How do you judge the value of others; does society have the right to judge and exclude community members they feel are not living up to their full potential and/or are not benefiting the community? How do you judge value? In this work of philosophical short fiction, the story is told from the perspective of emissary who is sent by the kingdom to find a community in the middle of a shifting sand desert that is rumored to violate the fundamental laws of slavery, human sacrifice, and to worship false gods. A member of his group is injured while looking for the community. As the get closer to the community they find life-like statues of people in the desert. Some statues are moving, and repeating the same task in a loop, as they get closer to the community. Upon arrival, they are aided by the people and learn that the community has a strange disease that causes them to start turning to stone after puberty. The only cure is to be judged worthy by the community to go before their crystal god, to consume one of the people that has been turned to stone, and thus receive the anecdote to the disease. The traveling party is deemed worthy, and given the chance to take part in the ritual and escape death. One member refuses on religious grounds, and willingly accepts the stone-ification process. The leader of the group “goes native” and opts to live in the community forever. The third member of the group returns the original kingdom with a letter from the leader explaining what has happened. This story, like all After Dinner Conversation stories, has suggested discussion questions at the end.

Are our choices in life, and throughout all time, predetermined, or is there the ability to make different, and better, choices with additional information? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the main character is an older man who has been disfigured and has, generally, had a horrible life. He is brought into a government facility because they have discovered that he met his older self when he was younger, thus establishing that he must now be sent back in time to take part in the action he has already experienced as his younger self. The government agency explains that time travel does not create a multi-verse, but rather a single chain of events through infinity that has all already happened. So, you cannot go back in time to save Lincoln, because Lincoln was never saved. The main character lies to the agency and decides, while back in time, he will try to warn his childhood self away from the errors of his life. While talking to his childhood self the narrator makes realizations about the younger version of himself and the differences between memory and truth. He also attempts to warn his younger self, but as the government agency made clear, he is unable to do this because, had he been able to do it, he would have experienced it being done when he was younger. This story, like all After Dinner Conversation stories, has suggested discussion questions at the end.

At what point in a date do you owe the other party the duty to inform them you are engaged? Is marriage an exercise in love, or practicality? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the law school student narrator working at a summer factory job decides to set up her shy female friend, Susie, with her boyfriend’s shy brother, Barry. They go on a double date and everything seems to be going fine. Only later does the narrator and her boyfriend find out that Barry is engaged to a mail-order bride from Southeast Asia that will be arriving shortly. The shy Barry, it turns out, wanted to “practice” going on a date before his new wife arrived. The law student narrator is embarrassed, and struggles with the moral duty both she, and Barry, owe to Susie.

What is fair and equitable justice? Is the point of justice to deter crime, to punish those that commit crime, or to educate criminals so they can integrate successfully back into society? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the country has chosen to adopt the “Law Of Vindication.” If a drunk driver hits and kills someone with their car, their punishment is to be hit and killed with a car. The same reciprocal punishments exist for all serious crimes. Furthermore, it is a crime to not assist the government, when necessary, in providing the reciprocal punishment. The parents of a murdered child MUST murder the child of their killer. In this story, the narrator is in an unhappy marriage and decides his best chance of getting away with killing his wife is to kill his neighbor’s wife and wait for the law of retribution to require that his wife be killed as punishment. Of course, things don’t go quite as planned, and the law is interpreted differently than he expects.

What does it mean to be alive? At what point does artificial intelligence know enough to be alive? Does the Turing test even matter? If we want the best government policy possible, does it matter if it comes from a computer? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Rain is hired to do cyber-security for Presidential candidate Mr. Booker. There is a cyber-attack into Booker’s computer network and Rain is called to answer for the breach. In the process of digging into the data, Rain finds out that Booker is an actor, what is known in society as a “ghost,” and that all of the policy and speeches he has been given are being written by a sophisticated artificial intelligence using polling and other data. He says, literally, the perfect things at the perfect times, to the perfect audience. While artificial people, like news reporters, bloggers, actors, and influencers, are slowly becoming standard in this near future story, the idea of a politician being nothing more but an actor serving as a vessel for AI is unprecedented. Before Rain can decide what to do with her newfound information she is framed and is forced to use all her computer skills just to keep herself out of jail.

What does it mean to be a monster? How do you teach people to become accustomed to seeing things they don’t initially like or understand? Whose obligation is it to break through stereotypes and create a deeper understanding, the person who is afraid, or the object of their fear? In this work of philosophical short fiction, a mother takes her child out to the park even though there are ongoing rumors of “monsters” that roam their suburban neighborhood. Those fears seem to be true, and seem to imply this is a unique world, as the driver of an ice-cream truck suffers from severe, and grotesque, physical deformities. He says the reason he works a job and goes out in public is to help others get used to seeing “people” like him. On their walk home the narrator is continually concerned about the monsters that lurk in the neighborhood as she questions if leaving the house was a good idea. She feels she is being stalked by one of the monsters as they rush back to their home. They reach relative safety when her husband sees them and brings them onto their property. That’s when she sees, newly spray painted on the garage door of their suburban house “Whites only, negros get out.” Only then do we realize that the “monsters” are those that live all around them as they are the first to integrate their suburban neighborhood. They are the ones forcing others to get used to seeing “people” like them.

Should you abandon your dream to pursue where you true talents lie? Is a lifetime following your dream to be a painter a successful life if it turns out you simply don’t have an eye for art? Where do our dreams come from? When should they be abandoned? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, a young boy is in the government waiting room waiting to be assigned a new “dream.” He strikes up a conversation with other people in the waiting room. Some of them are anxious to get new dreams implanted into their brain as they have not found success. Others don’t want to let go of the failed dream they were originally assigned because they believe, in their heart-of-hearts, it is what they were born to do. The government is indifferent to the desires of the people. Society has needs, people have innate talents, and the government, as far as they are concerned, should focus on getting people to follow the dreams they are good at, as well as the dreams that are most needed by society. This story was the winner of the Fall 2020 After Dinner Conversation Writing Competition.

What does it mean to be a friend? What role do heroes play in forming our values and ethics? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Roosevelt is a young black child who is obsessed with the life and philosophies of President “Teddy” Roosevelt. He is new at the school and due to an issue with other students he is forced into the “Friends Group;” a social adjustment group for students the school have deemed at-risk. While in the group he meets Teddy, an overweight boy who has been in the group for years because he pulled an X-ACTO knife in art class on a fellow student who continued to bully him about his weight. The two misfit boys develop a friendship. Roosevelt teaches Teddy how to fight, as well as imparting bits of wit and wisdom from his hero, Teddy Roosevelt. Things go awry when they are caught swimming naked in Teddy’s pool. The school rumor mill spreads that they are gay. This leads to the school forcing the two boys to fight after school. Roosevelt decides that Teddy has more to lose and is less prepared to deal with the consequences of the altercation, so he allows himself to lose the fight. As Teddy Roosevelt said, “No man is worth his salt who is not ready at all times to risk his body – to risk his well-being – to risk his life – in a great cause.”