Mouthful of Nightmare

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Last week, we gave you a treat — two Shreddy the cat stories.  Today, we have the corresponding trick — a trio of bite-sized stories that add up to a mouthful of nightmare:

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Take Them to the Happiness Zoo

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Theme of Absence, April 2016

“Junie knew that Gorvall was only trying to ingratiate himself to her. It was working.”

Exhausted, Junie watched her five-year-old daughter and two toddler sons play with Gorvall.  They stacked up colored blocks and knocked them down. Gorvall’s long gray fingers helped pry apart the building blocks that stuck together.  The colorful towers reflected in his large, teardrop-shaped black eyes.

Continue reading “Take Them to the Happiness Zoo”

Birthing Class

“They weren’t talking about what everyone wanted to hear: the lifecycle of the aliens. But whispers passed through the audience, telling hushed rumors of one of the aliens visiting the hospital.”

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Theme of Absence, June 2016

Standing in the hospital lobby, Daniel spread his hands over the shirt covering his flat belly.  He tried to imagine the alien life growing inside him, but it didn’t seem real.  He didn’t feel any different than he had a week ago.

A couple women walked by Daniel, chatting with each other.  The base’s hospital was otherwise quiet at this time of evening.  Daniel turned back toward the row of glass doors that led out to the dry, desert air of Eridani Mu, wanting to leave the hospital.  The buildings of the human base were under the shadow of twilight now, but the majestic spires of the alien city in the distance were still lit by the pink-and-orange tinged sunset.  In only five years since the humans had crashed here, those spires had grown and stretched until they dwarfed the human base.  Continue reading “Birthing Class”

FemCloud Inc.

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Daily Science Fiction, February 2015

“That… uh… wasn’t the machine talking,” Dr. Orton said. “That sound came from your uterus.”

Chloe lay on the table in the doctor’s office, wearing a paper sheet over her legs and one of those weird gowns that opened in the back.  She didn’t want to be pregnant, but she didn’t want to need an abortion.  She couldn’t help thinking about David — it had to be David — and what amazing genes he must have.  He’d talked like a character out of a fast-paced TV show, everything clever, insightful, and… much too articulate.  Continue reading “FemCloud Inc.”