An e-zine about spaceships, aliens, science, memory, motherhood, magic, and cats.
I see the same two or three pieces of public domain dragon art used over and over again for self- and small time publishing projects.
The same pieces of dragon art that I used for Zooscape years ago, when they hadn’t been going around in circles over and over again. Continue reading “Public Domain Dragon Art”
by Mary E. Lowd
An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven. If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.
After a quick sweep of the alleys surrounding the bar, Kipper thankfully concluded that Petra wasn’t lying, bleeding to death in any of them. Though, even with a big black dog tailing her, watching her back, Kipper still felt like jumping at every shadow. And her heart stopped when she saw a crumpled bag beside some trash bins — in the dark, it could have been her sister. But Trudith was very reassuring and convinced Kipper that if anything had happened to Petra — if thugs had dragged her out of the bar or caught up with her outside — she would still be pretty close. Close enough that they would have found her. Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 4: Kipper Flees to Mexico”
by Mary E. Lowd
An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven. If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.
After Kipper finished her exciting day of balancing accounts, and Petra finished her last-minute canvassing of the water-cooler dogs, the two sisters headed down to their favorite hangout, deep in the heart of Old Town. The bus ride between Luna Tech and All Cats Go To Hell was short and, unlike that morning, uneventful. The walk from the bus stop to the bar’s front door, however, always made Kipper a little nervous. And tonight she was extra jumpy, seeing shadows everywhere. Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 3: Kipper Gets in a Fight”
by Mary E. Lowd
An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven. If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, or skip ahead to the next chapter.
Three blocks through the alleys was farther than the Chow cared to follow Kipper throwing bottles. So, Kipper was able to emerge onto the main street and limp the last two blocks to Luna Tech. She wasn’t bleeding, but her paw pads were filled with slivers. Before entering the Luna Tech lobby, Kipper leaned against the outside of the building and took a moment to carefully dig the glass shards out of her paws. As she was working, Petra came around the block and sauntered over to stand beside her injured sister. Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 2: Kipper Makes a Discovery”
by Mary E. Lowd
A Deep Sky Anchor Original, May 2023
Ekko felt the cool currents of water rush past her as she swam with all her might toward the ocean’s surface. Her powerful tail pumped; her belly muscles clenched and released, over and over, as she barreled through the blue. Then with a mighty splash, she emerged from the blue of the deep into the blue of the sky, trading a thick atmosphere for a thin one. Rivulets and droplets of water streamed off her aerodynamic body as she soared upward, leaving the Earth and its heartbreakingly empty oceans behind. Continue reading “Ekko the Orca”
by Mary E. Lowd
An excerpt from Otters In Space: The Search for Cat Haven. If you’d prefer to read in e-book or paperback form, learn more here. Or if you want, skip ahead to the next chapter.
The bus stop sign and shelter were in front of a giant, white church. The Church of the First Race was an historical building, preserved from the time when humans still walked the Earth. It dwarfed the taller but smaller-scale high-rises around it. It was the oldest building in New LA. Kipper had been inside once and sat on the monstrous pews, but, like most cats, she didn’t feel comfortable with First Race doctrine. It was a dog religion — they preached that humans, the First Race, had left Earth as emissaries to the stars and would return to bring all the peoples of Earth into a confederation of interstellar sentience. Someday. Continue reading “Otters In Space – Chapter 1: Kipper in a Dog’s World”
by Mary E. Lowd
Originally published in Tri-Galactic Trek, December 2019
The alien probe gleamed like a star, small and bright, on the Initiative’s main view screen.
“Can we get closer?” Captain Jacques asked. The Sphynx cat’s pink ears skewed to the side, betraying his excitement. The Initiative was in deep, unexplored space, and the presence of an artificial object of any sort implied an entire civilization that must have created it. An entire civilization that the Tri-Galactic Navy had never encountered before. Captain Jacques loved nothing more than first contact missions. Continue reading “The Farther One Travels”
by Mary E. Lowd
Originally published in Tri-Galactic Trek, December 2019
Fact was not a fox, but it was easiest for the canine and feline crew of the starship Initiative to think of zir as one. With snowy white silicon fur and yellow eyes flecked by actual gold flakes, zhe looked uncanny enough without worrying about whether zir creator had meant zir to be a cat or a dog.
Fact’s ears were too perfectly triangular to be a dog’s; zir muzzle was too long and narrow to be a cat’s. Zhe was an android, and zhe didn’t mind being thought of as a fox. Continue reading “Fact and Myth”
by Mary E. Lowd
Originally published in What the Fox?!, March 2018
Lieutenant Libby Unari, a black cat and science officer with a focus on botany, had a tray of biology samples in her lap — cuttings and sprouts, planted in soil samples — taken from a forest moon. The moon itself hung like a green star in the rear window of the shuttle craft, receding into the distance as they flew away.
“That was a very peaceful away mission,” Captain Jacques meowed. The pink-skinned Sphynx cat didn’t usually accompany away teams down to previously unexplored planets — at least, that’s what he claimed — but he’d made an exception for this forest moon. He made a lot of exceptions. “Why, I don’t think I’ve felt that relaxed since I was a kitten!” Although, part of his improved mood may have had to do with all of the time he’d been spending in the lumo-bay lately. “I should get off the bridge of the Initiative more often.” Continue reading “Rapscallions”
by Mary E. Lowd
Originally published in The Necromouser and Other Magical Cats, September 2015
Jenna was almost asleep when she felt the weight of a cat plop onto the end of her bed. She turned on the lamp on the bedside table and saw Katelynn, her aunt’s dirt-brown tabby, sitting on the bed’s patchwork comforter.
A tiny mouse hung by its tail from Katelynn’s mouth, twisting and squirming, desperate to get away.
“Oh! Katelynn, thank you!” Continue reading “Katelynn the Mythic Mouser”