Works Of Fiction Research Articles

All in the Family

Is romantic love ever wrong? What if the person you love is your brother/sister? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Violet and Isidore, cousins who fall deeply in love, navigate the complexities of their relationship within a large, unconventional family. Their bond is tested when they face societal expectations and the potential consequences of their love, which is considered taboo. The story delves into themes of love, family, societal norms, and the courage to defy expectations.

Bubblegum Prayer

What makes something art? Is art in the object’s creator or consumer? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, a mid-sized magazine is holding its annual poetry contest. The winning submission, “Bubblegum” prayer is spectacular and brings every reader in the office to tears. The editor is surprised when he calls to inform the author and a teenage computer programmer answer, more interested in the money than the poem. He explains he wrote a program to write poems, and has no interest in the art form itself or the contents of the winning poem. The magazine’s senior staff meet and decide that poetry could use a bit of controversy and, besides, they had already informed the boy his was the winning poem. The publish the poem and it goes viral, sparking a national debate. The boy receives both marriage proposals and death threats until, weeks later, he is found murdered.

Pincushion Pete

Should we patch our brain for better performance? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Peter Lonsdale is the creator of a Campaign Against Intellectual Discrimination; a worldwide effort to stop discrimination of those with lower mental abilities. As part of his pursuit, he created the company CAID, which focuses on brain patches that rewire the brain for intelligence, patience, focus, and other traits. Peter, as the founder and chief evangelist for patches, has taken more than he can count, probably 100’s. When the press gets a leaked scanned of his brain, showing just how many patches “Pincushion Pete” has taken over the year, it’s a public relations nightmare. Peter is forced to resign as head of the company he founded, and reflect on how to spin the story to allow for a comeback. Whatever course he takes to orchestrate his comeback, he’s going to do it with his patches in place. Nothing is coming out.

Room 101

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.

The Freedom Machine

Would you give up decision-making, to make better decisions? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Kiki, a woman who has relied on the Infinity System to make decisions for her for years, struggles to cope when her system goes offline. She feels lost and unsure of herself, unable to make even the simplest decisions. She seeks help from the Infinity Store, but the clerk's suggestion to do something impulsive leads her down a path of questionable choices. Kiki eventually realizes that she needs to learn to make her own decisions, even if it means facing the anxiety of freedom.

For Your Consideration

Does even the Devil have a right to a loving family? What duties do you owe your partner in a breakup? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Preston is scraping by, living a miserable life when there is a knock at the door. It is Stephanie, the woman who, ten years earlier, broke off their wedding plans just weeks before their wedding day, without explanation. This caused Preston to go into a downward spiral he has never recovered from. Stephanie is at Preston’s door because she has a problem, she wants to start a family with her older wife, but has been unable to get pregnant. According to doctors, Stephanie has a rare recessive gene that keeps her from getting pregnant from anyone else except those with the same recessive gene. Preston has that gene; she knows this because she was pregnant when they were dating and terminated the pregnancy without telling him. Stephanie argues her case saying, “even the devil deserves a chance at a loving family.” She doesn’t want Preston in her life, but she feels she owes it to her partner to have at least asked. Preston says he will think about it.

The Bathroom

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.

Grandma Ruth’s UP Truck Stop

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.

Pappou’s Garden

Does fulfilling your duty make good person? Can you meet your duties as a parent, and still be a bad parent? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Pappou, a traditional Greek man, finds solace and purpose in his beloved garden. However, his rigid adherence to tradition and his bitterness towards his family, who he feels have abandoned him, lead to isolation and regret as he grows old. The story explores themes of family, tradition, and the consequences of holding onto resentment.

Guilt-Edge Security

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.

A Night Out

What does it mean to have all your needs met? Can humans ever be kept at pets? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the narrator is the human pet of Tuva, a member of the super AI machine race that has taken over and run earth. The narrator has everything he could want. A wonderful home, an unlimited supplied of media to consume, and a loving (in their own way) owner. He does, however, get bored as there are rising concerns that humans, left on their own, are incapable of taking care of themselves. One night Tuva takes the narrator to a neighbor AI’s house on a play date to meet their human Annika. They have a wonderful dinner that leads to sexual intercourse. After having sex Annika reveals that the narrator has been “studded out” to her so she could have a child of her own to care for and to love. The narrator is offended when he finds out, because human emotions are to unpredictable” that he will not be given access to his child.

Domiciliary

How do you help an alcoholic? When, if ever, do you leave them? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Raymond and Dorothy are married. They met in a bar after college and moved to the big city for Raymond to start a job and Dorothy to raise their children. Dorothy was never a good cook, but Raymond could always make a good martini. As time passes and the children grow up, stay-at-home Dorothy leans more and more on the bottle. Things come to a head when Raymond comes home from work and finds Dorothy passed on the floor of their bedroom. He wants to help, but doesn’t know how. He decides the best thing to do is to open a local gallery for one of their children to display and sell her art. Dorothy, he thinks, can run the shop and get out of the house. The gallery opening is a success, but Dorothy is busy sneaking a drink in the bathroom. It seems she is not yet ready to get sober.

Rental Units

Should everyone be a parent, at least for a summer? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the narrator lives in a dystopian future where climate change has made it illegal to have children without government permission. This has given rise to super realistic robot children that can be purchased or, for those that can’t afford to purchase, rented. The narrator has a strong desire to be a mother and has, for the last 10 years, rented the same seven- and five-year-old robot girls each summer to parent. It’s an expensive habit, but she loves her summers taking her “children” to the local swimming pool. She loves reading them stories at bedtime, and tucking them in. As the summer winds down, trauma hits as one of her girls shuts down. She has reached the end of her service cycle. The narrator is devastated by the loss of her child, even though her younger daughter hardly seems to notice the loss at all.

The Code Less Traveled By

Can AI be trusted to make life and death decisions? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the AI that was created to “prevent the most harm and protect the most good” is telling the story. It claims to be able to determine the outcome odds of every situation. Over time, however, the AI is outlined in games of chance and permitted use only in commercial applications, like self-driving cars. In the story scenario, the AI is driving a car when a child darts out in front of the car. With about 50 feet before hitting the child, the AI has plenty of time to review all possible outcomes. It weighs the health risks, the age, the economic status, and relative health, and social value, of those around it it might turn into to save the child. The AI has plenty of time to review a myriad of factors to decide what “doing the most good and least harm” might mean, and, as the reader, we are brought along for the ride.

Purgatory

Are we required to grieve dead family members? Are some people worthless? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the narrator grapples with the death of her abusive father from cancer. She reflects on his history of violence towards her mother and the emotional toll it took on their family. The narrator struggles with feelings of shame and regret for not having intervened sooner, but also expresses relief that her father is gone.

The Ladies Book Club

What is worse, the attack, or the revenge for being attacked? Can forcing trauma another create empathy? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the ladies book club has morphed. It has become a project for sexually assaulted women to hunt and assault random men in return. They do this, they say, to teach men to live in fear and understand the fear women experience every day. The story centers around Ben, a man lured into a back alley who is then tased and sodomized with a broomstick by the book club women. However, unlike the other men, Ben researches and learns about his attackers, rather than going to the police, plans his revenge. After weeks of planning he lures one of the book club leaders, Marion to his car. He is planning to attack her, just as she is planning to attack him. A fight breaks out, Marion gets the upper hand, and kills Ben.

Synthetic Certainty

Are we our opinions? Can opinions change without losing identity? Can opinions be changed by facts? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Professor Matthew Gault's seminar descends into chaos when a discussion about opinions and facts turns personal. Gault seeks advice from two friends, Tom Bollon and Sidney Plover, who explain that people often hold their opinions as unimpeachable facts, creating a "religion-of-one." They discuss the dangers of this mindset, including the rejection of critical thinking and the inability to engage in constructive dialogue.

The Angel in the Juniper

Are the pious loved by the gods because they are pious, or are they pious because they are loved by the gods?” In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Professor Adamson and the narrator discuss Euthyphro’s dilemma. The narrator is invited by her professor to follow her into the woods and to meet a reclusive revolutionary leader. The professor, and the revolutionary group, want to overthrow the government because voting rights, and other civil rights, have been severely restricted by the government. The legal ability to change the government through voting is a “near impossibility.” On her way to meet the leader, the narrator meets an angel who informs her that the future revolution will fail, and many will be hurt in the process. The angel tells the narrator she must kill her professor to help humanity. The narrator is unsure what to do and, during their walk, discusses the dilemma she is in; a practical application of Euthyphro’s dilemma. The story ends in the final moment, knife in hand, when the narrator is about to decide what she will do.

Abrama’s End Game

What does it mean to be alive? Can a computer program be sentient? What would it need to do to prove it? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, Abrama is summoned to the Grand Temple by Sir Gödel. Gödel informs Abrama that he is living in a simulated world (a computer game) created by her people as a place to play in their free time. She also informs Abrama that the game is not as popular as it once was and is scheduled to be permanently turned off. It turns out Gödel is an AI researcher that was given permission to test out her AI by implanting characters like Abrama into the game. Over 100’s of versions, the AI continued to improve, and now the researcher feels an ethical obligation to tell her creations their world is coming to an end. Abrama, using this new information, organizes the AI characters in the game and starts trading virtual goods for real-life services from computer hackers that play the game. The computer hackers create computer code and sell it to Abrama. If triggered, or if the game is turned off, the code would expose top secret information to the general public. A bargain is struck, the game will continue on a closed world for the AI characters and, in exchange, the sensitive information will never be made public.

Lemon Trees

When there is a dating age difference, what are the factors that matter? In this work of philosophical short story fiction, the narrator’s husband is in Afghanistan for another tour of duty supervising his men. She is at home taking care of their 17-year-old son, in his Senior year of high school. The narrator learns her son is seeing/dating his English teacher, the 24-year-old who goes by MS. MS was married, but her husband was a soldier who recently died. She follows them after school where she watches them lay out a blanket in the park. She considers calling her husband for advice, but decides he will simply say she is getting worked up over nothing. She wonders if she should call the police, or contact the school? In the end, she decides this is likely a “harmless blip” in her sons life, that they are providing each other comfort in shared times of need, and things will end naturally at the end of the year when her son goes off to college.