"Short Stories for Long Discussions."

After Dinner Conversation - "Best Of 2023" is a collection of the best philosophy ethics short story fiction published in After Dinner Conversation's monthly magazine in 2023. Short stories span all genres; science-fiction, near-future, dystopia, spiritual, fantasy, urban fantasy, AI, historical fiction, contemporary women, political, horror, thriller, and children's stories. The important thing is that the story is compelling, and that it asks a specific ethical or moral question. Imagine the "trolley problem" in short story form.

Short Stories By (in alphabetical order): C.S. Griffel, Cory Swanson, Kim Z. Dale, Earl Smith, Lee Dawkins, Erik Fatemi, Edward Daschle, Jan McCleery, Lea Pounds, Julia Edinger, Porter McKoy, Allison Padron, Kathryn LeMon, Kelly Piner, Ishan Dylan, Celia Lisset Alvarez, Mark Bessen, Michael “Mikhail” Shainsky, and Thea Swanson.

Reader Reviews

• "...a terrific collection of short stories (for teaching) courses on civics, ethics, or contemporary social problems, in high school or junior college." Philosophy Professor at Chapel Hill, Luc Bovens

• "Tears Your Heart. Heart breaking discussions fueled by this book." Amazon Reviewer MariaJ

• "...these stories as a whole so far, have been haunting, staying with me long past finishing." Amazon Reviewer Andrea L. Stoeckel

Complete List of Philosophy Ethics Short Stories

1. The Worst Thing You Can Do is Nothing: A cold war officer is faced with attack warnings that may signal World War III. (January, 2023)

2. The Chair of Opportunity: The aging owner of a mega-corporation offers to switch bodies forever with one of his employees. (January, 2023)

3. M.I.N.D. Your Marriage: A newlywed realizes her husband has planted a memory reading device into her brain to "protect their marriage." (February, 2023)

4. Understanding Ice Cream: Professor Gault meets a mysterious stranger that causes him to question the underlying causes of political polarization. (March, 2023)

5. Glad All Over: An elderly man helps his fellow season-ticket holder with his existential crisis with philosophy lessons.  (March, 2023)

6. Thorn: A local builder comes across an upstart carpenter in a neighboring village that he believes threatens his business.  (April, 2023)

7. Visions of Midwives: A midwife in training learns the midwife secret, that at the moment of birth each midwife is able to see the future of the newly born child. (April, 2023)

8. What We Talk About When We Talk About Reincarnation: A gay couple, and a trans couple, get together for drinks and try to figure out what it means to be a man/woman. (April, 2023)

9. The Draft: Society forces all babies to born, but creates a lottery system requiring all men to care for the offspring. (May, 2023)

10. Final Determination: A murder victim is waiting in the afterlife and is given the chance to decide to the eternal fate of her recently deceased killer.  (May, 2023)

11. More: A cheating husband's mistress discovers he is married and forces him to tell his wife about their relationship. (May, 2023)

12. Hard Metal: A courthouse security guard is put in charge of escorting the grief-stricken mother in a murder case.  (June, 2023)

13. The Things We Give: Martha sells years off the end of her life to help her mother and make ends meet.  (July, 2023)

14. Three Blocks: The narrator sees her face on the body of those she passes on the street in need.  (August, 2023)

15. Euthanasia: In a dystopian future, Hank works on a farm for the euthanizing of sick, unwanted, or abandoned animals. (August, 2023)

16. Cicada: Dr. Zhang invents teleportation but refuses to share it with the world. (August, 2023)

17. The Pool: A good-willed apartment complex owner deals with ever-complaining tenants as she attempts community improvements.  (September, 2023)

18. Drag Brunch: Hannah's gay friend is excluded from her bachelorette party.

19. The Walnut Tree: A travel tour in Uzbekistan gets sidetracked to wonderful effect.  (November, 2023)

20. The Pill: Marlee realizes how much her life has foolishly revolved around men.  (December, 2023)

* After purchase you will be emailed a .zip file containing a .pdf, .epub, and .mobi version of Season One, suiting for printing, reading on your Kindle, iPad, or other digital device.