A story with an unconventional structure that asks "What is your number one priority?"

In this metafiction, the many lives of an unnamed man are scrutinized as he passes through millennia.

In a future where technology has advanced to the point where humans can undergo "optimization" to rid themselves of emotions and increase their mental functions, one man decides to cling to his humanity in an effort to atone for his sins and appreciate the beauty of being human.

A middle-aged man faces a difficult decision; he can choose to use genetic alteration to have a say over the life of his unborn child, or leave the future up to chance. As he struggles to choose a path, he reconsiders his own past and the struggles he has faced.

As he witnesses his neighbor being kidnapped, Kyle must make a choice to either defy his strict, overbearing parents or remain silent.

An accomplished but ineffectual columnist searches for fulfillment, until a death in the family causes him to question the family he took for granted.

In post-World War II Japan, a boy is raised by his frigid father without love and spends the rest of his life endlessly pursuing it.

A gay man is rejected by his father and thrown out of his home, which forces him to rebuild his life. Years later, the man realizes that his father was indirectly responsible for his success, and that he is surrounded by many deep and loving relationships.

A woman dealing with conflicting emotions resorts to deliberately putting herself in danger to learn to value the life she's been given - but these unorthodox methods leave her more desperate than ever.

A young boy's frank essay on moral principles is erroneously published in the local paper, and the resulting fallout is mayhem for both the boy's family and the paper's editors.