An e-zine about spaceships, aliens, science, memory, motherhood, magic, and cats.
Sometimes fiction is a way to process real life pain. That’s the case with “Cold Tail and the Eyes.” It was inspired by a cat named Ray.
My mother and I rescued a litter of kittens from under her house. There were four of them, so we named them after the Ghostbusters — Ray, Peter, Winston, and Egon. Three of them adjusted very well to their new lives. Ray… did not. Continue reading “Spotlight on “Cold Tail and the Eyes””
Occasionally, my writing group runs out of stories to critique, so we have a writing session instead. One time, another writer brought cards from a fairy tale story-telling game for us to use as story prompts. We all drew five cards, and my cards read:
For the final Shreddy story in The Necromouser and Other Magical Cats, it seemed only right to bring the character back to where he had started — chewing on plants. And it needed to be a big finish, since — while I occasionally entertain ideas of writing a Shreddy novel — this might be Shreddy’s last story ever.
I listened to the soundtrack for Little Shop of Horrors a lot while writing “Shreddy and the Carnivorous Plant.” A lot. My eight-year-old daughter, who wants to be an actress, became so enamored of the musical that she declared her life goal was to play Audrey on stage some day. Continue reading “Spotlight on “Shreddy and the Carnivorous Plant””
The main character from “Shreddy and the Dancing Dragon” has a history of running afoul of modern technology. So, it was only a matter of time before the cantankerous tabby Shreddy went up against a Wii/PlayStation/Xbox-like video game console.
However, the final form of the video game villain that Shreddy would face stayed up in the air until the editor of an anthology called The Dragon’s Hoard expressed her fondness for Shreddy. Thus a beautiful marriage was born. Continue reading “Spotlight on “Shreddy and the Dancing Dragon””
One of our stories, “Lunar Cavity,” has been nominated for an Ursa Major Award! This is a huge honor, and we’re really excited. But that’s not all!
A collection that includes five of our cat stories, The Necromouser and Other Magical Cats, has been nominated for Best Other Literary Work, and In a Dog’s World has been nominated for Best Novel.
What does Deep Sky Anchor — a web-zine for short fiction — have to do with a novel? Continue reading “Ursa Major Nominations!”
In celebration of Pi Day, we have a new story from the Wespirtech Universe for you!
Join Prilla — The Little Red Avian Alien — on her journey to make fresh grassberry crepelettes, the way she remembers them from when she was a hatchling. Along her path, Prilla must negotiate with a reptilian alien, aquatic alien, robot, and her dearest friend, a canine alien. If you’ve been reading our other stories, you’ll recognize a lot of these species. Continue reading “Happy Pi Day!”
by Mary E. Lowd
Originally published in Luna Station Quarterly, Issue 020, December 2014
It was Avian Night at the All Alien Cafe. The avian population of Crossroads Station wasn’t large, but they were vocal and social. The double winged Eechies and the puff-feathered Rennten could always be counted on to attend, since they’d evolved as colony dwellers. However, occasionally, even a traditionally solitary, long-legged Ululu would show up and regale the crowd with stories of how his people had built high-pressure nests inside all the gas giants in a thirty light-year radius of Crossroads Station before humans even noticed them. Continue reading “The Little Red Avian Alien”
We asked our readers what kind of story they’d like to celebrate Leap Day with —
— and the answer was a resounding, “Bring it home to Earth! No more SPACE.” Continue reading “Leap Day Chickens”
by Mary E. Lowd
Originally published in Tails of a Clockwork World: A Rainfurrest Anthology, September 2012
Mice tell a myth of fearsome creatures with scaly talons, massively muscled bodies, and sharp, hooked beaks. Death from the sky, instant death, for any mouse foolish enough to be above ground when these creatures come hunting.
The name of the myth is owl, and few mice see one and live to tell the tale. Owls are creatures of shadow — both the shadows of trees in a darkening forest and the shadows of misremembered tales retold by forgetful minds. Continue reading “One Night in Nocturnia”
by Mary E. Lowd
Originally published in Dancing in the Moonlight: Rainfurrest 2013 Charity Anthology, September 2013
The eggs never hatched. Henrietta and all her coop-mates laid eggs every day, and every day the Coopmaster came and took the eggs away. No baby chicks. Henrietta had so much love in her feathered breast and no one to spend it on.
Only nine inches below the slatted floor of the coop, a cold and hungry litter of fox kits waited for their mother to return. One by one, the kits closed their eyes and fell into a patient sleep. Their breathing slowed. Their hearts slowed too. Still, the mother did not return. Continue reading “Fox in the Hen House”