Otto was having trouble relating to people, which is why the virtual world of Sword of Valour was so appealing. Here was a world where excitement replaced tedium, where you could kill annoying individuals, and where the level cap kept you from growing old. It seemed like virtual heaven. Sadly, it wasn't.

In Sword of Valour, you could be whoever you wanted to be. What was puzzling was that everyone seemed to be exactly the same as they were in the real world. The same hang ups, the same egos, the same bloody mindedness. The only real difference, as far as Otto could tell, was that if you killed someone, instead of rotting, they complained. It was enough to make you steal a fortune in virtual goods and sell them on the virtual black market for very real money.

A tale about who we think we are, who everybody else thinks we are, who we really are, and who we wish we were.

Emmet Storch was an unemployed sponger who thought he had no calling in life. All that changed when he landed a job in the call centre at the monolithic Star Insurance where, from the very first day, he was magnificent. It was as if the very essence of insurance ran through his veins and he and his telephone were as one. Irate policyholders found comfort in his soothing words; recalcitrant contractors became polite and respectful. It would have been perfect if not for his lecherous and treacherous hormones.

A humorous look at love and lust in the iAge where consumerism runs rampant and integrity can go and get stuffed.

Every civilization needs to reflect on what is or is not important. In times gone by, it was knowledge, love, or honour. Things have changed.

At the dawn of Western society, great thinkers and writers such as Plato, Aristophanes, and Euripides bent their minds to the many problems that beset our fledgling civilization. Their toil played no small part in making the West what it is today. Time marches on, however, and Western civilization has evolved and changed. Sadly, Plato and his toga-wearing contemporaries are no longer all that relevant to your average iPod toting consumer.

Symposia is made up of 5 short stories that revisit the themes that motivated Plato, Aristophanes, and Euripides. Thankfully, they are not around to complain...