An e-zine about spaceships, aliens, science, memory, motherhood, magic, and cats.
I’m realizing, as I close in on the end of this trilogy, that I’ve never finished writing a book without any future plans to write more books about those characters before. I usually write open-ended worlds, meant to be revisited…
But in my mind, the trilogy that starts with The Snake’s Song has always been specifically a trilogy, and it’s very much a separate world from my other books and stories. Continue reading “The End of a Closed World”
In spite of having written a whole massive tweet rant about how all the white men in Star Trek keep being given their own shows while everyone else is treated as replaceable…
I am so out of my mind excited to see Q come back and torture Picard. Continue reading “Q Returning to Star Trek”
The seven-year-old wanted a strawberry Minecraft cake for their birthday. The thirteen-year-old thought that sounded like a fun project.
For their birthday, the 8-year-old has elected to play Minecraft. There are presents, cake, a piñata filled with candy… all waiting. All less exciting, apparently, than Minecraft. Continue reading “Strawberry Minecraft Cake”
I don’t want to give too many spoilers for a book I haven’t finished writing, but… it’s really fun writing an octopus who wears an otter skeleton like a mecha and loves a gryphon who has a hybrid baby with her that’s basically a little elder god bundle of tentacles and feathers. Continue reading “Working on “The Otter’s Wings””
by Mary E. Lowd
Originally published in New Myths, December 2019
I am a cracked crystal vase holding a rainbow cloud. The colors leak out through the cracks. The crystal is too rigid; it can’t contain them. The colors are too strong, too big. Too bold. And the crystal is precise. It desperately wants — no, needs — to be precise. But the colors have no patience. They can’t wait for precision. They happen. Whether the crystal is ready to contain them or not. Continue reading “Crystal and Rainbow”
I keep forgetting to post about this… but I signed the contract and can now say, I’ve had another story accepted by Daily Science Fiction!
This will be my 40th story with them!
It’s so easy to forget that—now I’m vaccinated—it’s possible to go in stores. Continue reading “Sales, Stores, and Slush”
My cat likes to steal plushies & drag them under a dresser. She seemed to particularly like a dog, Charlie, who I’ve had forever but am less attached to than most of my plushies.
So I gave him to her.
Oh the DISDAIN. Continue reading “The Cat Wants to Hunt”
Spouse, knowing the zine I edit upgraded to pro rates today: “How many submissions did you handle today?”
Me:
S: *confusion*
M: “What?” Continue reading “Drowning in Furry Slush”
I think I’m very nervous about Zooscape re-opening to submissions tonight, at a significantly higher pay rate.
I don’t expect to be instantly inundated with submissions, because I expect it to take a while for the information about the new pay rate to filter out. Continue reading “Re-Opening Zooscape”
I noticed years ago that when I was at all uncertain while writing, I’d have the characters smile. It served no story purpose, just a nervous tic, attempting to ensure they were likable. I stopped doing it, and it made my writing stronger.
Just now, seeing yet another post about women being told to “smile more,” I realized the connection between that attitude and the bad habit I had developed in my writing. Continue reading “Too Much Smiling”