Deep Sky Anchor – Page 91 – An e-zine about spaceships, aliens, science, memory, motherhood, magic, and cats.

Of Starwhals and Spaceships

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Daily Science Fiction, January 2018

“None of them answered Chlooie when she pinged them with her radio waves. It was like they were dead inside. Creepy.”

A metal behemoth cruised through the nebula, cool and casual, like it didn’t care about any of the frolicking younglings and their sing-song radio waves or the older starwhals jockeying for territory, rearranging the ambient dust into moats and walls.

The attitude of the metal creature — the complete nonchalance — intrigued Chlooie, and she followed it on its strangely linear course through the nebula. Continue reading “Of Starwhals and Spaceships”

Pentatonix, Sesame Street, Roblox, and Squid Game

I will always love the song Feliz Navidad, because it will always sound like Big Bird ice skating to me.

This thought brought to you by the new Pentatonix holiday special and, of course, Christmas Eve on Sesame Street which is the best and most important Christmas special ever. Continue reading “Pentatonix, Sesame Street, Roblox, and Squid Game”

The Possibilities with AI

I’m not worried about AI replacing me as a writer, because the reason I write is that no one in the world was writing the books I wanted, namely Otters In Space. If I wanted to read them, I had to write them myself.

Even with an AI helping, I’d still have to provide that idea. Continue reading “The Possibilities with AI”

The Unshelled

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Shark Week: An Ocean Anthology, June 2021

“Cmdr. Wilker peered at the creature, trying to make out a recognizable face — some part of it that he should look at while addressing it.”

Salty air tickled Commander Wilker’s long nose and whistled past his pointed ears. The light ocean breeze ruffled the long fur of his Collie mane. He placed a paw gently on the hull of his shuttle craft, parked on the small, sandy island in the middle of a yawning purple-blue sea. He was waiting for his co-pilot to join him, a local to this watery world.

Though he wouldn’t mind if they were running late. The Collie dog had seldom been anywhere as peaceful as the surface of Kallendria 7. There was an entire, technologically advanced society on this world, but it was all beneath the waves. Up here, he could have been standing on a completely untouched, unpopulated world. Nothing as far as the eye could see except for rolling purple waves, deep blue sky, and the occasional silver sand island. Continue reading “The Unshelled”

Stable Diffusion is a Hammer

Taking inspiration from other works is literally not plagiarism, and while one can argue about the artistic value of AI art, I have yet to see a single case of an artist being able to point at a specific work that is actually plagiarism.

You can’t and shouldn’t be able to own a style. People copy each others’ styles all the time. Continue reading “Stable Diffusion is a Hammer”

Mage Vs. Druid Leveling

Spouse: *expounds on how Warcraft these days encourages you to only play in areas that aren’t so hard that you die*

Me, who has recently leveled up a mage for the first time: “You only play druids. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Thoughts on “Viewers Like You”

When I was a kid, I thought “The Game” was such a silly episode of Star Trek; as I got older, it started to seem more like a really prescient satire.

My feelings about my story, “Viewers Like You,” has gone through a similar evolution, just since last summer. Continue reading “Thoughts on “Viewers Like You””

Looping Through Stargate

Time to start rewatching Stargate Universe!

The last time I watched this, the only other Stargate I’d seen was the very original movie. So this should be fun. Already, I’m very much enjoying the SG-1 cameos, which I’d been totally unaware of before. Continue reading “Looping Through Stargate”

Crossing Over from the Universe Where John Sang “Paperback Writer”

That feeling when you’re listening to a Beatles song you’ve known for decades with a lead vocal by John… and you suddenly realize, it doesn’t sound like John; it sounds like George.

So you look it up… and it’s Paul. Continue reading “Crossing Over from the Universe Where John Sang “Paperback Writer””

Looking for Sentience

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Luna Station Quarterly, June 2019

“I know you help robots prove their sentience, and I believe I’m sentient. I know I’m not a robot, but I can’t find anyone who helps people like me.”

Light glinted off the tips of the spires that rose from the rocky asteroid base of Kau Meti as Gerengelo’s shuttle approached. The yellow sunlight caught the metal of the spires in just the right way to gleam enticingly, like a wink and the promise of a shiny, exciting future. Gerangelo was not impressed. He was familiar with the promises humans made to themselves and others — with words, with shiny buildings, even with contracts filled with legally binding language. They made promises and broke them. Sometimes, though, when they wouldn’t break their own promises, Gerangelo had to break their promises for them — fight his way through with a machete of righteousness. Continue reading “Looking for Sentience”