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After Dinner Conversation Short Story Series

Performance: After Dinner Conversation Short Story Series

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Synopsis - A sheepish brother is forced through an experimental program to take on the overbearing traits of his crime boss twin.

After Dinner Conversation is a growing series of short stories across genres to draw out deeper discussions with friends and family. Each story is an accessible example of an abstract ethical or philosophical idea and is accompanied by suggested discussion questions.

Podcast discussions of this short story, and others, is available on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, and Youtube.★★★ 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")★★★

29 pages, Kindle Edition

Published October 19, 2020

4 people are currently reading
15 people want to read

About the author

A.M. Todd

7 books13 followers
Debut novel, CITY OF SENSORS, available now!

A.M. Todd is a Canadian author who currently lives in Toronto. Her first novel, CITY OF SENSORS, combines noir and science fiction in a near-future detective story (published by NON Publishing). Her writing has been awarded grants from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Toronto Arts Council, as well as honorable mention in the Writers of the Future Contest. She completed her Ph.D. in English literature at the University of Toronto. Her short fiction has appeared in Breath and Shadow, Kaleidoscope, Scare Street, and After Dinner Conversation.

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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
Profile Image for Dan.
3,626 reviews621 followers
October 31, 2023
“I would’ve welcomed some noise to break the quiet. I would’ve welcomed anything to distract me on the night when I might sign my life away for two million dollars.”


Alistair Briggs has been drawn into doing undercover work by Dr. Larson and his sinister cronies.

Alistair is an introvert. Soft, kind, apologetic…doormat.

And Alistair is in dire straits. Relationship problems, on the cusp of eviction, and trouble—severely anxious, paranoid, and agoraphobic.

Travis Findlay, a high-ranking member of the Sixth Cartel…

Training. Studying. Mimicking. Practicing. The new technology of the performance shell. Repetition. Repetition. Repetition.

When you become someone else—when you’re forced to—how can you maintain your identity? And what happens when the aforementioned “someone else” is a terrible person?


“The conditioning was complete. I no longer needed the mechanical shell. I’d shed it like a snakeskin, and I was flesh again.”
4,419 reviews37 followers
June 1, 2021
Who, me?

Author freebie. Suitable for teens and adults. A parable or morality play about nature vs. Nurture. The argument is that nurture is more important than nature, you are who society programs you to be. It is like the dark universe version of star trek . The good guys can fake being bad, the evil kirk and company really stood out.
Profile Image for Mystee Pulcine.
282 reviews
May 11, 2021
A creepy, and far-fetched premise, yet somehow the outcome is totally believable. Great work.
Profile Image for Garth Mailman.
2,532 reviews10 followers
September 8, 2023
Performance: After Dinner Conversation Short Story Series
A.M. Todd

The story is reminiscent of Orwell’s 1984. If you create a monster a monster you may get and so he may behave.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews

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