Green Skin Deep

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in All Worlds Wayfarer, September 2020

 “The humans don’t understand us,” she said.  “We have to stick together.”

“We’re so much alike,” Trinth said, forming the sound of the words through her flute-like reeds.  She certainly didn’t look much like S’lisha, a reptilian alien.  Trinth looked more like a cosmic rosebush — she saw through flower-like eyes; spoke with flute-like reeds; and used grasping vines to walk and grab. Continue reading “Green Skin Deep”

Silicon Valley

Well, I made it 6.5 episodes into Silicon Valley before breaking down and crying about how hostile and sexist that tech environment is, and how that’s pretty much why I ended up an isolated stay-at-home parent instead of able to have a paying job that would suit me.

I started writing a thread about my experience trying to break into the tech world as a ridiculously smart college student attending one of the top tech colleges in the country… Continue reading “Silicon Valley”

Not Spider-Man and the Seven Angel Donors

“The boy’s parents couldn’t take time off of work to grieve for their sleeping princess boy, because they worked at Mal-Wart, and without the protections of a union, they couldn’t afford any time off.”

by Mary E. Lowd

A Deep Sky Anchor Original, June 2022

This is not a story about Spider-Man, because Spider-Man is owned by a company.  This is a story about a young boy, on his first day of high school, who was bitten by a spider and fell asleep like a princess in a fairytale.  He fell asleep for the life of the author — which in this case would be his parents — plus seventy years. Continue reading “Not Spider-Man and the Seven Angel Donors”

Bird Box and A Quiet Place

A Quiet Place is overall a good, valuable movie, and I actually quite liked its sequel…

But I’m never gonna forgive it for its first ten minutes.

If I’d known what to expect from the beginning of A Quiet Place, I’d have probably skipped the movie entirely. Or maybe I’d have been prepared and thus able to forgive it. Continue reading “Bird Box and A Quiet Place”

Sting Once and Die

“…she carefully placed the brittle body of a dead bumblebee on the circle of salt. She had considered using a wasp, but she was looking for justice, not vengeance. A solution, not escalation.”

by Mary E. Lowd

A Deep Sky Anchor Original, May 2022

Selina knelt in the middle of the empty Hamilton Middle School room.  She’d pushed the desks and chairs up against the walls, leaving the floor clear for the bull’s eye pattern she’d drawn with salt.  The only light came from the soft cold glow of the moon behind the shuttered windows and a flickering warm radiance from the ring of candles around the outer edge of the bull’s eye.  In the middle, the very middle, she carefully placed the brittle body of a dead bumblebee on the circle of salt.  She had considered using a wasp, but she was looking for justice, not vengeance.  A solution, not escalation.
Continue reading “Sting Once and Die”

Lilo & Stitch and Spirited Away

Apparently, today is the day to catch the younger child up on classics they’ve somehow missed — so far we’ve watched Lilo & Stitch and The Secret of NIMH.

Now we’re watching Spirited Away.

I think Younger Child missed out on Lilo & Stitch because we watched it SO MUCH when Elder Child was little. Continue reading “Lilo & Stitch and Spirited Away”