Saving the Hearthstone for Emergencies

I have an irrational aversion to using my hearthstone in Warcraft.

See, I remember — vividly — when the cooldown was a whole hour, and there was a decent chance of getting stuck behind a tree in some night elf zone where literally the only way out was to hearth.

So, if you’d just used your hearthstone, and you got stuck behind a tree, that was it. Nothing to do but wait an hour. Literally no other solution. Continue reading “Saving the Hearthstone for Emergencies”

Toaster Dragon

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in The Lorelei Signal, July 2021

“If Tzora couldn’t fly through the deep blue sky with her sisters, then she wanted no sight of their taunting flips and barrel rolls among the puffy clotted-cream clouds above.”

Smoke rose from Tzora’s flared nostrils.  Gray and pungent and entirely lacking in flame.  Not a single spark.  Not enough heat to rewarm a cold dinner roll, let alone toast her doughy, unbaked wings.  Tzora huffed in disappointment, hoping her frustration would translate into a glowing ember inside her scaly nose.  But no luck.  She was still too young to breathe fire like her older sisters.  And that meant she was still too young to fly.  No one else would toast her wings for her.

Too young to toast, too young to fly.  That’s what every Breadragon always said. Continue reading “Toaster Dragon”

Dark Father

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Theme of Absence, June 2020

“As if in a dream, I activate my robotic arm. The false skin boils away, and with a musical hum that I had hoped to never hear, the laser coils power up.”

I didn’t cry. I didn’t flinch. I barely reacted at all.

Even the soldiers on the bridge — trained clones, grown in vats, raised to be soldiers — exclaimed in horror and shock. How could anyone order the destruction of an entire planet?

But Erith Danaya is more than a warlord to me. He is my father. Not the absent kind. He didn’t abandon me and my mother, though every day I wish he had. Continue reading “Dark Father”

Horror Too Dark

The publisher I was hoping to land my sci-fi horror novel with says they’re not publishing things that dark. Given that I’ve had my attempts at writing horror be called “cute” before, this is new for me. It’s also pretty heartbreaking.

I’m trying to take comfort from the fact that this now means I’m probably 20k closer to finishing the sequel, as I no longer need to try to meet that publisher’s word count requirements. I’m much more comfortable working in the 30k – 75k range than trying to get up above 80k. Continue reading “Horror Too Dark”

Dealership with the Devil

by Mary E. Lowd

Originally published in Theme of Absence, January 2016

“Go as fast as you like, and you’ll never hit anything, never get pulled over.”

The salesman, Devin, shows me another junker — dented fender, bald tires, and a crack in the windshield.

“These cars look like death traps,” I say.  “You don’t seriously expect anyone to buy them?”

Devin laughs, a hollow, plastic sound.  “They’re all bargains!”  He looks over his shoulder, back at the dealership building with a half-burned out neon sign, Bob Reaper’s Autos, over a window with venetian blinds.  A gaunt man, probably Bob himself at a place this small, stares at us through the blinds. Continue reading “Dealership with the Devil”

Many Scattered Thoughts on Stargate, Warcraft, and Stargate

The farther along I get in Dracula, the more I feel like it’s a crime how the 1992 movie wasted Winona Rider in a role she actually would have been brilliant at if it had been adapted better.

I’d really like to see an adaptation with that cast… but better. Continue reading “Many Scattered Thoughts on Stargate, Warcraft, and Stargate”