Reading Time: 2 minutes Guest post by Bert Bigelow, a long-time contributor to A Tippling Philosopher. Sometimes dreams can be quite entertaining. Here is one I had recently. I was shopping for veggies at a local farmer’s market, and I noticed a guy who was watching me closely. In fact, he was staring at me. Now, I am not […]
Fiction
Imaginative stories by secular writers.
Posted inEnvironment
Solarpunk humanism: How we dream bigger than despair
Reading Time: 5 minutes One unspoken tenet of anti-theist discourse is that we are limited by the religious stories at the core of our culture. For that slice of the nonreligious spectrum, it’s not enough not to believe, personally, in a god. The nature of religion poses a narrative problem that anti-theists feel must be confronted at every turn. […]
Posted inFiction
A conversation with God
Reading Time: 4 minutes My jogging companion didn’t show up yesterday. He was suffering from muscle spasms in his back, and decided to take the day off. So, I was on my own for the daily five-mile walk. It was a gorgeous day…sunny, light breeze, a few wispy clouds, about 70 degrees. Just right to wear a sweatshirt and […]
Posted inFiction
The truth about black cats and monsters
Reading Time: 2 minutes There’s a black stray that lives in my neighborhood. He came with the house. The previous owners abandoned him. But he had a cat door so he spent most of his time outside before they’d left anyway. It was kind of heartbreaking that I couldn’t let him in. I tried at first and he scratched […]
Posted inFiction
Our future
Reading Time: 3 minutes It happened just like they teach it in schools. It wasn’t even the plane crashes that did it. We were up to one a month, sometimes more. Not terrorism, just things breaking. Everyone kept voting for deregulation, and everyone else kept voting to keep those people in office. You’ve learned about voting in school already, […]
Posted inFiction
A letter from Jackrabbit Springs
Reading Time: 4 minutes Hello again! Well the big move is finally over and I know it’s been a while since you heard from me but now that we’re settled in I wanted to catch you up with all the goings-on out here in Jackrabbit Springs. And is there ever a lot of Spring in Jackrabbit Springs these days! […]
Posted inFiction
5 minutes into the future
Reading Time: 3 minutes It was the tests that ran out. They knew they’d never be able to stop the trade of abortifacients. The tests were a different matter. They owned the companies that made the tests. No test, no scrip. No scrip, no pill. We need to talk about the rabbits So here’s what’s going to happen. We […]
Posted inFiction
Little surfer boy
Reading Time: 15 minutes They look over their shoulders before they take to their boards. Watch for the girls huddled in Juicyfruit gum popping reverie; the kids beating sandcastles into corn mush, the butt-cheek flashing old-timers settling down for a flame-broiled snooze under big yellow umbrellas. They steady themselves then take flight, working the waves into submission, salt clogging […]
Posted inFiction
Interloper
Reading Time: 4 minutes A short story about a man who finds himself where he least expects to be.
Posted inBooks, Fiction, Philosophy
The Curse of the Maya!
Reading Time: 3 minutes I have told you about this project before, but a little reminder might be in order. A book that I have written with one of my ex-colleagues called The Curse of the Maya: A Truth-Seekers’ Story is now published and available to buy. Details from the Loom site are: Johnny Pearce and Andy Loneragan are embarking […]