Many Tiny Feet

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in New Myths, September 2017


“S’lisha sang to the arachnids in the guttural, bellowing tones of her native language — a sound that the humans onboard had compared to a giant frog dying.”

S’lisha traced her scaly claw over the transparent metal surface of the incubator.  It was the most complex cargo crate that she’d ever seen — heating and cooling coils all around the sides, a humidifier built into the base, and brackets inside to hold all of the eggs carefully in place.  It had come with detailed instructions for all the settings — cool at first, but warmer and moister over time. Continue reading “Many Tiny Feet”

On the Difference Between AI Cats and Actual Cats: A Love Story

by Daniel Lowd and Mary E. Lowd

A Deep Sky Anchor Original, February 2023


“Because even malicious AIs want to be liked. And people like cats.”

They Might Be Cats:  A Lecture on the Prevalence of Simulated Cats in Media (Social and Otherwise!) by renowned feline expert and AI trainer, Professor Andrea Middon

(Closed captioning provided by Mew Mew Twinklepaws.)

* * *

[Prof. Middon enters stage left.  Walks to the middle of the stage, nodding and waving at the audience (who are not visible on the screen).] Continue reading “On the Difference Between AI Cats and Actual Cats: A Love Story”

Evoking Appropriate Emotion with AI Art

Back during the summer when I first got access to some of the AI art programs, I spent hours and hours putting together illustrations for as many of the upcoming Zooscape stories as I could manage.

Now that I’m approaching the April issue, and the programs have improved… Continue reading “Evoking Appropriate Emotion with AI Art”

Attendance Policies, Broken Keyboards, and Hidden Mold

I’m so furious about my kids’ school policies about “attendance.”

Both of my kids are bright, have no trouble keeping up at school, and are doing distance learning. Yet, because we took them on a week-long trip where they didn’t log into their classes, the school’s in an uproar.

We tried warning the school that we’d be traveling to a family member’s wedding, but we were told family trips weren’t a valid excuse for an absence. Continue reading “Attendance Policies, Broken Keyboards, and Hidden Mold”

The Dragon’s Mask

by Mary E. Lowd

A Deep Sky Anchor Original, January 2023


“Faye smiled tentatively, settling into this new reality they were creating together out of lies, a reality where what she’d seen — a true dragon’s face, staring into hers from only inches away, begging to be seen, understood, and maybe loved — was only an illusion.”

Bark broke from the trunk of the sharillow trees in large, curved chunks, littering the forest floor along with their fallen leaves.  Storakka sifted through the pieces at the base of the biggest tree she could find, her talons running over the slightly curved sheaves of wood, rough on one side and smooth on the other.  Finally she found an oval one she liked, about the same size as a human face. Continue reading “The Dragon’s Mask”

The Freedom of the Queen

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Oxfurred Comma Flash Fiction Contest, July 2022


“Why did you leave me alive?” the queen bee buzzed at the honey look-alike, puddled under her tree. “Why didn’t you eat me too?”

Amber fluid dripped from the hive, but it wasn’t honey.  It was thick and gooey and satiated.  The amorphous being, gold and honey-like, had infiltrated the hive, feasted on the honey and then on the worker bees who’d made the honey; then the drones who the worker bees had waited on; and finally, on the delectable morsels of unfinished dough that were the eggs and pupae.

But not the queen. Continue reading “The Freedom of the Queen”