Month: May 2023

Otters In Space – Chapter 4: Kipper Flees to Mexico

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“It was true that cats didn’t have to show ID when an accompanying dog vouched for them — an outdated, demeaning, but, in this case, doggarned convenient law.”

After a quick sweep of the alleys surrounding the bar, Kipper thankfully concluded that Petra wasn’t lying, bleeding to death in any of them.  Though, even with a big black dog tailing her, watching her back, Kipper still felt like jumping at every shadow.  And her heart stopped when she saw a crumpled bag beside some trash bins — in the dark, it could have been her sister.  But Trudith was very reassuring and convinced Kipper that if anything had happened to Petra — if thugs had dragged her out of the bar or caught up with her outside — she would still be pretty close.  Close enough that they would have found her. Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 4: Kipper Flees to Mexico”

Otters In Space – Chapter 3: Kipper Gets in a Fight

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“…Sammy the bartender whipped up the best milk froths in New LA. That’s what made All Cats Go To Hell worth the trouble.”

After Kipper finished her exciting day of balancing accounts, and Petra finished her last-minute canvassing of the water-cooler dogs, the two sisters headed down to their favorite hangout, deep in the heart of Old Town.  The bus ride between Luna Tech and All Cats Go To Hell was short and, unlike that morning, uneventful.  The walk from the bus stop to the bar’s front door, however, always made Kipper a little nervous.  And tonight she was extra jumpy, seeing shadows everywhere. Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 3: Kipper Gets in a Fight”

Otters In Space – Chapter 2: Kipper Makes a Discovery

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, or skip ahead to the next chapter.

“As soon as they left, the cop-dogs would laugh their heads off at the silly cats and dump the scrupulous notes in the wastepaper basket. Nothing would get done.”

Three blocks through the alleys was farther than the Chow cared to follow Kipper throwing bottles.  So, Kipper was able to emerge onto the main street and limp the last two blocks to Luna Tech.  She wasn’t bleeding, but her paw pads were filled with slivers.  Before entering the Luna Tech lobby, Kipper leaned against the outside of the building and took a moment to carefully dig the glass shards out of her paws.  As she was working, Petra came around the block and sauntered over to stand beside her injured sister. Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 2: Kipper Makes a Discovery”

Ekko the Orca

by Mary E. Lowd

A Deep Sky Anchor Original, May 2023

“But Ekko wasn’t an ordinary orca. She was the last of her kind, the only one left after the spaceship above had sucked up the rest of her people, stealing them away.”

Ekko felt the cool currents of water rush past her as she swam with all her might toward the ocean’s surface.  Her powerful tail pumped; her belly muscles clenched and released, over and over, as she barreled through the blue.  Then with a mighty splash, she emerged from the blue of the deep into the blue of the sky, trading a thick atmosphere for a thin one.  Rivulets and droplets of water streamed off her aerodynamic body as she soared upward, leaving the Earth and its heartbreakingly empty oceans behind. Continue reading “Ekko the Orca”