Category: Book Chapter

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.

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Petra had lots of plans.  None of them were working out the way she wanted them to.  No one would cooperate with her.  She’d been sent from one end to the other of the beautiful but archaic, ancient human building that was the seat of the Uplifted States’ government — the White House.

Sure, it had been renovated to suit the needs of dogs and cats who were on average much smaller than humans, but if you asked Petra they’d be much better off with an entirely new building with fewer beautiful columns and more properly proportioned rooms. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 8: Petra”

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.

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Jenny wanted to push all the buttons.  So far, her science officers — Felix and Amoreena — had only let her press one.  After a lengthy discussion where Ordol helped translate the language on all the newly-flooded Europa base vid-screens, Amoreena had figured out how to turn the base’s heaters on.  And only just in time.  Europa’s oceans were no longer covered in ice, but they were frigidly cold.  Much longer and they’d have had to improvise space heaters or begun wearing their spacesuits which would have been ungainly and clumsy underwater. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 7: 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.

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Kipper followed Tamantha down a path between two of the towering buildings.  Red and gray-furred squirrels passed by, their movements sudden and jerky.  The way they moved — stopping and starting — made Kipper feel twitchy.  Yet, their tails flowed smooth as rivers.

Behind the row of buildings that faced the street, there was a pedestrian square, surrounded by cafe awnings and outdoor seating.  Squirrels in wicker chairs chattered and dined on crunchy-looking pastries.  Ladders and open-air skywalks laced through the space above them. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 6: 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.

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Kipper packed a few clothes and pictures of her littermates, nephews, and niece inside plastic sleeves to protect them.  It wasn’t much, but it was more than she’d taken with her the last time she went away.  She was in more of a hurry this time, but it was less hectic.  More purposeful.  More planned.

Trudith drove her to the airport.  It had been hard saying goodbye to her family.  It was awful saying goodbye to Trudith, her best friend on Earth.  There’s nothing like a sad black lab mutt with melting brown eyes to crumble your heart to pieces.  Even three cute kittens couldn’t compare. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 5: 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.

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Petra hated waiting.  The waiter was taking forever, and her three kittens were crawling all over her and Lucky, grabbing at the silverware and condiments on the table.  The paper packets of sugar had already been counted, arranged in patterns, and finally scattered across the table top.  Why did kittens have to make restaurants so hard?  Why couldn’t they sit still? Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 4: Petra”

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.

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Safe inside the ancient octopus base on Europa, Jenny itched to be back in Brighton’s Destiny, flying free, but the little Whirligig ship was parked, inert on the roof of the floating base.  Jenny was stuck inside one the plethora of spherical rooms off of the main central chamber of the base.  It was a reasonably sized room until someone had decided to shove a table into it.  The curved walls and ceiling hadn’t been designed to accommodate a rectangular table with four otters, two dogs, and a cat seated around it. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 3: Jenny”

by Mary E. Lowd

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

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Paw prints marked the golden, glittering sand.  Tiny, perfect kitten prints danced flirtatiously up and down the line of wet beach, slowly dissolving under the soggy, sloppy wavelets lapping at the land.

Larger canine paw prints marched straight into the oncoming waves, and the dog who made them — a wiry-furred, beard-faced terrier wearing blue and yellow swim trunks — splashed wildly in the surf.  Sea foam clung to the fur on his ankles and his furiously wagging brush of a tail. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 2: Kipper”

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 3: Octopus Ascending.  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 two.

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The pale glow of Jupiter lit the moon’s watery surface.  Europa’s recently melted ocean reflected the gas giant’s ruddy face back at itself, broken by ripples where Brighton’s Destiny disturbed the water on takeoff.

The dark metal V-shape of the two-man spaceship skimmed over the ocean before veering upward in a sharp climb out of Europa’s gravity well.  Spacesuit clad paws eased off on the throttle, and Brighton’s Destiny leveled off into a smooth arc toward Jupiter. Continue reading “Otters In Space 3 – Chapter 1: Jenny”

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 2: Jupiter, Deadly.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead to Otters In Space 3: Octopus Ascending.

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Through the glass of the door, Kipper saw the pointy ears and orange fur of her brother and sister.  They faced the other way, seated at a table and watching a television screen on the wall.  The screen showed a pug dog gesticulating wildly.  Trudith and Lucky also sat at the table, but they seemed preoccupied with something Kipper couldn’t see.

Kipper opened the door quietly.  Keith stood behind her.  Before going in, Kipper stayed in the doorway and simply listened to the voices of these people she loved and hadn’t seen in so long. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 33: Papa Fido’s T-Bone Steakery”

by Mary E. Lowd

An excerpt from Otters In Space 2: Jupiter, Deadly.  If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.

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The Jolly Barracuda docked at Deep Sky Anchor for the first time since Kipper had joined the crew.  She watched the gray metal habitat rings of the rotating station approach on the main bridge’s viewscreen, and she remembered all the times she’d watched space fly by through one of the porthole windows elsewhere on the ship instead.  She was sure that those windows were all crowded full of the pug faces of miserably wet Persians now, but she wasn’t among them.  She was on the bridge, manning one of the stations.  She had come a long way. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 32: Earth”