David Rose, Rarity, and Fashion

David Rose (Schitt’s Creek) and Rarity (My Little Pony) are both characters whose strong aesthetic senses resonate deeply for me… while also causing me to recoil, because they’re so focused on fashion, and I loathe fashion, because I can ONLY WEAR COMFORTABLE CLOTHES, which is anathema to most fashion. Continue reading “David Rose, Rarity, and Fashion”

Killing a Character for the First Time

Today, I got to the point in my sci-fi horror novel-in-progress where I got to kill off one of the major characters. He’s been slated for death from the beginning, designed specifically to be annoying, so it’d be fun for me to kill him.

But it wasn’t fun… I don’t know why. Continue reading “Killing a Character for the First Time”

Re-Watching Lord of the Rings

We’re showing the kids Lord of the Rings for the first time. It’s also my first time seeing it in about fifteen years.

And it’s so weird how it goes along like a perfectly normal epic fantasy… and then all of a sudden [MEME!] and then normal fantasy… and then [MEME!]

It’s also disconcerting after fifteen years of Sam being idolized as the most perfect character on the internet to see again how hypocritical and judgmental he is when it comes to Gollum. Continue reading “Re-Watching Lord of the Rings”

Clarity & Cassie: the Conscious and Subconscious Mind

A reader pointed out the way I’ve been posting about my new puppy (24 hrs!) sounds a lot like the voice of Cassie, the living spaceship in my Entangled Universe trilogy who loves bunnies.

I’ve been thinking about that a lot… Continue reading “Clarity & Cassie: the Conscious and Subconscious Mind”

Star Wars Catch-Up, Harrison Ford Dream, Etc.

So, I got confused while watching The Clone Wars and thought the “movie” went at the end, after the rest of the series. You know, rather than jammed somewhere in the middle of the first three seasons…

Anyway, I’m just now seeing the tiny baby Jabba. Continue reading “Star Wars Catch-Up, Harrison Ford Dream, Etc.”

Courtship FTL

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Analog Science Fiction and Fact, November/December 2020

“These are high-quality, classy, very smart ships. They don’t want captains who are going to be useless freeloaders.”

Addie stepped onto the fanciest spaceship she’d ever seen and thrilled at the idea that she might soon own it.  The twinkling lights, the shining displays, the dashboards of brightly colored buttons — all hers!  She’d been saving credits for years and finally had enough to buy a fully AI-equipped, FTL-drive starhopper. Continue reading “Courtship FTL”