An e-zine about spaceships, aliens, science, memory, motherhood, magic, and cats.
That feeling when you were about to fall asleep, and suddenly, you’re struck with the whimsical desire to see a rhino with cute little feathery wings… and now you can, because AI is awesome.
Going for a ride today. Continue reading “Surviving a Much Too Long Car Ride”
When I first met Trugo, I was eleven, and I was thinking about how I’d always wished I had an imaginary friend…
The moment that the inherent paradox occurred to me, Trugo walked up. I was getting hot chocolate in the lobby of a hotel in Ashland, where my family was visiting to see several plays. He was a river otter one inch taller than me and one week older who loves hot and sour soup and anything with shrimp in it. We’ve been friends ever since. When I don’t need him, he travels the world, but he can be back in a flash. And he helped me finish my first novel by playing the part of Trugger.
I’m not obsessed with winged otters, you’re obsessed with winged otters.
Oh wait…
No, I’m definitely obsessed with winged otters. You probably should be too. They’re the best.
I just broke 70k on my NaNo novel, finishing its first full draft!
This book turned out to be the first in a trilogy, so I’ll have lot more time to spend with these characters. But after an editing pass, I hope to put this first book out later this spring. Continue reading “Finishing Fourth NaNo-Winning Novel”
This has been a busy year, and I’ve had a lot of fiction published — 3 novels, 3 novellas, a short story collection, 23 short stories, and a poetry collection. Except where marked otherwise, pieces were originally published in Deep Sky Anchor or by Deep Sky Anchor Press.
Everything on this list can be read for free online at the links provided, except for You’re Cordially Invited to Crossroads Station and Hell Moon.
Continue reading “Fiction by Mary E. Lowd Published in 2023”Oh god, that feeling when you’re trying to illustrate a story you wrote about one of the biggest heartbreaks in your life, but you rewrote it to have a happy ending… and when DALLE3 finally gets the illustration right, you just burst into tears because… look at it. Look at that moment in your life, all fixed, all better. And it’s just so powerful to see it there in front of you like that. Continue reading “Powerful Magic”
I’ve been rewatching Stargate Universe and saw the landing screen for it out of the corner of my eye. It looked like this:
“St——— Universe” [picture of a cuddly guy in a red t-shirt]
Yeah… That’s also Steven Universe. Continue reading “St—— Universe”
The 16-year-old, working on an annoying homework assignment: I want to punch something.
Me: We have a punching bag…
16: …I don’t want it that much. Continue reading “The Educational Nature of a Punching Bag”
I think it’s fascinating, kind of adorable, and really instructive in a broader way about life that if DALLE3 gets close to making an image the way I want, if I keep saying, “Hm. Not quite. Could you try again?” it gets frustrated and lectures me on the subjectivity of art… Continue reading “Positive Reinforcement”
A year ago, it took clever prompting, multiple AI programs, and a bunch of hand-editing to get an elephant bride on a space station.
Now I can just type, “Please draw an elephant bride on a space station,” into DALLE3.
The magic keeps compounding.
Magic multiplied by magic.