After Dinner Conversation - Crimes & Punishments

Named Top 10 "Best Lit Mags of 2023" by Chill Subs

Carefully curated stories from our monthly magazine to create a themed short story book about the philosophy and ethics of crimes and their punishments. Perfect for classrooms and book clubs, each story is 1,500-7,000 words and comes with five suggested discussion questions.

Story Summary List

• Idle Horns: A horned demon of hell born to eternally torture the damned walks off the job.
• Community Of Peers: A foreigner wanders into a remote village just before a convicted criminal is about to be punished and is asked to throw the first stone.
• Form Seven Alpha: A city resident is caught breaking the law and is given the choice between one of five punishment options.
• Conscience Cleaners: A genuinely repentant criminal appeals to the court to have his memory erased of the crime he committed.
• Blackorwhite: A lactose intolerant inmate tells his story to, and befriends, the doctor assigned to look after him.
• Conveyor: Arthur Montague is on trial for genocide and war crimes...again, and again, for eternity.
• Soon The Sentence Sign: A bar fight turns into a brush with the colonial AI driven judicial system.
• Bunny Racing: Two bunnies race, but one of them has been eating a special carrot from the forbidden forest to help him run faster.
• The Only Punishment: A street-hardened criminal is forced to live his crimes from the perspective of his victims.
• Human Contact: A college student heads to a party, gets high and drunk, and ends up having a night that will forever change lives.

After Dinner Conversation believes humanity is improved by ethics and morals grounded in philosophical truth. Philosophical truth is discovered through intentional reflection and respectful debate. In order to facilitate that process, we have created a growing series of short stories across genres, a monthly magazine, themed books, and two podcasts. These accessible examples of abstract ethical and philosophical ideas are intended to draw out deeper discussions with friends, family, and students.

Reviews 5/5 Stars!
"With Science fiction we can explore other galaxies and alien conflicts, but with philosophical fiction we can explore other minds and ethical conflicts. Let this book take you on a Phi-Fi adventure."
- William Irwin, Ph.D. - Philosophy Professor, King's College

"After Dinner Conversation has taken up the initiative to write themed collections of short stories that fit focused ethics courses - say, a course on bioethics, AI ethics, Tech ethics etc. These collections can offer a spine for such courses or individual stories could be added to a course as illustrative material to stimulate discussion. The stories are lively and engaging and followed by a set of questions to start classroom discussion. Also, outside of educational contexts, the stories will work nicely to stimulate conversation in families, elder hostels, youth clubs, or book groups. Give it a try - I trust that you will enjoy working with the material in this book!"
- Luc Bovens, Ph.D. - Philosophy Professor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

★★★ If you enjoy this story, subscribe via our website to "After Dinner Conversation Magazine" and get this, and other, similar ethical and philosophical short stories delivered straight to your inbox every month. (Just search "After Dinner Conversation Magazine")★★★