Synopsis: You make a fatal choice one night that results in tragedy. Was that tragedy predetermined, was it inevitable regardless of what choice led to the tragedy? Or was it the result of your single choice of free will? Could you have chosen differently? In either case, the story follows what happens to your life after the tragedy.
1 - David W. Goldman's story "The Axiom of Choice" appears to explore the question of Free Will versus Determinism. If you choose Free Will go to 2; If you choose Determinism go to 3.
2 - The apparent structure of the story follows those old Choose Your Own Adventure
stories that are apparently still popular. Go to 3.3 - Even though the story is structured like Choose Your Own Adventure, the protagonist (aka You) is forced into a particular set of choices. If you make your own choices, go to 4. If you are forced into choices, go to 5.
4 - Are you making your own choice? Or is the universe choosing for you? Go to 5.
5 - Are you really forced? As Rush sang, "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice." Go to 4.
6. Even though the structure of the story forces you to follow a particular path and all the tragedy that befalls you appears to be pre-ordained, by the end of the story...Well, you'll just have to choose to read the story to find out what happens to you in the end.
Where to read this story: Author's web site
More by the author, David W. Goldman:
All of his published work is available on his web site.
The story "The Story of His Life" is included in L. Ron Hubbard Presents Writers of the Future XXI
The story "Radical Acceptance" was first published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact and reprinted in Prime Codex
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