Fantasy – Deep Sky Anchor

Treegadoon – Part 2

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Animal Voices, Unicorn Whispers, October 2024

“If the curse were true, then Treegadoon would be gone soon. Gone for years and years.”

Alone in his boat on a clear sea in the glow of early afternoon, Elijah found he could almost believe the whole morning had been a daydream, perhaps caused by nibbling on a psychotropic jellyfish tentacle. Were there jellyfish whose flesh could cause such hallucinations? Elijah wasn’t sure, but perhaps one of his mothers would know. As he sailed onward toward home though, he realized: there were still two sacks of nut-butter sandwiches and joiberries in the boat with him, and that was hard, physical evidence that he had met with someone out here on the sea this morning. Continue reading “Treegadoon – Part 2”

Treegadoon – Part 1

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Animal Voices, Unicorn Whispers, October 2024

[Part 2]

“The sunbeam cut through the grayness and landed on a tussled pile of green like a spotlight. Where it shone, trees rose out of the ocean, as mysterious and unexpected as a shooting star.”

Elijah’s small boat rocked with the storming of the ocean. Gusts of wind blew sharply against his thick, dense fur, and his clothes — even though they were made from special quick-drying fabric — were completely soaked. Waves slapped and splashed against the small boat, threatening to overturn him. Elijah didn’t mind the idea of swimming home. He was a river otter who had been raised among sea lions on a small island near the coast. He was used to swimming, and he was used to the ocean’s whimsy. But he’d spent the pre-dawn hours hunting jellyfish, and now as the sun was about to rise, his little boat was chockfull of delectable delicacies. There were moon jellies, sea nettles, and — even better — he’d finally caught a lion’s mane jellyfish. He’d wanted to catch one since he’d been a little fellow, still afraid of the water. Continue reading “Treegadoon – Part 1”

Returning the Lyre

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Kaleidotrope, January 2021

“My Orpheus had no lyre with him in Hades’ realm. Those perfect fingers had no strings to pluck.”

The snake didn’t bite me. It bit Orpheus, and his lyre twanged discordantly as he fell to the ground. It was the first inharmonious sound that perfect instrument had ever made. It was the sound that started my journey. It was a claw, hooked inside my ear, ripping and tearing away every illusion I’d had of safety and happiness, shattering my dreams of a future with Orpheus. Continue reading “Returning the Lyre”

The Muddy Unicorn

by Mary E. Lowd

A Deep Sky Anchor Original

“Alivia thought she would have liked being a frog. They spent a lot more time in the water than she did.”

The sky was a the kind of empty blue that foretells a sunny, uneventful day, as untouched by actual weather as a day can be. Alivia couldn’t stand it. She wanted to frolic in mud puddles, dancing under the droplets of a gusting storm. She wanted to prance and twirl on her cloven hooves, shake raindrops from her snowy mane like a waterfall, and spear the thorn-sharp tip of her horn into as many individual drops of water as she could. She wanted to play rainy day games.

Alivia was a unicorn who loved the rain. Continue reading “The Muddy Unicorn”

Commander Annie – Part 6

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Commander Annie and Other Adventures, November 2023

[Part 1 2 3 4 5 6]

“It had been a long day, but it made her happy to spin with Callie. It reminded her of the world with carnivorous purple dolphin creatures and how the two of them had spun on the slippery surface of an iceberg after slaying one.”

The Checkerboard Ultrarocket shot through the hyperspace portals linking Zorpa II’s location in the universe back to the Milky Way galaxy, the terran solar system, and finally Earth. The greens of Earth’s continents looked richer and the blues more regal compared to the faded shades of Zorpa II’s honeydew green oceans. Earth is a beautiful world, and all worlds are like gemstones set in the black backdrop of space. Even dusty, rocky asteroids and icy hunks of comet, hurtling aimlessly through space, are the bits of gravitational color that make the universe complicated and exciting. Continue reading “Commander Annie – Part 6”

Commander Annie – Part 5

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Commander Annie and Other Adventures, November 2023

[Part 1 2 3 4 5 6]

Annie reached out too, but hesitated before touching the silvery surface. “May I?” she asked. “Is it safe?”

“Can I show you something?” Ootel asked, standing up from the bed and stepping toward the closet. “I’ve been building something too… Not a spaceship, but I had hoped it would let me travel to other worlds.”

Ootel scooped a bunch of the clothing off of the floor of the closet and dumped it in the corner of their room; then they kicked a few of the remaining robes out with their hind hooves. Once the closet was clear enough for both of them inside, Annie followed them in. Ootel pushed aside the hanging clothes, and behind them, Annie saw the two of them reflected in an oval mirror. A green bipedal giraffe standing beside a human girl, both of them wearing simple, practical clothing. Annie smiled. She knew that Callie thought their space helmets looked goofy, but she loved how she looked in a bright red bicycle helmet. Space helmets are cool. Continue reading “Commander Annie – Part 5”

Commander Annie – Part 4

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Commander Annie and Other Adventures, November 2023

[Part 1 2 3 4 5 6]

“Annie’s heart jumped at the idea of bringing Ootel back to Earth with her to visit.”

Annie resisted the temptation to explore the rooms more thoroughly and simply scanned each of them from their color-coded doors to see if her Roomba was inside. Though when she came to the topaz paneled room, it seemed to be a pantry of some sort, filled with objects that her scans suggested were edible. She grabbed a few handfuls of brightly colored blobs wrapped in some kind of foil paper. They looked like candy, and she stuffed them in her shorts pockets and the empty spaces in her backpack. She couldn’t turn down sustenance. She might need it later. At least, that’s what she told herself, but truly, after the deliciousness of the baby’s chocolate cake, she simply couldn’t resist stealing this alien candy. Continue reading “Commander Annie – Part 4”

Commander Annie – Part 3

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Commander Annie and Other Adventures, November 2023

[Part 1 2 3 4 5 6]

“By the time Annie craned her neck around to look over her shoulder, down at the ground below, she was easily three stories high.”

The more Annie thought about knocking on that door, the more she pictured the total chaos that would ensue if one of the alien creature’s she’d met on her journeys had shown up on her own doorstep. Her parents would have freaked. They didn’t like a harmless little garter snake; if they met an actual alien from another planet, they’d call the police or beat it away with a rake. Something horrible. Continue reading “Commander Annie – Part 3”

Commander Annie – Part 2

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Commander Annie and Other Adventures, November 2023

[Part 1 2 3 4 5 6]

“You want to come with me?” Annie asked. The tiny flower-eye winked at her.

Annie grabbed her backpack from the far side of the pile of sleeping bags, slung it over one shoulder, and went out the back door, carefully avoiding the entertainment room where Doris and Ryan were doing their puzzle.

Outside the air was crisp; a breeze had come up and blown the earlier heat away. The stars looked bright. Beaming. Calling to her. Continue reading “Commander Annie – Part 2”

Commander Annie – Part 1

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Commander Annie and Other Adventures, November 2023

[Part 1 2 3 4 5 6]

“Commander Annie was a daredevil, and she’d built her spaceship to handle rough landings.”

The Checkerboard Ultrarocket cruised through the upper atmosphere of Zorpa II. Commander Annie sat cross-legged in the cramped cockpit of her tiny, homemade spaceship and watched the enticing purple deserts and pale green oceans glide by. After her first aborted attempt, she’d never had the courage to land on Zorpa II alone. She’d been waiting all summer for Captain Callie to have time to join her, but Callie had been busy with a summer math class her mother was making her take. Continue reading “Commander Annie – Part 1”