An e-zine about spaceships, aliens, science, memory, motherhood, magic, and cats.
My spouse (Daniel Lowd) and I know very different corners of the internet. He does machine learning. I’m a writer. (As is often the case, this post is converted from a Twitter thread.)
Yesterday, my corners turned into a pitchfork and torch carrying mob, as they’ve been doing more and more often. Today, his corners noticed it. Continue reading “When Writing and Machine Learning Collided”
by Mary E. Lowd
An excerpt from Otters In Space 2: Jupiter, Deadly. If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.
When Trugger arrived at the airlock, he found Kipper in a box. It was a lightweight storage cubby, crammed full of spacesuits, with spacesuits draping over its sides. It rested on the floor of the corridor, rocking and rotating lightly in the currents of oxo-agua. When it turned so Trugger could see inside, Kipper was barely noticeable among the other spacesuits. If she turned her head so the faceplate of her helmet looked away from him, there’d have been no way to tell she was anything other than another empty suit. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 18: The Great Red Spot”
I feel like there might be a straight line to be drawn between watching Pee-wee Herman marry a bowl of fruit salad when I was five and writing a book about a lesbian elephant marrying a butterfly at forty.
by Mary E. Lowd
An excerpt from Otters In Space 2: Jupiter, Deadly. If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.
As usual, Trudith’s plans didn’t work out quite the way she expected. Keith took her to his church, and he showed her where the senator usually sat. However, instead of settling into a long discussion of the senator’s behavior at church, leading into a heart to heart about the senator’s intentions, all Trudith learned about was Keith. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 17: Earth”
by Mary E. Lowd
An excerpt from Otters In Space 2: Jupiter, Deadly. If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.
The spiny wedge of an alien sail station loomed ahead on the Jolly Barracuda’s viewscreen. Every otter on the bridge grew deathly still looking at it. Bewhiskered faces with oval noses and serious expressions stared straight at the behemoth in front of them. Then, one by one, they turned to look at their captain.
Shifting uncomfortably under the combined gaze and the weighty Jovian gravity, Captain Cod eventually signed, “It’s big, isn’t it?” Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 16: The Great Red Spot”
I dreamed I was hanging out with Micky Dolenz. And what does my unconscious brain think I should do while hanging out with Micky Dolenz? Well, we were trying to train my dog to correctly identify which Monkee is singing lead when listening to a Monkees song. Continue reading “Sugar Salad and the Monkees”
by Mary E. Lowd
A Deep Sky Anchor Original, August 2023
Jeko lifted her trunk and trumpeted along with the latest Star-Shaker song which she’d turned up to completely fill her small room aboard Crossroads Station. Her trunk swayed along with the beat, and the reptilian pop-star’s lilting, raspy voice was loud enough that Jeko didn’t have to feel embarrassed about her own brassy tones. The elephantine alien never sang in front of other people, but she loved to sing when she was alone. Especially when she was happy. Continue reading “The Elephant Bride’s Bouquet”
by Mary E. Lowd
An excerpt from Otters In Space 2: Jupiter, Deadly. If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.
Two days ago, Trudith was a dog on the up and up. Her alpha was the only honest politician, and she was his right hand dog. Today, she was a dog back to her old tricks; trailing, eavesdropping, spying, and — kind of — kidnapping.
Trudith didn’t want to be the old dog who couldn’t learn new tricks, so she put her all into doing things differently this time. She didn’t break into Senator Morrison’s lavish estate; she didn’t contrive for him to “lose” his phone; and she certainly didn’t corner one of his lackeys in a back alley and offer to rough him up either more or less depending on the quality of his information. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 15: Earth”
by Mary E. Lowd
An excerpt from Otters In Space 2: Jupiter, Deadly. If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.
Flippant comments turned into full-fledged half-baked ideas so quickly on the Jolly Barracuda, it made Kipper’s head spin. She wanted to scream, “Don’t listen to me! I’m not qualified to make recommendations!” But the Jolly Barracuda was already flying full tilt toward Jupiter’s Great Red Spot.
Next time, Kipper would know better than to let her paws wander around forming signs on their own. She’d keep them tight in her vest pockets, like they were now. Of course, that presupposed there would be a next time, and, watching that Great Red Spot swell, closer and closer, on the central viewscreen, Kipper wasn’t at all sure about that. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 14: Jupiter”
by Mary E. Lowd
An excerpt from Otters In Space 2: Jupiter, Deadly. If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead.
Trudith was a big, black, bag of fur-coated turmoil. She expected Alistair and Petra back from the capital building any minute, but that had been true for half an hour’s worth of minutes now, and it made her extremely nervous to have Alistair’s arch-rival in their headquarters.
Everything Senator Morrison looked at, everywhere he laid a paw — Trudith felt the responsibility of guardianship. Worse, he kept trying to make small talk, but between his stentorian style and Trudith’s terse responses, it felt more like an interrogation. As Senator Morrison’s kidnapper, Trudith was pretty sure she wasn’t supposed to be the one being interrogated. Continue reading “Otters In Space 2 – Chapter 13: Earth”