Our last session consisted of four short stories, three as student presentations and a last one we all had to read. Once again, as it has been mentioned in previous posts, all of these stories, regardless of whether they are SF, Fiction, or Fantasy deal with created alternative realities that one way or another reflect the current actual reality we are living in. The reader may relate to the contemporary issues discussed in these stories, such as seizing the moment, respecting identity, acknowledgement of one's actions and their implications, meeting deadlines, the sacrifices on behalf of keeping up with our social engagements, among others.

Prof. María Teresa Fernández began with The Last Sunset, by Geoffrey A. Landis. In this SF short story some scientists get about and hour and a half's warning of the end of the world. One of them decides to invite a woman whom he likes, and who works nearby, on a date. They spend their last minutes holding hands, as they watch the beautiful luminosity that in a few seconds would destroy the planet. The story seems to invite us to take advantage of our finite time and to take action before it may be too late.

Prof. Lusvic followed with a story (Name needed) about a situation in which a man helps out an Amerindian family by giving them some food when they were in need. Their baby had no name at the time, and the stranger insisted a name should be given to the creature. He was named after this man as a gesture of gratitude and following their beliefs. The man finds out about this and asks them to change the baby's name, for that was his and should not be anyone else's. The family changes the name, to suit the purpose of both respecting their beliefs and the man's request, as well.

Prof. Cipdeg Guevara conducted Hanif Kureishi's The Tale of the Turd's presentation.
It is the story of an addict who, while in a dinner party at his in-laws', is unable to get rid of a stool in the bathroom. The dread in his life is compared to the stool and the fact that he cannot put either of them behind. In the end, he fetches the stool and throws it out the window, as he has he seems to have done with his own life.

Finally, For the Life of Sheila Morgan, by Dennis Lester McKiernan, was discussed as a group. It is the story of a freelance writer who buys a computer in order to meet a deadline for her piece. A magical software which could grant any spell in exchange for part of the remaining time of the user's life came in the CD-ROM unit of the machine. She misses her deadline and incidentally takes it out on the rude fat man who sold her the machine. Her financial situation gets tight, and the story leaves an open ending from which one may assume she would wish for money or something else to avoid being evicted, for it is implied by the footsteps she hears approaching her apartment, as her car is being towed away.