An e-zine about spaceships, aliens, science, memory, motherhood, magic, and cats.
by Mary E. Lowd
Originally published in ROAR Volume 5, July 2014
The scraggly white kitten crouched, trembling, behind the crates of fish. The smell was thick, but the scraps were thin. She’d been skittering from one stall to the next at Fisherman’s Wharf all day, mewing for bits to eat. Few of the vendors favored her with more than a glance. One had chased her off with a broom. Continue reading “The Wharf Cat’s Mermaid”
by Mary E. Lowd
Originally published in ROAR Volume 4, June 2012
Snow bent the boughs of the karillow trees, and ice silvered the soft buds at their tips. Spring had come too early this year, and all the eager young plants would pay a price for their enthusiasm. Flowers killed by frost.
St. Kalwain didn’t mind the snow. His black fur was thick and warm. He found it insufferably so whenever he kept the company of humans. Their houses were always warmed by raging hearth fires. Their walls held in the heat. And they insulated themselves with layers of cloaks and clothes. They expected him to layer himself with clothes too. He remembered a time when he chose to wear clothes out of modesty. Now, he preferred to sleep in the wild. In the snow. Alone and far from humans. Continue reading “St. Kalwain and the Lady Uta”
Four-year-old: “I’m sorry.”
Me: “Why are you sorry?”
Four-year-old: “Oh, I didn’t wear a bow tie, and I want to wear a bow tie every day.”
The four-year-old is very clever; he’s figured out that if he says, “I want to watch Star Trek with you,” right at bedtime… I may fold.
Also, I may not have settled on which Data episode to rework, but I am definitely fixing Skin of Evil. In my universe, no way in hell Tasha dies.
The four-year-old is entranced by his discovery that there’s a character with the same name as him on Star Trek TNG.
Four-year-old, muttering sadly: “The daleks shot my companions, so now I don’t have companions. I can’t save the world anymore.”
Me: “Would you… like help… finding new companions?”
Four-year-old: “Oh yes! I’m happy now!”
The line between my brain helpfully inventing a new Scream movie for me to watch while sleeping and just plain old having a nightmare is getting kind of thin.
by Mary E. Lowd
Originally published in Dogs of War, January 2017
Five officers of the Tri-Galactic Navy and one exchange officer from the planet Cetazed teleported down to a clearing on Planet 328’s surface. The cats and dogs of the Tri-Galactic Navy were good people, and Consul Eliana Tor didn’t regret leaving her homeworld to become an exchange officer. Not exactly. But she missed the flavor of the sunlight on Cetazed, and not only did her empathic abilities make her a fish out of water around these cats and dogs with their non-empathic minds, but they let her read the cats’ and dogs’ emotions — especially their feelings about her — constantly. Continue reading “The Best and Worst of Worlds”
I’m pretty serious about finishing up the story I’m writing tonight… but the story seems pretty serious about not wrapping up.
It’s a battle of wits between me and my own story. Continue reading “Struggling to Write”
*summons the willpower and concentration to tune out the singing socks on Sesame St. and instead work on writing my Tri-Galactic Trek tale*
I’ve failed to tune out the Sesame St… This message is brought to you by the letter W and the number 0, representing my word count. Continue reading “Writing While Watching a Four-Year-Old”