Author: marylowd

Safe Here in Crest City

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Kaleidotrope, October 2022

“OH NO ZOMBIES CAN USE TWEETER NOW”

@UnicornGirl231:  O MUH GOD i jus saw a zombie eating sumone’s arm and the ARM FELL OFF  #zombiesarereal #zombiesarehere #evenincrestcity

@KarenCane:  You’re in Crest City?  How do you know it was a zombie?

@LiteralGhost1:  Is the zombie virus airborn?  Will a mask protect me? Do I need to hold my breath around zombies?  Maybe I’ll just stay inside… Continue reading “Safe Here in Crest City”

The Prehistory Zoo

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally serialized in Daily Science Fiction, November/December 2022

“If her fate was behind those bars with teeth like swords, at least, she could try to make friends with it.”

Part 1: Comfort Animal

The wide timber frame arch rose high above Dr. Miriam Loxley’s head, presaging the size of the animals kept in the enclosure.  All the movies, books, and games came rushing back to her — she’d grown up with the Jurassic Park franchise. She knew all of the paleontologists and geneticists involved in The Prehistory Zoo had too.  Somehow, they’d taken those stories as a siren’s call, instead of heeding them as a warning. Continue reading “The Prehistory Zoo”

The Blood Portal

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Electric Spec, Vol. 13, Issue 2, May 2018

“So Hanna summoned every bit of her own magic, pulling on the gravity fields and folds around her, feeling out the architecture of space.”

Hanna steered the spaceship with one arm, punching buttons, turning knobs, and flipping switches.  Her other arm was wrapped tightly around her young son.  His face was buried against her shoulder.  He wasn’t crying any more.  His breathing had stilled.  He was sleeping, but he still clung to her with his arms and legs that seemed so long and gangly compared to when he was a baby. Continue reading “The Blood Portal”

Blaze the Fire Monster

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Hot Chocolate for the Unicorn and Other Flights of Fancy

“I think Blaze could smell the cruelty rising off Alex’s skin as soon as he saw him tripping his way through the forest.”

The Unicorn stretches his snowy neck, leaning his nose down to taste the dark liquid in the mug before him.  He’s been blowing on his hot chocolate, quietly nickering, to cool it, but it must be too hot still.  He lowers his translucent horn to the surface of the drink.  Cold suffuses.  With the lightest touch, the chocolate is cool enough to drink.

“Will you tell me a story?” the Unicorn asks. Continue reading “Blaze the Fire Monster”

Seven Riders and Six Horses

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Hot Chocolate for the Unicorn and Other Flights of Fancy, December 2024

“It would carry Jyan through the air without asking anything. It would neither share joy nor bring pain.”

Seven riders on six horsebacks and one mechanical contraption, each of the seven blessed with wings, flew toward the sea.

The horses’ wings were made of tawny feathers, golden when the sun hit them right, downy and angelic.  The mechanical contraption’s wings were less wings and more of a spinning rotor in a tarnished shade of silver, held above the rider by a jointed, metal arm, heavy with bolts.  It didn’t look air-worthy, but it was. Continue reading “Seven Riders and Six Horses”

The Dancing Swords

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Hot Chocolate for the Unicorn and Other Flights of Fancy, December 2024

“You cannot see. You cannot think. Or remember. The pain is everything now.”

First, you tear the eyes out, digging your fingertips into the sockets around them, squishing the bulbs to get your fingers under them. They’ll be slippy, and you’ll have to squeeze hard while yanking out, or the eye won’t come.

Once you have the eyeballs pulled out of their sockets, rip quickly to tear them from the gooey threads still connecting them. When they come free, throw them at the floor. Stomp on them with your boot.  The heavier the boot, the better. Continue reading “The Dancing Swords”

Birthday

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Every Day Fiction, June 2017

“All I want to do is not deal with this question, get through one more day without crying or yelling in front of Layla.”

“If you could do anything in the world for your birthday — anything at all — what would you do?”

My daughter, Layla, mirrors the question that I asked her last month about her birthday when I was looking for clues as to what I should give her, what kind of party I should throw her.  She’s only five, too young to be looking for clues. Continue reading “Birthday”