the perspective of others? What if we could force criminals to get that better understanding? In this work of nature-of-punishment short story fiction, Rat has been sentenced to a government “brainwashing” facility. He regrets nothing, save having been caught. He comes from the mean streets, and sometimes that means doing horrible things to get by. As part of his punishment, the government forces him to live his criminal experiences three times. First, from his own perspective. Next, from the perspective of the person the crime was committed against. And finally, from a meta view that allows him to see how his actions, and the actions of others, fit into the larger repeating cycles, in the city. Rat emerges from the program with a new perspective and is ready to begin assisting the program with cleaning up the city.

How do you determine who gets medical treatment? What is the basis by which to determine who gets medical treatment? In this work of medical ethics short story fiction, Libby works as a salesperson at the Phoenix Rejuvenative Sciences Center. The medical center provides bionic organ transplants for the rich. However, their most important product is Fenixir, nontechnology bots that attack damaged and diseased cells. Using this technology, aging can be severely slowed, cancer can be halted, and organ damage can be repaired. Libby’s daughter, Anna, is suffering from glioblastoma multiforme. Treatment isn’t working and she is likely to die. Anna decides to steal Fenixir from the medical center and give it to Anna to save her life. The procedure is successful, but Anna is caught by the company and forced to strike a bargain to keep from being prosecuted for her crime.

How much would “walking in another person’s shoes” create greater understanding? How much would it be a punishment for the wrongs done to others? In this work of criminal ethics short story fiction, Christine works at the Virtual Rehabilitation Project (“VRP”). The VRP is a tool that allows criminals to live the experiences they caused from the perspective of their victims. But it doesn’t stop there. Not only do they live the experience of the crime, but they also live the years, or decades, that follow the experience as well, such as the depression and loneliness that follows losing a loved one. Christine uses the VRP to have a white supremacist live the experience of being a black man whose family he killed. She later tricks an influential elected official into experiencing the rape and murder he perpetrated against Christine’s wife.