Category: Book Chapter

Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 3: Amelia

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 4: First Moustronaut.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“Amelia wondered idly if the octopus changed his patterning in purposeful ways to bluff the other players into thinking he had good or poor hands.”

The Lucky Boomerang squatted on the tarmac like a half-melted scramball.  The name of the spaceship had been hotly contested for a few months while it was being built — a lot of dogs and cats had wanted to name it The Lucky Frisbee for the flying disc-shaped toys, because deep in the cultural consciousness of the Uplifted States, spaceships were still expected to be flying saucers.  Even though they never were.  Even The Lucky Boomerang was only vaguely disc-shaped, and that was largely because the committee who had approved the hull design had added non-functional wings to either side.  For aesthetic reasons. Continue reading “Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 3: Amelia”

Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 2: Sequoia

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 4: First Moustronaut.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1 or skip ahead.

“Sequoia had been thinking about moving from Earth up to one of the otter space stations for some time, to be closer to the stars.”

Sequoia collected stars like other squirrels collected acorns.  Not really.  Because squirrels didn’t collect acorns anymore, except for kits on the playground.  And no matter how much Sequoia wanted to gather all the stars in the sky — all the red giants and blue dwarfs; all the pretty yellow and orange ones — up into a pile and bury them deep inside a black hole where they would be hers, all hers and only hers forever and forever, you just can’t do that with stars. Continue reading “Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 2: Sequoia”

Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 1: Yvette

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 4: First Moustronaut.  If you’d prefer to read in e-book or paperback form, learn more here.  Or if you want, jump back to book one or return to the end of book three.

“Yvette had never won first place at a competition — second sometimes, third often. Never first.”

The mouse whirled through the air, paws hitting the gym mat in rhythm as she flipped:  front paws, back paws, front paws.  Head over tail.  Her long tail streamed behind her, making fancy curlicues in the wake of her carefully practiced routine.  Finally, Yvette pirouetted up to the high bar, spun around it and launched even higher into the air — nearly flying.

When she came down, the mouse landed — perfectly — in the center of the mat, all four paws on the ground.  She drew a deep breath, and then rose up, standing just long enough to smile at the crowd, before taking her bow. Continue reading “Otters In Space 4 – Chapter 1: Yvette”

Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 34: Kipper

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 3: Octopus Ascending.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1 or return to the previous chapter.

“The future was full of new possibilities for a tabby cat with a space program to run.”

Alistair’s orange striped tabby face appeared on the Jolly Barracuda main viewscreen.  The entire crew had gathered on the bridge to watch his message.  Alistair was wearing a navy blue suit that contrasted his fiery fur nicely, and two secret service greyhounds wearing sunglasses and wires stood coolly behind him.  He looked very presidential, but to Kipper, he just looked like her brother.

“Congratulations and our sincerest thanks from all of us here on Earth to the brave officers on the Jolly Barracuda!”  Alistair’s mouth moved, and Kipper wished she could hear his voice, but she had to settle for reading the captions beneath him. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 34: Kipper”

Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 33: Jenny

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 3: Octopus Ascending.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“…her scientists brought her a treasure trove of ancient octopus technology.”

“Are you sure?” Jenny signed to Felix and Ordol.

The otter physicist and octopus translator were at one of the workstations inside the flooded Europa base, and cryptic iconography scrolled hectically over the ancient-yet-insanely-advanced computer screen in front of them.  The octopus and otter shared a look — enigmatic on both ends due to Ordol’s lack of a mammalian face and the breathing apparatus obscuring Felix’s nose and mouth — and then Felix shrugged.  “Pretty sure,” he signed. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 33: Jenny”

Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 32: Kipper

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 3: Octopus Ascending.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“She didn’t know if she was signing to an octopus controlling a raptor or to a raptor controlling an octopus, but either way, it seemed safest to be polite.”

Kipper couldn’t convince Captain Cod to stop singing.  The captain led his merry band of imprisoned otters in one round of sailing ditties after another, insisting it was the only otterly way to face certain death.

Kipper wasn’t sure she liked it any better than she’d liked facing death with a lobster-sabre in her paws.  She thought that perhaps the best way to face death might be with a strong dose of catnip, a rich mug of cream, and quiet contemplation.  Though she wasn’t sure.  All the boisterous singing around her made it too noisy for her to properly contemplate it. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 32: Kipper”

Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 31: The Oligarch and the Raptor

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 3: Octopus Ascending.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

“Drowning in memories together, Enzz’rr’kk and Emily sensed each other — each of them infinitely young in comparison to the silver tentacle — and clung to one another, trying not to lose their individual selves entirely to the tentacle’s wealth of being.”

Enzz’rr’kk was a junior officer whose pin-feathers had barely come in.  Only a few months before, he’d been covered in downy speckling instead of regal raven black with bursts of purple on his elbows and cranium.  Now he was a full-fledged warrior, complete with the tools of his trade — pliant octopus tentacles to extend his reach and capabilities.

Unfortunately, his octopus had been injured while fighting the fuzzy brown creature on the spaceship his squadron had been sent to secure.  It had lost several tentacles, and the pain the octopus felt was distracting.  So when Enzz’rr’kk saw the two octopuses on the galley table — one mangled beyond use but the other in perfect condition — he decided to trade for an upgrade. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 31: The Oligarch and the Raptor”

Queen Hazel and Beloved Beverly – Part VIII

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Queen Hazel and Beloved Beverly. If you’d prefer, you can start with Part I, return to the previous part, or pick up a hard cover or e-copy to keep.

Queen Hazel and Beverly looked at each other without speaking for a long time.  Silence rang through the throne room like an old song that you can’t quite remember the words to, but the melody haunts you.

Queen Hazel and Beverly stared at each other long enough that the present melted away, the years fell aside, and they were no longer women in their thirties, weighed down by decades of life.  They were two young girls who had just discovered someone who understood them. Continue reading “Queen Hazel and Beloved Beverly – Part VIII”

Queen Hazel and Beloved Beverly – Part VII

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Queen Hazel and Beloved Beverly. If you’d prefer, you can start with Part I, return to the previous part, or skip ahead.

Before they were all the way past the village, Beverly realized she’d traded screaming pain in her feet for splitting pain in her thighs and behind.  She wasn’t used to riding horses, and she wasn’t at all sure she liked it.  But at least they were moving at a good clip.

The scattered buildings on the fringe of the village passed swiftly by, and the black mare carried Beverly and knight up a craggy passage to the first of several fields of poppies.  Beverly looked at the flowers, passing by in a blur, and half expected them to release a dizzying fog that would put her, the knight, and the horse all to sleep, as if they were merely characters in The Wizard of Oz.  In that metaphor, who would be the wicked witch?  Was it Queen Hazel?  Or was she the wizard? Continue reading “Queen Hazel and Beloved Beverly – Part VII”

Queen Hazel and Beloved Beverly – Part VI

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Queen Hazel and Beloved Beverly. If you’d prefer, you can start with Part I, return to the previous part, or skip ahead.

When Beverly reached the first building — a small cottage, not dissimilar to the one she stayed in her first night, with the family of bears — she stopped, leaned forward with her arms braced against her legs, and heaved until she caught her breath.  Then she looked back.  She couldn’t see Rocky and Ginny, so she wasn’t sure if they could see her.

Help from Ginny or not — and she had no right to expect any help from Ginny — it was time for Beverly to take the next step.  She needed to ensconce herself in a crowd as soon as possible.  They’d passed so many knights in the last two days…  She dared not face one alone, without Ginny there to protect her. Continue reading “Queen Hazel and Beloved Beverly – Part VI”