By Bob Collopy

I am in the midst of writing a sci-fi dystopian book. What makes my book different is that many of the main characters are actually powerful philosophers. Philosophers like Plato, Nietzsche, Camus, Aristotle. One of my characters, Johnny, is a stoic philosopher.
The aim of my book is to help make philosophy cool, thereby encouraging people to learn more about philosophy.
The following is an excerpt from my soon to be published book, “The Phoenix Cycle: Part 1.”
In this excerpt, Johnny goes over some of the basics of Stoicism. The General (actually The Marquis de Sade) challenges his beliefs. See if you can catch it!
Please be advised that this content is PG-13 due to some cursing and graphic content.
The Phoenix Cycle
The General walked over to Johnny and held out a glass for Johnny to take. “Oh, of course!” The General set the wine glasses on the arms of his
wooden chair and came back to untie Johnny’s arm. Johnny continued to gaze into the fire, hypnotized as the young girl slowly blew away into the setting sky.
“So let me guess.” said The General as he began loosening the rope that had curled itself into a tense knot around Johnny’s right wrist. “She was the girl next door. You grew up seeing her on the other side of your window…
Occasionally, you could muster the strength to ‘run into’ her when you were taking out the trash.” The General raised an eyebrow and begrudgingly changed his tone as he continued his hypothesis.
“When you saw she had brought other boys home, you found that time had halted while you laid in your bed…the only sensation you got from your evening dinner was from its steam, which fumigated your face.” The General droned on. “But when the boy had gone you were first in line to offer a shoulder. You became her friend.” The General glanced up and cringed. “You were, ‘nice.’”
The General returned his attention to the knot. “But somehow, someway, you bridged that friendship gap, didn’t you.
How nice.
And she was amazing wasn’t she. Ohh, she wasn’t perfect but her imperfections made her all the more real. Which is exactly what you wanted. She had become more than an image on the other side of the window. She became yours. “
The knot around Johnny’s wrist melted and slid off.