The seven-year-old’s reaction to The Truman Show: “How long would it take to build a dome like that? Months?”
Me: “At least.” Continue reading “The Truman Show”
Verify Me
This will not make sense if you’re not familiar with the movie Sneakers, but…
Every time a website asks me to identify all the squares with crosswalks and then click “verify,” I think: “My ability to identify crosswalks is my passport. Verify me.”
Being Precious About Words
The very first story I ever had published, when I picked up the physical anthology & flipped through, I noticed one of my characters “tipped his hat.”
Implying he was wearing a hat. Which made no sense for the character & setting. But it’s what I wrote. So there the words were.
Talking to “Cats”
Thirteen-year-old, planning to bake a cake: “Do you want cake?”
Seven-year-old: “Meow!”
Thirteen: “Oh, you don’t want cake…”
Seven, exasperated: “Do you not understand cat-language?!?”
Best and Worst
Best part of being a writer: getting cover art
Worst part: writing back of book blurbs
Fetching Asteroids
by Mary E. Lowd
Originally published in Allasso, Volume 1: Shame, November 2011
The stars were thick, but the moons were thicker. Every year for the last decade, Earth’s sky had grown brighter with the reflected light of new lunar satellites. Generally a half a dozen small new moons per batch. Jordan had been working hard. He was a Labrador Retriever by heritage, and, back in human pre-history, those had been working dogs.
Ever since he was a pup who hadn’t yet grown into his giant feet and floppy ears, Jordan had known what he wanted to do with his life. He’d spent all of high school working hard at the car wash, saving his nickels and dimes, and staring up at the stars at night. Continue reading “Fetching Asteroids”
A Jetpack of a Different Color
by Mary E. Lowd
Originally published in Renewal: Queer Sci-Fi’s Fourth Annual Flash Fiction Contest, September 2017
Wendy shifted the jetpack on her shoulders and knocked on the door to Flooffle’s quarters. “Come on! I want to hit the ammonia waves on New Jupiter before the lava moon freezes over!”
Flooffle didn’t answer, so the human girl went in, expecting to find her fuzzy six-legged friend struggling to get a jetpack settled onto his thorax. Continue reading “A Jetpack of a Different Color”
The Horrors of a New Kitten
“Kitten claw everything
Hear her deep in mattress”
—texts I apparently sent to my spouse, early this morning, still mostly asleep & hoping he’d come take the kitten away to entertain her in ways that didn’t involve chewing on my hand
In a Cat’s Eyes
by Mary E. Lowd
Originally published in Dancing in the Moonlight: Rainfurrest 2013 Charity Anthology
Jason’s brushy tail wagged like a flag as he trotted down the sidewalk in front of his house. He strained his neck against the leash, just a little, to help his master out. His master was always reluctant to go on walks, and the only explanation Jason could think of was that she must tire out easily. Heaven knew, Jason had energy to spare, so it was only fair that he help pull her along. Continue reading “In a Cat’s Eyes”
Wing Day
by Mary E. Lowd
Originally published in Daily Science Fiction, October 2018
Lee-a-lei had never been to a Wing Day party, much less thrown one herself. The butterfly-like alien crossed her uppermost pair of fuzzy exoskeletal arms and watched her clone-daughter scurry around their quarters, excited, sugar-crazed, and impatient for the guests to arrive.
Am-lei flapped her new wings, throwing herself into the air — she bounced off the ceiling and landed awkwardly on newly-long, spindly legs. A month ago, Am-lei had been a pudgy green caterpillar-babe. At least, Lee-a-lei had thought of her as a babe, even though she was nearly ten years old. Continue reading “Wing Day”