Author: marylowd

Cyclops on Safari

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published by Penn Cove Literary Arts Award, June 2013

“He peeked out the window again and sneered at the pathetic unicorn horns. Those simple spikes were nothing to the beautiful branching of a moose’s antlers.”

The little boy pressed his nose up against the minivan window, twisting himself up under his seatbelt.  He strained his one eye, trying to peer all the way across the golden field littered with shiny white unicorns, gamboling and playing, their manes rippling in the wind.  Danny was sure that if his parents would just let him roll down the window so he could stick his head out, he’d be able to make out a moose in the forest edge beyond.  Instead, all he could see was stupid unicorns. Continue reading “Cyclops on Safari”

Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Mother's Day Dog
This mother dog is too busy to wish you a happy day, but her puppies want everyone to be happy! Except maybe her. They’re too busy bugging her to notice her.

In celebration of Mother’s Day, we bring you two stories about mothers — one about a cat and one about a dog.  They both undergo journeys — losing control of their lives both to their human masters and to the love they feel for their new little ones. Continue reading “Happy Mother’s Day!”

Magtwilla and the Mouse

Magtwilla and the Mouse
“Warm, soft, and infinitely precious, the three tiny kittens gave meaning to a life that had previously been nothing more than a fight to survive.”

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Allasso, Volume 2: Saudade, April 2012

Heavy with kittens, Magtwilla made a choice.  She’d been a housecat before, and she’d spent time being feral.  Although she disliked the restrictive interference of the clothed primates, she had to admit that their houses with reliable food and warmth would be the better environment for a litter of kittens.  So, Magtwilla selected a nice house and set about the work of charming the clothed primate who lived there.  In mere days, the primate took her in, strapped an offensively pink collar around her throat, and took to calling her Jenny.  Todd was laughably easy to manipulate with a simple purr.  Magtwilla felt she’d done well by her unborn kittens. Continue reading “Magtwilla and the Mouse”

The Best Puppy Ever

by Mary E. Lowd
Originally published in AE: The Canadian Science Fiction Review, Issue No. 15, May 2014

“None of my friends at the dog park believed me when I told them that my masters had been bringing me to the hospital to have a real doctor check on my puppies.”

The hospital lights flash in my eyes, and a man wearing blue scrubs injects me with a needle.  I can’t feel my body anymore, and all I can see is his blue-clothed back and the nervous faces of my owners, Geoff and Bree, looking down at me.  I can see them holding my paws, reaching to pat my ears, but all the sensations are distant.

Continue reading “The Best Puppy Ever”

Original Story: “High School Dogs”

In a Dogs WorldThus far, Deep Sky Anchor has been a web-zine for reprints. We’ve taken you to the stars, the future, and to the world all around you — but seen through other eyes. Yet, all those paths had been tread before. Now we’re forging a brand new path, leaving fresh footprints.

Our first original story comes from the universe of Mary E. Lowd’s Otters In Space series. Join the young high school cat, Katasha, at a school dance. Imagine what it’s like to be a cat in a world of dogs, surrounded by “High School Dogs.” Continue reading “Original Story: “High School Dogs””

High School Dogs

by Mary E. Lowd

A Deep Sky Anchor Original, March 2016

“…it was a high school dance, and anyone could come to it. Except cats didn’t.”

The dance was over, like most high school dances, around eleven. The music stopped, and amid barks and yips of outrage, the lights came on. Without the blasting music and strobing lights, the crowd dissolved into a mass of individual dogs standing around awkwardly. Katasha’s ears flattened, and she drifted away from the bandstand, suddenly feeling weird as the only cat in the audience. The band playing tonight, Dog-Step, didn’t exactly have a lot of feline fans. Continue reading “High School Dogs”

Spotlight on “All the Cats of the Rainbow”

Necromouser - FurPlanet - smallWhat can I say about “All the Cats of the Rainbow“?  It’s the last story I wrote for The Necromouser and Other Magical Cats.  I hadn’t planned to write another story, but “Cold Tail and the Eyes” turned out so much sadder than I expected…

I wrote “Cold Tail and the Eyes” at the Wordcrafters Ghost Story Weekend where everyone writes a ghost story between Friday and Saturday dinner — then Saturday evening, we all read our ghost stories aloud to each other.  Continue reading “Spotlight on “All the Cats of the Rainbow””

Spotlight on “Cold Tail and the Eyes”

Necromouser - FurPlanet - smallSometimes fiction is a way to process real life pain.  That’s the case with “Cold Tail and the Eyes.”  It was inspired by a cat named Ray.

My mother and I rescued a litter of kittens from under her house.  There were four of them, so we named them after the Ghostbusters — Ray, Peter, Winston, and Egon.  Three of them adjusted very well to their new lives.  Ray… did not.  Continue reading “Spotlight on “Cold Tail and the Eyes””

Spotlight on “Songs of Fish and Flowers”

Necromouser - FurPlanet - smallOccasionally, my writing group runs out of stories to critique, so we have a writing session instead.  One time, another writer brought cards from a fairy tale story-telling game for us to use as story prompts.  We all drew five cards, and my cards read:

  • Garden
  • Orphan
  • Storm
  • This Comes Alive
  • Husband or Wife
  • And when they died, they passed it on to their children.

Continue reading “Spotlight on “Songs of Fish and Flowers””

Spotlight on “Shreddy and the Carnivorous Plant”

Necromouser - FurPlanet - smallFor the final Shreddy story in The Necromouser and Other Magical Cats, it seemed only right to bring the character back to where he had started — chewing on plants.  And it needed to be a big finish, since — while I occasionally entertain ideas of writing a Shreddy novel — this might be Shreddy’s last story ever.

I listened to the soundtrack for Little Shop of Horrors a lot while writing “Shreddy and the Carnivorous Plant.”  A lot.  My eight-year-old daughter, who wants to be an actress, became so enamored of the musical that she declared her life goal was to play Audrey on stage some day.  Continue reading “Spotlight on “Shreddy and the Carnivorous Plant””