My spouse just tried to do the point-and-scream thing from Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but it came out more like Chewbacca… so…
Invasion of the Wookie Snatchers!
Author: marylowd
Cactus Rose
We took our kid who wants to be a marine biologist to the aquarium today, and I found this little guy!
She was hugging a lollipop in the gift shop, and when I saw her, I literally exclaimed in delight, “Why are you green?!”
I’ve named her Cactus Rose. She’s small enough to carry everywhere in my pocket, and I love her.
Oh, and yes, she can also hug one of my fingers and be worn like a ring.
Home Alone 1 & 2
Rewatching Home Alone for the first time in years because my younger kid knew about it from Roblox but hadn’t seen it…
And I’m really appreciating the acting skill necessary to pull off the role of the mother. That’s a tricky part, and Catherine O’Hara does a beautiful, nuanced job. Continue reading “Home Alone 1 & 2”
Of Starwhals and Spaceships
by Mary E. Lowd
Originally published in Daily Science Fiction, January 2018
A metal behemoth cruised through the nebula, cool and casual, like it didn’t care about any of the frolicking younglings and their sing-song radio waves or the older starwhals jockeying for territory, rearranging the ambient dust into moats and walls.
The attitude of the metal creature — the complete nonchalance — intrigued Chlooie, and she followed it on its strangely linear course through the nebula. Continue reading “Of Starwhals and Spaceships”
Pentatonix, Sesame Street, Roblox, and Squid Game
I will always love the song Feliz Navidad, because it will always sound like Big Bird ice skating to me.
This thought brought to you by the new Pentatonix holiday special and, of course, Christmas Eve on Sesame Street which is the best and most important Christmas special ever. Continue reading “Pentatonix, Sesame Street, Roblox, and Squid Game”
The Possibilities with AI
I’m not worried about AI replacing me as a writer, because the reason I write is that no one in the world was writing the books I wanted, namely Otters In Space. If I wanted to read them, I had to write them myself.
Even with an AI helping, I’d still have to provide that idea. Continue reading “The Possibilities with AI”
The Unshelled
by Mary E. Lowd
Originally published in Shark Week: An Ocean Anthology, June 2021
Salty air tickled Commander Wilker’s long nose and whistled past his pointed ears. The light ocean breeze ruffled the long fur of his Collie mane. He placed a paw gently on the hull of his shuttle craft, parked on the small, sandy island in the middle of a yawning purple-blue sea. He was waiting for his co-pilot to join him, a local to this watery world.
Though he wouldn’t mind if they were running late. The Collie dog had seldom been anywhere as peaceful as the surface of Kallendria 7. There was an entire, technologically advanced society on this world, but it was all beneath the waves. Up here, he could have been standing on a completely untouched, unpopulated world. Nothing as far as the eye could see except for rolling purple waves, deep blue sky, and the occasional silver sand island. Continue reading “The Unshelled”
Stable Diffusion is a Hammer
Taking inspiration from other works is literally not plagiarism, and while one can argue about the artistic value of AI art, I have yet to see a single case of an artist being able to point at a specific work that is actually plagiarism.
You can’t and shouldn’t be able to own a style. People copy each others’ styles all the time. Continue reading “Stable Diffusion is a Hammer”
Mage Vs. Druid Leveling
Spouse: *expounds on how Warcraft these days encourages you to only play in areas that aren’t so hard that you die*
Me, who has recently leveled up a mage for the first time: “You only play druids. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Thoughts on “Viewers Like You”
When I was a kid, I thought “The Game” was such a silly episode of Star Trek; as I got older, it started to seem more like a really prescient satire.
My feelings about my story, “Viewers Like You,” has gone through a similar evolution, just since last summer. Continue reading “Thoughts on “Viewers Like You””