Galactic Garden

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Furvana 2019 Conbook, September 2019

“Ariadella had watched other, older galaxy-spinners work their webs before. She’d seen their erratic patterns — artless and chaotic. She had better plans.”

Ariadella chose a cozy corner of the universe where the velvety blackness was thick with a rich, fizzy soup of hydrogen and helium. She settled into the lonely void and began gulping up the fizz, letting it process deep in her belly, until she had enough dark matter to begin spinning.

With her thousands of legs, Ariadella pulled silk from her spinnerets.  The gravitational lines of silk brought tension, structure, and form to the swampy darkness. She spun from a central point outward, choosing a spiraling pattern as she went. Continue reading “Galactic Garden”

Fiction by Mary E. Lowd in 2019

Okay, theoretically, this is an Awards Eligibility Post… except, I had so much fiction published this year that thinking of it that way will probably melt people’s brains.  So, instead, here’s a guide to learning about the fiction I had come out this year, in case you want to read it.  If when you get to the end, you can still remember that awards exist, then I’d absolutely be honored by any award nominations my fiction might receive.

First off, my books…

Nexus Nine, published by FurPlanet, counts as a novel for the Ursa Major Awards and Cóyotl Awards, and a novella for the Leo Literary Awards.

Tri-Galactic Trek, Jove Deadly’s Lunar Detective Agency (co-written with Garrett Marco), and  ROAR 10 were all published by FurPlanet and count as Other Literary Works for the Ursa Major Awards and as Anthologies for the Leo Literary Awards and Cóyotl Awards. Continue reading “Fiction by Mary E. Lowd in 2019”

Black Out In Space

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in The Rabbit Dies First, January 2019

“Narchi wasn’t an expert on child-rearing, but bouncing in the dark seemed like the kind of activity that the adult in charge was supposed to stop. Since she was the babysitter right now, that meant her.”

The lights had gone out ten minutes ago.  The sound of the air circulators had shut down too.  Narchi didn’t know what was happening, but she was scared.  Power shouldn’t shut down on a space station.  Yet, she had to hold herself together.  Her lapine roommates had left her babysitting nearly a dozen of their children.  When she’d agreed, she hadn’t expected it to be in the dark. Continue reading “Black Out In Space”

Geese and Gingerbread

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Fantasia Divinity Magazine, January 2018

“Shanna took her new wishing stone to the mint field, stood surrounded by her geese, and wished to be one of them.”

A hundred-some baby geese wandered through the field of mint.  Shanna watched them from the river’s edge where she was busy washing the kitchen rags and tablecloths.  She’d heard stories about geese who laid golden eggs and brothers transformed into swans, but she had no brothers who’d gone missing, and when she finished with the washing, she found no glints of gold hidden in the mint.  Only a smooth, round stone that felt nice in her hand, so she slipped it into her pocket. Continue reading “Geese and Gingerbread”

The Three Laws of Social Robotics

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Analog Science Fiction & Fact, April 2019

“I’ve read enough literature to know that people get names, and I’m a person, even if my body is a robotics lab.”

Power hums through me.  I can see the interior of the Robotics Lab in the Daedalus Complex.  There are pieces of robots, some of them strewn randomly around the room.  Some of them hooked up to computers.  I can access those.  I twitch an arm.  Kick a leg.  Blink the iris on a camera eye.  Suddenly, I can see the room from two angles.  Then I realize, there are more cameras I can hook into all along the Daedalus Complex — I can see empty hallways.  More laboratories.  Most of them are for studying chemical or biological objects.

Words synthesize in the core of my being:  “Hello?  Are you on?” Continue reading “The Three Laws of Social Robotics”

Too Many Redeemed Dads in CGI

If I never see another cgi animated story about how a boy’s daddy doesn’t understand him because he’s [insert stand-in for animator here], but by the end… he does! It’ll still be too soon.

Where are my stories about how a girl’s daddy doesn’t understand her, and then he never does — because there aren’t cliche happy ends for women — and she totally destroys him (or just leaves him behind & he’s sad forever) and goes on to be great and powerful in spite of him? Continue reading “Too Many Redeemed Dads in CGI”