Incorrigible Imaginings – A trove of medium-sized writings.

On Innate Morality

Published by Alan Alpert on 2019-12-01

I was listening to some Protestant philosophy podcast recently, and was interested in a line of reasoning they had regarding atheism. The story goes that when considering the source of ethical values, the atheist claims to have arrived at them by purely rational principles, and the theist claims that those very rational principles are the product of thousands of years of Judeo-Christian cultural development and cannot be extricated from God. Naturally, I think they’re both wrong.

You Can’t Tax Love

Published by Alan Alpert on 2019-03-21

Last year I had reason to write a poem for my beloved mother. Check out her site: Fix the Tax Treaty. I don’t have such strong opinions about taxes, but I will write tax themed poetry on occasion.

Afraid of the Shadow it Casts

Published by Alan Alpert on 2019-03-19

This might be the first poem where I actually felt something that I thought would be best expressed through poetry. It is best read slowly, which might be true of all poetry now that I think of it.

I am the Very Model of a Modern Unitarian

Published by Alan Alpert on 2019-03-14

I recently had reason to extend these lyrics, based off the two verses by Christopher Gist Raible, and sung to the tune of “I am the Very Model of a Modern Major General” by Sir Arthur Sullivan.

I have followed Christopher’s lead in just saying “Unitarian”, as “Unitarian Univeralist” is not just a mouthful; it’s impossible to rhyme! But this really is the UU version.

Note that the third verse has a much more subdued musical accompaniment, as in the original third verse the Major General was confronting his lack of any skills actually relevant to being a general. For the UU lyrics I attempted something similar with confronting the hard truths about actually living the UU values. But there was still time for a cheap laugh or two after that.

Minor Updates

Published by Alan Alpert on 2019-03-12

Note that I’m moving this blog to https://alan.imaginitis.net … probably… someday. For now it is just imaginitis.net until it becomes worth the bother to add…

Pun Interlude

Published by Alan Alpert on 2018-09-09

Since my usual D&D group can’t play while I’m travelling, here’s a D&D themed pun interlude to tide them over.

The Little Girl Who Kept Crying on the Plane

Published by Alan Alpert on 2018-09-04

I like writing short stories while I’m on long flights, and this time I was feeling directly inspired by one aspect of the experience. I did eat french toast in seat 28A recently.

The Eternal Dragon War

Published by Alan Alpert on 2018-04-09

Another world-building story, this time for a classic tolkienesque fantasy world. Which leads to a rare genre combination, this is an epic fantasy short story. Just don’t expect the world to be saved by the end of it.

Since I was strapped for time it’s mostly straight up story telling. But I blame Sylvestra, she’s in more of a hurry than me!

Bethany Bounty Hunter

Published by Alan Alpert on 2017-12-28

I love world-building, and so for this new sci-fi gaming setting I’m starting with a gripping narrative about surprisingly similar heroes in a surprisingly similar situation.

It gets dark at times, but on the lighter side this may be the first time that the adjective ‘ionic’ has been used for both meanings at once!

I just hope my players don’t assume it will be this easy for them to survive.

Holiday Research 2

Published by Alan Alpert on 2017-11-23

The holiday season is well know as a time for cashing in on crappy sequels. I did this one mid November, but pegged the publish date to the holiday in question. Just in case this cheap attempt at wordplay comedy is too subtle for some.

Incorrigible Imaginings Posts